Q.Horse Chestnut Tree Never Flowered
I have a 15-year-old horse chestnut tree that has never flowered or produced chestnuts. Is there anything I can do to get it to flower and produce nuts?
Certified GKH Gardening Expert
Have been unable to locate reason for why your tree has not produced blooms, which of course affects its ability to produce chestnuts. While there is a chance you have a sterile tree, this would still not explain the lack of blooms. I am assuming that it is planted in an area receiving sun, as the amount of time you have had it tells me it has been flourishing. Normally, these trees will develop blooms within the first 4 years and begin setting seed within 8. Perhaps there is a problem with pollination. I am sorry I cannot be of more help to you, as this has me baffled as well.
To the certified gardening expert Nikki. Pollination is obviously not part of the problem if there are no flowers.
To the questioner. If it is any consolation I also have a non-flowering horse chestnut of around 20 years of age. It was trimmed regularly before I bought the property, so I am now letting it grow with the hope that it might flower after several years of natural extension. There is a possibility that such non-flowering trees have a gibberellin production mutation (deficiency) or gibberellin receptor mutation. Recently it has been shown that levels of gibberellin control both the onset and inhibition of flowering, though this may be the result of gibberellin modulation by a (as yet unknown) protein(s).
