Pollination for Research 
| Once we've identified a tree it's time to start planning how it will be used as a mother or father tree, and how it will fit into the program. In CT, we typically use advanced breeding pollen from our Meadowview Research facilities to pollinate local mother trees. And it is this process we've focused on in this slide. There is an alternative, often complementary process of collecting pollen from the mother trees we pollinate to be used as a back-up in case the pollination is only moderately successful and as a hedge against the tree not surviving for subsequent pollinations - an all too frequent occurrence. While the father tree process is employed frequently in the south, it has only been theorized here in CT since we've been very successful in using the standard mother tree approach outlined on this page.
Photographic Illustrative Pollination Sequence |
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| Click here or on the photo to the right for a short slideshow of progressive photographs showing a pollination sequence [photographs provided courtesy of Gayle Kida]. Gayle has also written an article on how to proceed with pollination that provides an overview of the approach and importance to the regional adaptation program. |  [click for pollination slideshow] | |
| The American Chestnut Foundation has an extensive collection of photographs put together by Dr. Hebard depicting the progression of flowering on their web-site.. The photo at right is of an early flowering American chestnut in Northwest Connecticut taken June 10th, 2009. It clearly shows the male inflorescence as "small buds" on the catkins, with the solitary female flower depicted at photo center. Thanks to Bill Moorhead for providing the photograph. |  [click for click to expand image] | |
Chestnut PollinationPollination Forms for reporting on mother tree pollinations and harvest. [Excel format] [*Adobe PDF format]. If you think you've located a potential mother tree - you would be helping us achieve our goals, by filling out a Tree Locator Form. [*Adobe PDF format]
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