Horse Chestnut

Hi,

There's been a little tree growing in the back garden between a fence
and a big old box of bricks. I've always thought
it was a horse chestnut, and now its grown by 2 ft in the last month, and
I've checked that, yes, it is a horse chestnut. (I think)

Its almost 5ft now, growing up against a 6ft north facing fence, looking
fairly healthy considering it can't be getting very much water.

Our garden is tiny, so i can't let it grow, but I'd like to to try and keep it
alive and little. But if me trying to keep it little means me killing it slowly,
I'd rather get that out of the way now.

So, is it plausible that I'll get a horse chestnut to stay alive and
under ~ 7/8 ft tall? If I do try shall I try and move the large box of bricks,
and is there any other advice anyone can offer me?

I do really like horse chestnuts, and looks quite pretty where it is, but it
will be a problem if its likely to spread out a lot, as its quite near the back
gate. We've been having issues with Ailanthus, so my boyfriend has some
unfortunate anti-tree sentiments...

...

Oh! and if anyone knows where I could get some Pyracantha seeds that
are very likely to be very bright red, I would be grateful. There's only
some guy on ebay selling them.....

 

Personally I think of horse chestnut as a tree of the woods, I dont think it really has a place in a small garden.
They dont take well to pruning either, so I would get rid of it now unless you want problems in a few years.

Cant help on the pyracantha, it would be better to buy a plant of know potential at a garden centre, rather than mess around growing from seed.

 

Ok, after half an hour of swearing at computer, here is a pic!

i don't think its going to be be possible to dig it out...

but i really dont want to kill it unless i have to... any ideas on the best ways I can at least attempt to keep it small and healthy? or if its possible?

 

oh no, really? well your probably right...

don't think we can dig it up though, and it would die in summer if we weren't around...

i dont want to kill it for no reason, and its not going to be become a problem for a while, so i guess ill have to leave it for now. if i could think of a way to restrict its roots without having to dig it up, that would be ideal, but unlikely.

thanks for the advice everyone!!

 

actually, sorry, if i was going to try and dig it up, when would the best time be? in the middle of winter?

maybe putting it in a pot in the ground might work...

 

I slightly disagree with Marley here, horse chestnut tends to grow now, and then it stops for the rest of the summer, there could be a slight extension of growth a bit later in a wet year, but it grows in fits and starts.
So this time next year it may not be much bigger than it is now.

But digging it up and potting it is not going to be easy next winter.

You can always try though if your really keen.

 

well it has grown quite a lot this month, but there's hardly been any sun so I think it may have a bit more growth in it yet, so it may be best to do it now. I'll find a pot for it this week, and try and dig it up!

Thinking about it a mini horse chestnut in bloom at the back of the garden would look amazing, and theres little else that would do well in that area.

I really want it now! I must own a dwarf conker tree - if this one dies, there are always more conkers!

I'll report back on tree survival....

thanks everyone, im quite excited by tree project now.

 

I love playing with horse chestnut trees, they self set and are easy to dig up and pot. I shape them with garden twine and sticks into strange shapes and when they get to about three years old I give them away to people with room for them. You can get great shapes out of them as they are very flexible and bendable when green.

 

Only just been able to move box! got tired of waiting for OH to help, and put on my engineer hat and gloves ... turns out its actually a box of set concrete, no idea why, the chap who lived here before made some very poor decisions building-wise.

The roots have been forced out into a very weird and problematic shape by random lumps of concrete, bricks, etc, so i think im probably going to damage them quite a lot and certainly already have...any ideas on minimising trauma to tree from the root damage? (haven't even found edge of root ball yet, its much more spread out than I was anticipating. I have been watering it a lot. Would trimming off some of the branches be a good or a bad thing to do??

I've got the largest pot that wasn't ridiculously priced - 17" wide, 14" deep. I am going to GC tomorrow, and if I do find a larger one I can afford, would you recommend that?

Im mainly just going for survival atm, so i would be very grateful for any suggestions...

 

hmmm...if anyone's got any tips from taking HC cuttings that aren't coming up on a google search, that would be nice! (unlikely but I live in hope)

Going to take several semi-hardwood cuttings, although its the wrong time of year, you never know...

 

I could post you a sapling, would that be of any help?