AC-8, American x Chinese
Far left - American x Chinese (American parent R1T5, Wexford Co., MI)
Middle - AC-8, American x Chinese (American parent WV-1)
Far right - Chinese x American ( American parent R3T1, Barbour Co., WV)
Tree AC-8 in Summer 2011.
Tree AC-8 is a 1990 American x Chinese hybrid tree. It is a full sibling to the
'Sheryl' chestnut tree. The American parent is tree WV-1. It is an American that is partially resistant to chestnut blight. It has been the parent of many of my better hybrids. The Chinese parent is a lawn tree in my Uncle's yard in Philippi, WV. My grandfather planted the tree in 1960 and said these were trees distributed by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture as possible replacements for the American chestnuts. These Chinese importations were most likely from the Beltsville, Maryland USDA experimental plots.
Like the Sheryl chestnut, AC-8 produces attractive chestnuts with red shells. The chestnuts are not large, but the tree has been a consistent heavy producer, despite growing in crowded conditions. The nuts also rate high for flavor.
the tree is vigorous with the potential to become a large tree. I believe this tree has good blight resistance, as this tree has had only one blight canker on a branch in 25 years. The canker has had no effect on growth or production.
I will be grafting this tree in the near future to see if grafted trees of AC-8 perform as well as grafted 'Sheryl' chestnut trees.
AC - 8 in October 2017. A view into the canopy. A very large tree with minimal blight. The tree has shown a good resistance.