[Organicgrowingpains]

Hi, I have a few chestnuts and would like to see if they would grow for me, I have them soaking in water at the moment thinking to soften the shell?Right or wrong?

Anyone have any advice on how to proceed ie; type of compost, pot outdoors or indoors etc.
All advice appreciated, thanks

[mountainy man]

Do you mean Horse chestnut or sweet or Spanish chestnut?

either way both are easy to grow, fill a pot three quarters full put your seed in and just cover them with some more soil or compost, put them somewhere in the shade and that's it really, make sure the soil doesn't dry out over the winter(lol!) and wait for spring. they are good reliable germinators and should grow strongly, both develop a deep taproot so make sure the pot is deep enough or plant out before they get too big as you will see roots coming out the bottom of the pot. Have fun its very rewarding.

[Organicgrowingpains]

Thanks mountainy man, I dont know really which chestnut it is other than its a big old tree which always has chestnuts and I am always saying I must try growing one so this is finally the year I do it.

[Greengage]

best to plant them in 1 litre milk carton allows the tap root to develope.

[tippben]

Long, deep and narrow container is a very good idea. If the nut is basically round, with a casing covered in sparse spikes like a medieval weapon, it's a Horse Chestnut. These are originally from the Balkans, and are poisonous, no good for firewood, but great for playing "Conkers" and have quite ornamental flowers.

If the nut is heart shaped, with a casing covered in thousands of narrow spines, like a punk hedgehog, it's a Sweet Chestnut, which is from Italy, very good eating, and relatively rare in Ireland, also useful for cleaving as a coppice stool to make fencing or building materials, as well as burning well.

Either way, drop your nuts into a bucket of water. Don't plant any that float. Only plant them just beneath the surface. When a tree drops a seed, it lands on the surface, not 2 inches down. Seeds planted deeper may well rot.

[Organicgrowingpains]

Thank you both Greengage and tippben, Horse chestnut it is then, milk carton is a good idea.
Anyone any idea how long they take to germinate are we looking at next Spring for a visible shoot?

[medieval knievel]

yep, you should see something appearing above ground in the spring.

[Blowin]

Good luck with it but just a word of caution!!!

ONLY burn either chestnut species (if you were going to) in an enclosed wood burner. They 'spit' like fury and will send embers out into the room if used on an open fire. Heatwise, though, terrific.

[My Potatoes]

I sowed a horse chestnut conker in Autumn 2012. It sprouted in the spring and grew rapidly last season. Here's a picture I took the other day. The pot could do with a bit of weeding but it's grown quite strong, though it did have a great year for it.

[My Potatoes]

[Greengage]

Give it a chance it only has two buds on it. Don't know what age the chap is but in fifty years time when he decides to burn it,He will need help, thats if it doesn't suffer from bleeding canker or lawnmower disease.
PS well done for growing it from seed. Keep it watered and maybe look for somewhere to plant it permanently.

[Blowin]

I may be wrong about Horse Chestnut being bad for burning - I thought they were both the same - but sweet chestnut is certainly as I said. My Dad worked with it all his life and we burned tons of it.