Giant Aesculus Hippocastanum/Horse Chestnut.

Hello IBC, I am a relatively new member and have only posted once previous, but have gained a lot of knowledge from reading all your posts.
So here’s a story about an Aesculus Hippocastanum/Horse Chestnut.

I acquired this massive Horse Chestnut tree from a friend and fellow bonsai enthusiast. Recently he has been clearing a small area of woodland of trees planted from saplings intended for bonsai over 30 years ago, which never quite made it. As the trees were slowly cleared away from a section of Victorian greenhouses, this beast emerged growing in a wooden container and a large plastic fibre sack. The wooden container had pretty much disintegrated but the sack had held strong with only one large root penetrating it which ran under one of the greenhouses.
The tree needed a vast amount of pruning as it had been left to grow freely for 10 years or so. After the pruning and severing of the large root, a friend and local Blacksmith who owns a nearby forge helped me down a steep hill with it to my car. With a tight squeeze we finally managed to get it in the back of my Ford Focus.
After getting it home I first sealed all the large wounds using Vaseline. Not having a pot of size to fit the tree I covered the top of the roots still contained in the plastic sack with a towel and gave it a good watering.
A few days later I managed to get my hand on a Belfast sink, which I was hoping to use as a temporary pot. Unfortunately though the root ball would have needed too much of a trim at this time to fit it. So working my way through only a few roots at the corners I managed to fit it in a large nursery pot.
Other than suffering a few small problems with the wind as I was unable to manoeuvre the tree in its new pot to my Polly tunnel single handed, the tree is recovering well, with new buds being thrown out all up the trunk. There are still a few large branches to remove to establish a good trunk line. For now though I’ll leave it alone to recover till next year.
Nebari 18”
Current Height 47”

This is massive indeed!

Probably the right size to obtain a decent bonsai from this species : some people try do do "mame" with them, I don't find that convincing at all if only for a few days, but what a lot of hassle for such poor results (I started a war on French forums with such an opinion, so don't feel offended if you try it anyway )

But on this one, you may even have flowers one day, and it's worth the challenge. Good luck with it and keep us informed of its progression.

Did this survive to leaf out this year?

DaveKirkland wrote:Did this survive to leaf out this year?

Hi Dave, It did indeed!

Also it's had a bit of a cut back.

MR. MIYAGI,,,This one is interesting too.. i really like the trunk... don,t chestnuts have big leaves ??? i think you will have a nice tree with some more work..show us again please...take care john

moyogijohn wrote:MR. MIYAGI,,,This one is interesting too.. i really like the trunk... don,t chestnuts have big leaves ??? i think you will have a nice tree with some more work..show us again please...take care john

Hi John, Yes leaves can be as big as 12” on a large tree but can be reduced to around 3-4” with pruning and been kept slightly pot bound. I expect it to grow some large ones this year as it has been potted up to a larger container and will be allowed to grow freely. With the size of the tree I’m hoping that with reduced leaf size in the future it will look credible. I have a few small conker trees that look nice but will never look like a full grown mature tree. Will keep you updated.

Thanks Sam

Any updates on this tree?