Random Thoughts Thread

[Drew Dowdell]

2 hours ago, ccap41 said:

Speaking of growing trees in buckets/pots, did you over-research what type of potting soil/media to use? I think I'm going down a wormhole of too much information and overthinking. 

What did you end up using? 

The two big things you need to know are How Acidic and how well it drains or not.

I took a class last year on how to grow the American Chestnut. American Chestnuts like to be high on hilltops with very well-drained soils. There's a geomapping tool in Pennsylvania that uses known land and altitude data to populate the best places for Chestnut plantings, and my property is one of the best in the county.  What I used was a mix of planter soil and something called Pittmoss, better than Peatmoss. Its manufactured here and is mostly recycled newspaper. It's good for containers because it holds moisture better than peat.  Just put them in some 5-gallon buckets and let them go.  I need to move them around a bit soon.

True genetic American Chestnuts are very hard to find. If you find them online, they are most likely crossbred with something else that is blight-resistant. I got my seeds directly from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation at one of their research centers at Penn State.

[ccap41]

17 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

The two big things you need to know are How Acidic and how well it drains or not.

I took a class last year on how to grow the American Chestnut. American Chestnuts like to be high on hilltops with very well-drained soils. There's a geomapping tool in Pennsylvania that uses known land and altitude data to populate the best places for Chestnut plantings, and my property is one of the best in the county.  What I used was a mix of planter soil and something called Pittmoss, better than Peatmoss. Its manufactured here and is mostly recycled newspaper. It's good for containers because it holds moisture better than peat.  Just put them in some 5-gallon buckets and let them go.  I need to move them around a bit soon.

True genetic American Chestnuts are very hard to find. If you find them online, they are most likely crossbred with something else that is blight-resistant. I got my seeds directly from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation at one of their research centers at Penn State.

Thanks!

Yeah, from what I've read it needs a lot of water but also media that drains well so the roots can dry out between waterings. I've now looked into this Pittmoss stuff, and it sounds pretty dang good. I think I'll order some and mix it with planter soil, as well. 

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

Thanks!

Yeah, from what I've read it needs a lot of water but also media that drains well so the roots can dry out between waterings. I've now looked into this Pittmoss stuff, and it sounds pretty dang good. I think I'll order some and mix it with planter soil, as well. 

If you do tomatoes or any water hungry container veggies, Pittmoss is the GOAT and will save you a ton of headache with watering.

[ccap41]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

If you do tomatoes or any water hungry container veggies, Pittmoss is the GOAT and will save you a ton of headache with watering.

I don't plan on gardening anytime soon. We need to finish other things before I'd have a permanent spot for a garden, but I would like a small garden in the future. We consume enough various peppers, onions, and zucchinis that I think it would be pretty cool to grow them myself. 

[regfootball]

RENTAL!!!!!

This will be interesting; since I had a 2016…..

Edited Saturday at 12:10 AM by regfootball

[Drew Dowdell]

I see your rental, and raise you mine..

[trinacriabob]

19 hours ago, regfootball said:

RENTAL!!!!!

 

Coincidence, telepathy, 6 degrees, or something ...

I've got one right now ... a white one.

[trinacriabob]

Random thought - word of the day:

smarm(y)

Great word!

[Drew Dowdell]

On 4/18/2024 at 3:43 PM, ccap41 said:

Heck yeah! 

Do you have any pictures of them, before and now? Not a picture of the seed (LOL) but a very young American Chestnut tree. 

This is all the bigger they are after 11 months. They were started in May. Very distinct leaves.

[trinacriabob]

This is what I also spotted yesterday.  For a while, I thought that most of America wasn't moving away from Craftsman style housing fast enough.  It lasted for at least 2 decades in areas they don't use the Mediterranean stucco look.

Well, America did move on ... to this.  I don't know what it's called ... American white farmhouse?

There isn't much variety in it at all.  And this is mostly what you see anymore.

Can't we do better?

