Hi,

I know nothing about bonsai or even basic pruning techniques of trees.

My son planted a conker 12 years ago in an old flower pot. Aft a few
transplants it is now 6ft tall and is an ideal size for new little patch of
England - can I use bonsai techniques to keep it at that kind of height and
still maintain an attractive looking tree?

If so, can someone give me some hints please

Ron

Cast-it Admin wrote:
Hi,

I know nothing about bonsai or even basic pruning techniques of trees.

My son planted a conker 12 years ago in an old flower pot. Aft a few
transplants it is now 6ft tall and is an ideal size for new little patch of
England - can I use bonsai techniques to keep it at that kind of height and
still maintain an attractive looking tree?

If so, can someone give me some hints please

Ron


The key "bonsai technique" is keeping the roots tightly
constrained and in a pot, so if this is planted in a "new little
patch of England" that technique would be not available to you.

However, you always can prune a tree down to some pleasing size.
I don't think horsechestnuts are very large trees, anyway, are
they?

Jim Lewis - - Columbus, NC - We have failed to
examine our love affair with technology. . . . Today's problems
are all too often yesterday's solutions. Stephen Viederman,
Jesse Smith Noyes Foundation

In article , Jim Lewis
wrote:

Cast-it Admin wrote:
I know nothing about bonsai or even basic pruning techniques of trees.

My son planted a conker 12 years ago in an old flower pot. Aft a few
transplants it is now 6ft tall and is an ideal size for new little patch of
England - can I use bonsai techniques to keep it at that kind of height and
still maintain an attractive looking tree?

If so, can someone give me some hints please

The key "bonsai technique" is keeping the roots tightly
constrained and in a pot, so if this is planted in a "new little
patch of England" that technique would be not available to you.

However, you always can prune a tree down to some pleasing size.
I don't think horsechestnuts are very large trees, anyway, are
they?

It depends. According to Wikipedia there are 20-25 species, which can grow
to 4-35m tall depending on the species.

The Common Horsechestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is widely cultivated, and
British children play a game with its seed or "conker", so that may be what
he has. It can grow to 35m.

"Wayne C. Morris" wrote:
In article , Jim Lewis
Cast-it Admin wrote:
I know nothing about bonsai or even basic pruning techniques of
trees.
[ . . . ]
It depends. According to Wikipedia there are 20-25 species, which can
grow to 4-35m tall depending on the species.

The Common Horsechestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is widely cultivated,
and British children play a game with its seed or "conker", so that may
be what he has. It can grow to 35m.

We used to play that in da North Bronx when I was a kid. Those trees were
huge (probably only 15-20 m) as we'd climb up and shake the branches to
drop some nuts!

--
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Horse chestnut trees tend to get rather large.. I have had a few for over twenty years in the hope that they may develop into a half decent bonsai. The problem that I found is that while the roots are allowed to grow the branches will grow quickly and long. That is with a long gap between sets of leaves and makes it look out of proportion. I have found that horse chestnut can take a lot of hacking it about, but the next problem is that when the tree gets rootbound, the branch growth is very minimal i.e.about 1/4 inch. This makes it very unattractive for bonsai . If it is attractive now, put it in a pot and let it get rootbound so that you will have minimal growth and with a little bit of luck it will stay the same for several years.