In article ,
"John Kelway" wrote:

I hope I have the right newsgroup and also hope that maybe someone can help
me. I live in the UK and am the dubious owner of a Horse Chestnut (Aesculus
hippocastanum) Bonsai tree. I know that these are not ideal for Bonsai but
nevertheless I planted a seed and grew my first Bonsai, it is now 20" tall
and some 33 years old the last 15 years have seen leaves no larger than 2.5"
to 3" across. I find the tree has grown into a very pleasing shape and I am
very proud of it. Now to my problem it has never flowered, does anybody know
how I can get it to flower? or is it now very unlikely.

Strange as this may seem I too have an old horse chestnut bonsai,
started when my then 6 year old daughter brought home a sprouting
"conker". It is about 32 years old, 20 inches high, and has not
bloomed. I have tried several variations of growth, feeding, pruning,
and non-pruning, to no avail. Some years I cut the growing tip, other
years I simply removed the larger leaves as they appeared. It is in a
two inch deep terracotta pot, and a couple of the surface roots have
become quite prominent.
Pity that neither of us seems to have any success at making this
tree bloom. I suspect that this means that it just won't bloom with
such a restricted root system.

Elmer
Vancouver Canada