Chestnut trees?

[SpotsandBays]

Trying to figure out if chesnut trees are safe for horses? Not “horse chestnuts” but the trees that give you edible chestnuts! I tried to google but google insists that I’m looking for horse chestnuts ? (or am I being an idiot? A horse chestnut is conkers right?!).
Mum bought me some chestnuts for roasting but one has sprouted, so I’m going to try and grow it! Just trying to figure out where it could go if it makes it!

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Try searching for Sweet Chestnut.

 

[Annagain]

http://www.thewayofhorses.com/11_13...rse has eaten,readily flushed from the system.
It seems sweet chestnuts themselves are ok for horses - no mention of the leaves though.

 

[milliepops]

the trees look pretty much the same, but edible chestnuts are different to horse chesnuts (which make conkers)

I think horse chestnuts are toxic but sweet ones are not.

 

[criso]

Sweet chestnuts are not toxic but quite high in starch so I'd be wary of larger amounts for a horse with metabolic issues.

We had one between the field and stables at one yard I was at and the horses used to crunch them up prickles and all.

 

[PurBee]

Sweet chestnut trees have lovely long leaves. Really nice compact trees.

my neighbour has about 3 planted along a boundary but ive noticed they never have a nut inside the casing.

So im wondering if they’re like hazlenuts...need female and male trees?

So you may need to plant both genders OP.....to pollinate the females.
We get loads of bees here and other insectoide pollinators so my neighbours trees aren’t struggling from that point of view.
Literally collected all the casings on the floor and not one had a nut in...suggesting gender tree pollination rather than low pollination via insects , which always yields at least a few nuts.

I bought a bag of chestnuts the other day....cant wait to roast them! Its been a few years! Its not xmas without chestnuts!

 

[Keith_Beef]

Castanea sativa, the sweet chestnut, is is monoecious, i.e. it has both male and female flowers on the same tree. But it is self-incompatible: pollen from male flowers cannot fertilise female flowers of the same tree, so if you want to get a crop you will need to have at least two trees.

This makes me think that if you want to have several trees without the risk of your horse eating fallen chestnuts, you might be able to propagate a set of cuttings from a single tree; this way the trees would all be clones and theoretically incapable of fertilising each other.

This would only work, though, if there are no other chestnut trees nearby.

Chestnut trees are fast-growing and really useful. In south-west France they were widely used for making baskets and bentwood furniture and for making hurdles; the trees readily throw up new growth from the roots or from a cut trunk, like haze and willow.

 

[PurBee]

Thanks keith, that interesting...maybe my neighbour took cuttings from one tree hence why the 3 trees dont produce nuts.

 

[SpotsandBays]

Thanks everybody! I mean having home chestnuts would be lovely but thinking long long term whether they would make decent shelter for horses in fields.

 

[SpotsandBays]

Castanea sativa, the sweet chestnut, is is monoecious, i.e. it has both male and female flowers on the same tree. But it is self-incompatible: pollen from male flowers cannot fertilise female flowers of the same tree, so if you want to get a crop you will need to have at least two trees.

This makes me think that if you want to have several trees without the risk of your horse eating fallen chestnuts, you might be able to propagate a set of cuttings from a single tree; this way the trees would all be clones and theoretically incapable of fertilising each other.

This would only work, though, if there are no other chestnut trees nearby.

Chestnut trees are fast-growing and really useful. In south-west France they were widely used for making baskets and bentwood furniture and for making hurdles; the trees readily throw up new growth from the roots or from a cut trunk, like haze and willow.

Super helpful, thanks!

 

[sunnyone]

We had a sweet chestnut tree at a home. Neither the horses or us got to eat the nuts though, the squirrels always got them first. Just enjoy the tree.

 

[Lois Lame]

Thanks keith, that interesting...maybe my neighbour took cuttings from one tree hence why the 3 trees dont produce nuts.

More likely her trees are still too young to produce fruits.

(Stolen from Wiki: Sweet chestnut trees live to an age of 500 to 600 years. In cultivation they may even grow as old as 1000 years or more.)