Horse Chestnut Bonsai

Timwelsted · White Belt Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 1

Hi all,
Well I've signed into this forum because I have had a casual interest in Bonsai trees since I was five. I planted a Horse Chestnut then and have had it ever since.

I left it to it's own devices for 12-15 years where I didn't change the pot or do anything. In the past 3-5 years I have been repotting it and cutting some of the buds off. The pictures taken below are from last year, it has four main branches in the picture.

This year I have clipped another bud off the end of the largest branch and am getting more branching off this branch with a lot smaller leaves.

I'm worried about doing too much at once. For this season I am only planning on cutting back the largest of the leaves to allow light to the smaller leaves on the tree. I have already cut one and am going to take another three off this week.

Any tips for this type of tree would be greatly appreciated.

The tree below was 20 years old when this was taken.

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1327268

Dick · Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 5:09 pm Post subject: Re: Horse Chestnut Bonsai

People have asked about this tree on the forum before. The most common comment that can be made is that the leaves really do not shrink down all that much. This will force you to keep the tree a little larger than usual, but that's all right too. Some bonsai trees are just that way and need to be larger.

I might suggest that the tree you have be planted in a wider and shallower pot to give it a better size scale. The pot that it is currently growing in lends to the scale being off. in a wider and shallower pot, this will be improved.

I doubt that leaf cutting will make the leaves that much smaller in the long run, just becasue of the nature and growing habit of this tree. Other than the pot, the tree looks very good and healthy and can become a nice looking larger sized bonsai.