Digging up a Horse Chestnut?

[Forsoothe!]

This whole post is a farce, It starts with not making sense about a greenhorn making a bonsai out of a species that is not suitable for bonsai just because he found some close by. I guess that's better than finding a bag of potatoes. Then, a serious discussion about making a bonsai out it anyway because some people offered examples of sticks with 3 leaves as successful bonsai because the leaves protruding from the sticks were smaller than a breadbox. Good God! The natural extension of a stupid conversation then descends into Hell with examples of reduced internodes from a stump with a quadrillion suckers and other testimony that includes the spoken word, Catalpa. Then a slight diversion into growing this bad boy in an inappropriate condition of too wet and low sunlight. That was solved, chemically, so we could make the natural jump across the chasm of good sense by doubling down with the inexperienced greenhorn upping his game with a still-inappropriate candidate big enough to look better with leaves smaller than a breadbox. My head hurts.

 

[Shibui]

It is realistic to expect to get any of these out of the ground easily. They are relatively small. Unless the soil is compacted parking lot the dig will be easy.
The real issue is the likelihood of survival.
You can look at this 2 ways:

1. the tree must survive - only dig if you are certain of time and amount of roots and aftercare.
2. easy come, easy go - time very little, investment very little, tree future where it is bleak. What's to lose? Chance of surviving the transplant are actually far better than most would allow. You will learn whatever the outcome.

Second issue is whether you want any of these as bonsai.
Most of the other taller trees will also have dormant buds in the lower trunk. If you dig and prune they will sprout in a similar manner but will any be bonsai?
If your aim is to learn about transplanting then go ahead. Do some now and some later to learn about the species and timing.
If you want really good bonsai keep looking.

 

[Mark2020]

This whole post is a farce, It starts with not making sense about a greenhorn making a bonsai out of a species that is not suitable for bonsai just because he found some close by. I guess that's better than finding a bag of potatoes. Then, a serious discussion about making a bonsai out it anyway because some people offered examples of sticks with 3 leaves as successful bonsai because the leaves protruding from the sticks were smaller than a breadbox. Good God! The natural extension of a stupid conversation then descends into Hell with examples of reduced internodes from a stump with a quadrillion suckers and other testimony that includes the spoken word, Catalpa. Then a slight diversion into growing this bad boy in an inappropriate condition of too wet and low sunlight. That was solved, chemically, so we could make the natural jump across the chasm of good sense by doubling down with the inexperienced greenhorn upping his game with a still-inappropriate candidate big enough to look better with leaves smaller than a breadbox. My head hurts.