acorn to oaks?

[strokerduster]

anybody got a hot tip on propagating acorns and growing trees? i have acorns that just dropped from a very fast growing red oak and would love a yard full of em. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Holzster]

A good way to narrow down what nuts are good & bad is to put them into a bucket of water for about 2-3 hours. If the float through them out they have to much air in them.
Then just cover them with a light soil (potting soil) about deep as they are big.
keep them moist & warm - not hot & wet!

& have fun!!

 

[Buckeye_Jim]

ya gotta tell us if they grow!!!

Jim

 

[Glenn9643]

I've transplanted several that sprouted in flower beds and they seem to do better than bought trees as far as annual growth; seem to be easier to get established.
I have also planted a few acorns in pots in an effort to get some overcup oaks going. Planted several in each pot and chose one to be the winner from what came up...
Unless you're planning on trees for the grandkids you might want to start with something larger. Our efforts have been for the long term, but someone will enjoy the results.

 

[strokerduster]

glenn, the tree that they came from is a red oak that is in my MIL's yard in bastrop. there was a HUGE oak that died 11 years ago and they had it cut and dug up. the next spring, a new tree came up about 10' from the origional. it is now about 16" in diameter and 45' tall. growing extremely fast. i sure would like to perpetuate this tree in texas. i also dug about a dozen sprouts and brought back also. safety in numbers ya know. i'll try to attach a pict of this 10 year old pup........Paul

 

[Glenn9643]

Paul,
We had about 15 acres here that was open fields, and a few years ago I bought some seedlings from www.southernseedlings.com located in Start, LA to try and get some trees going. The primary tree of choice was Shumardi Oak (a type of red oak) . There were some problems with water standing for days in the spring that I’ve since resolved by ditching, etc. At any rate, the seedlings have been very slow in getting established for us. It seems that any seedling that I find around the place from our larger trees seem to be doing better than those from the nursery 15 miles away. I don’t have any idea why.
Good luck with your trees!

 

[HGM]

Good info guys, I would have never thouht to go that roure. Could it be that the trees are less tramatized, never having to be replanted? I may try that as well.. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[BB_TX]

10-12 years ago one fall, I picked up a couple hand fulls of acorns from one of my red oaks. I walked around the back part of my lot dropping them in cracks in the ground and mashing them in with my foot then forgot about them. The next spring as I was mowing the first time, I kept seeing the odd looking sprigs coming up but just kept mowing. I finally realized it was oaks sprouting. I ended up with only 3 left. Those 3 are now about 15 feet tall.
4 years ago my son gave me some large bur oak acorns. I planted those in some 2 gallon pots. They sprouted right away. After 2 yrs I transplanted them to the yard and they are about 5' tall.
Now I have some live oaks started in 1 gallon pots.

 

[Dargo]

In the last 17 years I've planted around 4500 oaks on property I own. Last year was the first year that any of the trees I'd planted produced any acorns. Man, did they ever produce acorns! I had tens of thousands of them. Anyway, in late spring I noticed in clear paths where some new seedlings were growing. It seemed that they were growing best where my lawn mower had pressed them into the ground. On closer inspection, some of the acorn was still visible at ground level, but most of the acorn had been pressed into the soil by the turf tires.

I have no idea if that proves anything at all. It is just my observations. Well, I guess it does prove one thing. I'd always heard that oaks do not produce acorns until they are 50 years old. I'll step out on a limb and say that I can at least say that is false. Around their 15th year, it seemes like most of my oaks began producing acorns. Good luck! I think oaks are fantastic trees.

 

[thatguy]

There is an chestnut oak outside my office that drops a lot of acorns each year.. I was amazed at how many seedlings came up just from laying around on the ground..

After seeing how easily they came up, I picked up a couple dozen acorns this year and dropped them around our mulched flower beds to hopefully transplant next summer..

I hope atleast some of them come up.. But who knows..

good luck

Brian