[Robert Hall]

13 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

This is what I also spotted yesterday.  For a while, I thought that most of America wasn't moving away from Craftsman style housing fast enough.  It lasted for at least 2 decades in areas they don't use the Mediterranean stucco look.

Well, America did move on ... to this.  I don't know what it's called ... American white farmhouse?

There isn't much variety in it at all.  And this is mostly what you see anymore.

Can't we do better?

And it has the awful trendy gray/black window trim and garage doors...barf...generic crap.   A lot of the new construction around here looks like this, whether condos or McMansions in suburbia.   

Edited Sunday at 02:36 PM by Robert Hall

[David]

On 4/19/2024 at 11:14 AM, ccap41 said:

I don't plan on gardening anytime soon. We need to finish other things before I'd have a permanent spot for a garden, but I would like a small garden in the future. We consume enough various peppers, onions, and zucchinis that I think it would be pretty cool to grow them myself. 

Flavor is amazing over bland store bought veggies.

18 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

This is all the bigger they are after 11 months. They were started in May. Very distinct leaves.

Very cool, interesting tree, so slow growing then?

[Drew Dowdell]

2 minutes ago, David said:

Flavor is amazing over bland store bought veggies.

Very cool, interesting tree, so slow growing then?

Once they get in the ground they will grow very rapidly until the blight gets them. These two seeds are from different, naturally blight resistant trees. They’ll be planted near each other in the hopes that their seeds will also be blight resistant and if I’m still here in 10 years and the blight hasn’t gotten them, I can share the seeds with others. 
 

This was once the most populous tree in North America, numbering in the hundreds of millions, and the blight wiped it out in a matter of three decades. Now it is rare to see one more than 10 years old in the wild and the ones that are out there are protected and studied.  I believe there’s less than two dozen wild ones in PA now.

[A Horse With No Name]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:17 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

I am growing two endangered American Chestnuts in buckets in my back yard. I started them from seed last summer.

Where did you get the seeds? From the chestnut preservation folks, or just a wild chestnut tree?

 

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Once they get in the ground they will grow very rapidly until the blight gets them. These two seeds are from different, naturally blight resistant trees. They’ll be planted near each other in the hopes that their seeds will also be blight resistant and if I’m still here in 10 years and the blight hasn’t gotten them, I can share the seeds with others. 
 

This was once the most populous tree in North America, numbering in the hundreds of millions, and the blight wiped it out in a matter of three decades. Now it is rare to see one more than 10 years old in the wild and the ones that are out there are protected and studied.  I believe there’s less than two dozen wild ones in PA now.

A woodworking freind of mine knew of a giant one on private land in Michigan about 30 years ago. I wonder what happened to that tree. 

On 4/19/2024 at 9:09 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

I see your rental, and raise you mine..

I want to try an electric rental. 

On 4/18/2024 at 6:03 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

The two big things you need to know are How Acidic and how well it drains or not.

I took a class last year on how to grow the American Chestnut. American Chestnuts like to be high on hilltops with very well-drained soils. There's a geomapping tool in Pennsylvania that uses known land and altitude data to populate the best places for Chestnut plantings, and my property is one of the best in the county.  What I used was a mix of planter soil and something called Pittmoss, better than Peatmoss. Its manufactured here and is mostly recycled newspaper. It's good for containers because it holds moisture better than peat.  Just put them in some 5-gallon buckets and let them go.  I need to move them around a bit soon.

True genetic American Chestnuts are very hard to find. If you find them online, they are most likely crossbred with something else that is blight-resistant. I got my seeds directly from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation at one of their research centers at Penn State.

Contacting them., thank you. 

[Drew Dowdell]

6 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Where did you get the seeds? From the chestnut preservation folks, or just a wild chestnut tree?

 

A woodworking freind of mine knew of a giant one on private land in Michigan about 30 years ago. I wonder what happened to that tree. 

I want to try an electric rental. 

Contacting them., thank you. 

I would look at an Ohio chapter if you want to join.  You're probably too late for seed distribution this year, I got mine right around this time last year.  My membership is expired as it was paid for through my prior employer, but it is something I'd like to join again.