Out of little conkers grow big, well small, trees...
On Sunday, 26th September, it was my little baby horse chestnut's first birthday! :D
That's him on his birthday, only small, I know, but he is a baby. I found the conker on a walk on this date last year and planted it up. I had a good day.
Here is him with other baby trees, two self-sown oaks that we have rescued from their vunerable locations and potted temporarily, and a baby hazel we are growing.
We have many many other baby trees in the garden, and full grown ones, I need an arboretum - someone get me some land. :)
To celebrate the birthday, I planted some of the tree's baby brothers, 5 more conkers fallen from the same tree last year.
Yes, I know Aesculus hippocastanum (yes it's part of the Buckeye family) isn't native to this country, it's native to Northern Greece and Albania, but NM - I like them.
That's him on his birthday, only small, I know, but he is a baby. I found the conker on a walk on this date last year and planted it up. I had a good day.
Here is him with other baby trees, two self-sown oaks that we have rescued from their vunerable locations and potted temporarily, and a baby hazel we are growing.
We have many many other baby trees in the garden, and full grown ones, I need an arboretum - someone get me some land. :)
To celebrate the birthday, I planted some of the tree's baby brothers, 5 more conkers fallen from the same tree last year.
Yes, I know Aesculus hippocastanum (yes it's part of the Buckeye family) isn't native to this country, it's native to Northern Greece and Albania, but NM - I like them.
posted by Orbling at
03:20
8 Comments:
Horray for trees! I also have a collection of babies - two oaks (there were three but I gave one to a friend as a birthday present), a copper hazel that might actually be a beech, a few silver birches and a couple of hawthorns. I've been collecting acorns for planting for a few weeks and they're all over the place, but this year is my first conker attempt.
Any germination tips?
By
Stormfilled, at Tuesday, September 28, 2004 7:50:00 am
We have a young hawthorn growing, about say 6 years old, it's getting nice and tall, though roses and the clematis keep interfering with it. It has all it's berries on at the moment, looks nice.
We don't normally need to plant acorns as a rule, we have an army of squirrels stationed here, and they "plant" tons for us. Most don't germinate as they manage to go eat them, but some do, always fun.
I'm very close to a large wood, naturally a hornbeam/oak wood, but there are a large number of beeches and ash there. So we can sneak in and plant specimens if we're growing too many. ;)
As for germination, conkers germinate pretty well in my experience, as long as you keep them safe from our furry friends and in a reasonably deep pot - they have a long tap root. We always use netting from fruit packs to cover the top of the pot over winter, held down with garden wire. Stops pests getting in there. If I recall they like to be planted about 2 depths of conker down, so about 3 inches under the top - like bulbs. The one that had it's birthday was cracked when it was planted, and still germinated, although it's best to plant them soon after they leave their shell as they dry up quickly. You may be able to see from the picture of the conkers that two are drier than the others.
Good luck with your tree planting, we need all we can get. Horrible people keep chopping them down!
By
Orbling, at Thursday, September 30, 2004 2:01:00 pm
I'll get a job eventually Dhruv, just got to wait for hell to freeze over, etc...
I've always been versed in botany, as my mum is totally obsessed with gardening, and knows more than any professional I've ever spoken with. So it rubs off eventually. The only reason I don't do much, is that I have a thing about creepy crawlies, not fear with most, just hate injuring anything and worms have this habit of lining themselves up with your trowel.
The flowers behind are in one of many raised beds in the garden. All looking lovely as ever, that bed is a bit empty at the moment, as it did have carrots in it, but they are sitting in the fridge, leave them in too long and they get gobbled up. That reminds me, must pick the parsley...
As for the camera, yep it's fantastic, those pictures are 15% of original quality. ;) Mind you as I am now broke, it should be good.
By
Orbling, at Thursday, September 30, 2004 2:07:00 pm
Maples are lovely trees, we have a nice relative of that here the London Plane, massive leaves. They are often used for lining the pavements of our streets.
Conker is a bit of an odd word, it refers to the nut of the Horse Chestnut tree. There is a game called "conkers" where opponents tie these nuts on to a string, and try to smash each others nut. Quite popular with kids in autumn here.
NB. Fixed the pictures, as my provider managed to delete them, so you can see what they look like.
By
Orbling, at Thursday, October 07, 2004 3:51:00 pm
hey...
realise that my last note was not saved..
arghh
haha
nice plants.. u r really into plants ah
was watching a tv programme today
there is a type of grass found in yun nan that can dance to 30 decibel music!!!
as in the leaves will turn and turn..
very interesting=P
By
Desolation, at Sunday, October 24, 2004 10:07:00 am
Wow, plants with musical appreciation, sounds like my sort of nature! ;)
By
Orbling, at Sunday, October 24, 2004 2:34:00 pm
hey is a conker the seed pod thing?
im trying to bonsai a horse chest nut what need to happen to the seed before it will germinate ? thanks!
By
Unknown, at Tuesday, August 25, 2009 11:12:00 pm
Hello Tim,
Yes, the conker is the common name for the seed/nut of the horsechestnut tree. In order to get it to germinate you should plant it in a reasonably deep pot (see the photos in the article), maybe an inch under the soil line in late Septemer / early October and then leave outside all winter as the seed needs a good few frosts to germinate properly, in the UK, you would hope to see growth breaking through around April the following year. Plant a few to ensure success as some may fail.
Good luck.
By
Orbling, at Wednesday, August 26, 2009 1:50:00 pm
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