Seeking seed for improved north american native fruits/nuts

Hi all,

I am planning to plant a native polyculture, in situ, from seed. I'm looking for good sources of native tree seed but having a hard time finding any from trees that have been selectively bred for improved traits. Outside of Oikos Tree Crops (from whom I will be getting the bulk of seed at this point) I have only been able to find two individuals (non-companies) who are actively working on some of this and willing to share seed with me.

Mostly I'm looking seed from trees which produce: low-tannin acorns, high yielding black currants, larger and/or thinner-shelled hazelnuts, larger-fruited black cherry, and crabapples that have a good balance of sweet/acidic/astringent so as to make a single varietal cider.

I realize that I may not be able to find seed from populations which have reached these goals. That's fine. I am happy to be part of the breeding process, but I don't know if I have it in me to personally scour the forest edges of north america to find good candidates for the beginning stages of breeding.

Eventually, I'd love to get the ball rolling on something similar to Joseph Lofthouse's Gone To Seed project, except for native perennials. For now, it would be enough to not have to start completely from scratch.

If anybody has any contacts or recommendations for people who are already engaged in the breeding of native fruit/nut trees/shrubs for the purposes of disseminating improved seed at population levels, I would be ever so grateful.

Thank you for your consideration

Where are you located? I have Midwest USA stuff

I've had some decent results from shrub/tree seeds from the Experimental Farm Network. Maybe they might have something that would pique your interest?

Martin Mikulcik wrote:Where are you located? I have Midwest USA stuff

I am currently working on acquiring land in southwest Michigan, zone 6, sandy glacial till and end moraines

I sent you a pm