Kitchen garden magazine says that sweet chestnut 'Regal' will only be 20
foot in 15 years. Is this feasible or a sad underestimation of the
tree's growth? I thought it might be nice to replace the cherry in the
front garden.

janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

The message
from Janet Tweedy contains these words:

Kitchen garden magazine says that sweet chestnut 'Regal' will only be 20
foot in 15 years. Is this feasible or a sad underestimation of the
tree's growth? I thought it might be nice to replace the cherry in the
front garden.

Hum. Sweet chestnuts can grow VAST and quite quickly - however, if
someone has produced some sort of dwarf variety, why not?

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

The message
from Janet Tweedy contains these words:

Kitchen garden magazine says that sweet chestnut 'Regal' will only be 20
foot in 15 years. Is this feasible or a sad underestimation of the
tree's growth? I thought it might be nice to replace the cherry in the
front garden.

Hum. Sweet chestnuts can grow VAST and quite quickly - however, if
someone has produced some sort of dwarf variety, why not?

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

In article ,
Janet Tweedy wrote:

Kitchen garden magazine says that sweet chestnut 'Regal' will only be 20
foot in 15 years. Is this feasible or a sad underestimation of the
tree's growth? I thought it might be nice to replace the cherry in the
front garden.

Remember that most sweet chestnuts can be coppiced if not let get
too old before doing so. That is an effective way of keeping their
height down.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Janet Tweedy wrote:
Remember that most sweet chestnuts can be coppiced if not let get
too old before doing so. That is an effective way of keeping their
height down.


But the roots will keep growing ...

= Arthur

"........... Kitchen garden magazine says that sweet chestnut 'Regal' will
only be 20 foot in 15 years. Is this feasible or a sad underestimation of
the tree's growth? .........."

I'd be more inclined to say it will grow to 20 ft in only 15yrs,
and it will keep on growing for the next 50 yrs at least....

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk
***2004 catalogue now available***

The message
from "Arthur" contains these words:
"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

Remember that most sweet chestnuts can be coppiced if not let get
too old before doing so. That is an effective way of keeping their
height down.


But the roots will keep growing ...

No they won't, not if you keep the tree trimmed. They have no need to.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
But the roots will keep growing ...

No they won't, not if you keep the tree trimmed. They have no need to.

Not so. Even trees that have been regularly pollarded will grow massive
root structures over the years. The trunk increases in girth every year,
and so do the roots supporting it.

- Arthur

In article , Arthur
writes

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
But the roots will keep growing ...

No they won't, not if you keep the tree trimmed. They have no need to.

Not so. Even trees that have been regularly pollarded will grow massive
root structures over the years. The trunk increases in girth every year,
and so do the roots supporting it.

- Arthur




Ah well in that case it's back to the drawing board.............
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

The message
from "Arthur" contains these words:
"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
But the roots will keep growing ...

No they won't, not if you keep the tree trimmed. They have no need to.

Not so. Even trees that have been regularly pollarded will grow massive
root structures over the years. The trunk increases in girth every year,
and so do the roots supporting it.

We were talking of coppicing not polling. Root growth expands to match
needs above ground.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades writes:
| The message
| from "Arthur" contains these words:
|
| But the roots will keep growing ...
|
| No they won't, not if you keep the tree trimmed. They have no need to.
|
| Not so. Even trees that have been regularly pollarded will grow massive
| root structures over the years. The trunk increases in girth every year,
| and so do the roots supporting it.
|
| We were talking of coppicing not polling. Root growth expands to match
| needs above ground.

It's not quite that simple. The roots of coppiced plants do keep
growing, though not usually as fast, because the plant has to put
more energy into regrowing the shoots. You can see that on old
ones, including Cornus (which is often grown that way).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades writes:
| The message
| from "Arthur" contains these words:
|
| But the roots will keep growing ...
|
| No they won't, not if you keep the tree trimmed. They have no
need to.
|
| Not so. Even trees that have been regularly pollarded will grow
massive
| root structures over the years. The trunk increases in girth
every year,
| and so do the roots supporting it.
|
| We were talking of coppicing not polling. Root growth expands to match
| needs above ground.

It's not quite that simple. The roots of coppiced plants do keep
growing, though not usually as fast, because the plant has to put
more energy into regrowing the shoots. You can see that on old
ones, including Cornus (which is often grown that way).

True, up to a point - it depends how you coppice. If you rotate a third
a year the roots should stabilise very quickly.

If you coppice once every three/etc years, the roots will still
stabilise somewhere, though maybe at a greater bulk.

Actually, if a pollard tree is trimmed regularly, the roots on that will
stabilise. The thickness of the trunk is almost immaterial, as the
living tissue on that is more-or less restricted to the bast and the
cambium. It's the new growth from the polled part which requires fed.
Restrict it and you restrict the need for outward root growth.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...

Actually, if a pollard tree is trimmed regularly, the roots on that will
stabilise. The thickness of the trunk is almost immaterial, as the

So you are saying that however thick the trunk grows, the roots stay the
same size. In that case the tree would just fall over!

I can show you street trees that have always been regularly trimmed by the
council. The roots are pushing up the tarmac and are thicker than the
branches.

- Arthur

The message
from "Arthur" contains these words:
"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...

Actually, if a pollard tree is trimmed regularly, the roots on that will
stabilise. The thickness of the trunk is almost immaterial, as the

So you are saying that however thick the trunk grows, the roots stay the
same size. In that case the tree would just fall over!

I can show you street trees that have always been regularly trimmed by the
council. The roots are pushing up the tarmac and are thicker than the
branches.

I didn't say that.

I said the roots will stabilise. It's how much growth is allowed at the
head which dictates the vigour of the roots.

Nature doesn't waste its energy growing roots to no effect.

If you were to take a photograph of the trees you're talking about every
year, you'd see that the head is growing more and more branches, needing
more nutrient each year. If your council were to restrict the head to
the same number of branches each year the roots would not get out of
hand.

As to falling over, it isn't the size of the trunk which causes trees to
fall over, it's the leverage resulting from the strength of wind and
their height and effective area of resistance to it, along with the soil
type and its state.

Wind following heavy or persistent rain will topple far more timber than
just wind on its own.

And yes, I do know what I'm talking about having been in arboriculture
one way and another since 1956.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)