Chestnuts

[HeyWayne]

Just cooked some chestnuts we bought fro the supermarket - they're lovely. However, there are a few that have sprouted.

Can I grow them? Anyone with any tips?

[Peter]

Wayne, of course you can grow them.
They grow happily up here in Hatfield Forest, the NT property.
The guy on Grand Designs who built his house in the forest and produced furniture & charcoal used a lot of sweet chesnut.
It can be a big tree, but can be coppiced.
Go for it.

[HeyWayne]

Wayne, of course you can grow them.
They grow happily up here in Hatfield Forest, the NT property.
The guy on Grand Designs who built his house in the forest and produced furniture & charcoal used a lot of sweet chesnut.
It can be a big tree, but can be coppiced.
Go for it.

Cheers Pete. Just had a quick web-search (or is that a "wearch"?) for chestnuts, and didn't realise that they get quite that big, and take that long to start producing.

I'm sure I'd seen them in one of the seed catalogues, and they said the tree was quite small by comparison.

Seems a shame to throw them away...

Maybe I'll feed them to Cyril - our resident squirrel.

[terrier]

If you've got the time to wait and the space for it, the Sweet Chestnut tree is also a lovely looking tree with it's twisting trunk. We've got four Horse Chestnuts on our drive and I wish I could swap them for Sweet Chestnuts. Maybe we could do a trade!

[HeyWayne]

If you've got the time to wait and the space for it, the Sweet Chestnut tree is also a lovely looking tree with it's twisting trunk. We've got four Horse Chestnuts on our drive and I wish I could swap them for Sweet Chestnuts. Maybe we could do a trade!

I'm being really dumb now - which are the ones you eat? The bag just said chestnuts...

[Hazel at the Hill]

Sweet Chestnuts! That's why Terrier wants to trade the HC for the SC, as you can't eat the former.....

[HeyWayne]

Sweet Chestnuts! That's why Terrier wants to trade the HC for the SC, as you can't eat the former.....

Thanks Hazel.

You can 'ave 'em if you want terrier - there's only 4 mind.

Don't reckon I'd fit one of these on my plot:



It's fuuuge!

[Hazel at the Hill]

google 'coppice' and 'sweet chestnut' and you might get something a bit more reasonable! You might be able to put one inna big pot?

[terrier]

When I was a kid, I spent hours collecting 'chestnuts' from a local wood one Christmas, thinking to have a feast. Only to be told they were 'conkers' and not Sweet Chestnuts. To make matters worse, none of them were big enough to make decent conkers! AHHHH!!

[rutters]

Can you buy these trees anywhere (not too big obviously) Also, how old are they when they start producing the edibles?

cheers

[Peter]

Wayne, pot them and nurture them till the spring, then do some guerilla gardening, find a verge / hedge / empty space / hole in a wood and plant them.

[bubblewrap]

I intend to spread poppies about in spring as I have half a pint of seeds(mainly opium but some Californian & Flanders)

[Don Vincenzo]

Just cooked some chestnuts we bought fro the supermarket - they're lovely. However, there are a few that have sprouted.

Can I grow them? Anyone with any tips?

Hi
Six or seven years ago I grew some sweet chestnuts from seeds, kept one and gave the others away. This year I had my first edible crop...three in total!!! A beautiful plant but it gets big even in pots as the roots find their way into the soil as mine did. It can be checked and trained by pruning. Grow yours in pots and in a couple of years either sell, give or plant them in a public place where you can check on their progress year after year.
Regards
Don Vincenzo

[Lavenderblue]

Can you buy these trees anywhere (not too big obviously) Also, how old are they when they start producing the edibles?

cheers

We have loads of tiny sweet chestnut trees. We collected a bumper harvest last year and so tried to plant some - every one came up and we give them away to anyone who wants one. If we can think of a way to get them safely to you, you are welcome to have one or two. PM me if you are interested.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Welcome to the Vine, Lavenderblue!