Questions Concerning Oak Trees.....

[TreeWalker]

OK guys....got a couple of questions for you.....

For Oak trees in our area, they are mostly Bur Oaks.....I see that they have a healthy crop of acorns this year. When can a guy expect them to start dropping ??

Another question, is has anybody messed around with planting them ?? I have seen tons of young volunteer saplings, but if I was going to purposely try to grow some, would I merely scatter them on the ground ?? Rake a small amount of dirt over them ?? Or bury them a certain depth ??

Thanks for any and all help. Clay

[VTbowman]

I agree with Fast Eddie on this one.
White Oaks seems to be the sweet candy over any other type of Oak, and dont bother planting acorns if your doing so for future hunting potential. Apple trees are much faster but even then it takes a few years and they need tons of attention to do well.

No idea about when to expect the Oaks you mentions in concerns to acorn drop.
My best guess would be...
Fall time. LOL

[Chrud]

I thought I read somewhere that deer eat the sweetest acorns first and then work towards the bitter ones. If that is the case, target white oaks first.

Another tip. Oaks make good trees for stands. If you can get up by the leaves, oaks always have their leaves a lot longer than other trees. A little better cover.

[Tominator]

We don't have too many burr oaks here, although we do have some. In fact, there's a state park about 2 hours south of me called Burr Oak, I believe Nut hunts there.

Like the other guys said, White oaks produce a big sweet nut, whereas pin and red oaks produce a little A-kern (sic), that is on the bitter side I guess.

For the most part, we have red, pin and white oaks where we hunt, but to be honest, I've never really noticed deer flocking to oak stands like everyone raves about. I think it's because most of the areas I hunt are surrounded by crops which seem to be more palatable to the deer.

Oaks are a slow growing tree, and as stated before, they take a loooooooong time to produce acorns.

As far as planting them, I copied this from a site, because I'm too lazy to type this morning.

[ QUOTE ]
Collecting acorns. Most acorns ripen from late October to early November, with seeds on the lower branches ripening first. Use tools, such as long-handled loppers, sticks to knock them down. Fully mature acorns will dislodge easier than green ones, but birds, deer, and insects will quickly take their toll if acorns are not collected soon after ripening. The biggest acorns are usually best. Test by soaking them in a pail of water, keeping only sinkers. Acorns that float often have been damaged by insects or have not matured properly But if acorns were collected off the ground where they may have dried out, soak them longer—up to 24 hours—before discarding floaters.

Storing acorns. Acorns may lie stored up to six months without significant loss in viability if they are kept cool and not allowed to dry out. Place them in peat or saw dust within polyethylene bags, in an environment with temperatures around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, such as in a refrigerator. Polyethylene bags with a wall thickness of four to ten mils are ideal for storing acorns since they are permeable to carbon dioxide and oxygen hut impermeable to moisture—two factors that help maintain acorn viability.

Preparation for planting. Float the acorns again, and select the sinkers.

Planting directly in the field. Direct planting of acorns eliminates the root disturbance that occurs with transplanting and allows maximum root development. Methods for planting vary tremendously, so feel free to experiment.

[/ QUOTE ]

[TreeWalker]

Bur Oaks do still get hit pretty hard here, and the great thing about them is they CAN produce as early as 8 years..........

I'm not looking to hunt over them as much as try to get them established by the time the cottonwoods and ash/elm trees start dying off..........after all, I have adult oaks to hunt over now........I'm just hoping to possibly scrounge up some acorns for planting and wondering what would be the best time to expect them, and the best way to plant them.....

Thanks for the replies so far, anybody got some planting tips/tricks or any comments....keep them coming...

[Huntr104]

I agree. White Oaks first. Here in Rhode Island they start dropping 2nd week in Sept.

[wtnhunt]

Have all sorts of mature oaks all over our property. Acorns usually dont start falling here until sometime in late September to October. Most of my ladder stands are located in mature oak trees. Not real sure about planting them, we have saplings growing all over the property that have started on their own.

[ruttinbuc]

Clay,

Deer and Deer Hunting magazines Bow hunting issue has a rather comprehensive article on Acorns and Oaks. Truly a must read if you can get a copy of it. It was out a couple months ago. Totally eye opening. I have it here someplace. When I find it I'll quote from it.

I do know the tannin within the acorn is what determines which ones they will eat first. The order of which to my surprise is White, the Pin and the Black and Red the scrub oak and then the large rock oak.

[ QUOTE ]
I can state unequivocally that in the northeastern, central, southern and west coast regions of the United States, acorns when available, are the favorite whitetail food. There are times when acorns comprise 80 percent of the diet. When acorns drop, deer forsake their regular haunts and most of the other available foods to feast on these succulent brown nuts.

..........Leonard Lee Rue III

[/ QUOTE ]

[TreeWalker]

A little more info, that I did not realize.......the Bur Oak falls into the White Oak family, and has one of the sweetest fruits of all oak.....so I am in business, LOL

They also can produce fruit in their first year, but 8-10 years is most likely.........and the Bur Oak lives to be 200-400 years old !!

Kinda makes me proud to be able to do something for the future hunters in my family......

[BuckNrut]

I planted white oak acorns in my garden one year just for fun. They all came up. Try loosening the soil and burry the nut about 3" deep. Cover the area with leaves if possible to insulate and protect from critters.

BTW, any chance you could send some of those Bur nuts my way?

[TreeWalker]

[quote
As far as planting them, I copied this from a site, because I'm too lazy to type this morning.

[ QUOTE ]
Collecting acorns. Most acorns ripen from late October to early November, with seeds on the lower branches ripening first. Use tools, such as long-handled loppers, sticks to knock them down. Fully mature acorns will dislodge easier than green ones, but birds, deer, and insects will quickly take their toll if acorns are not collected soon after ripening. The biggest acorns are usually best. Test by soaking them in a pail of water, keeping only sinkers. Acorns that float often have been damaged by insects or have not matured properly But if acorns were collected off the ground where they may have dried out, soak them longer—up to 24 hours—before discarding floaters.

Storing acorns. Acorns may lie stored up to six months without significant loss in viability if they are kept cool and not allowed to dry out. Place them in peat or saw dust within polyethylene bags, in an environment with temperatures around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, such as in a refrigerator. Polyethylene bags with a wall thickness of four to ten mils are ideal for storing acorns since they are permeable to carbon dioxide and oxygen hut impermeable to moisture—two factors that help maintain acorn viability.

Preparation for planting. Float the acorns again, and select the sinkers.

Planting directly in the field. Direct planting of acorns eliminates the root disturbance that occurs with transplanting and allows maximum root development. Methods for planting vary tremendously, so feel free to experiment.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow....don't how I missed this before...thanks for posting it Chris....

[Tominator]

[ QUOTE ]
[quote
As far as planting them, I copied this from a site, because I'm too lazy to type this morning.

[ QUOTE ]
Collecting acorns. Most acorns ripen from late October to early November, with seeds on the lower branches ripening first. Use tools, such as long-handled loppers, sticks to knock them down. Fully mature acorns will dislodge easier than green ones, but birds, deer, and insects will quickly take their toll if acorns are not collected soon after ripening. The biggest acorns are usually best. Test by soaking them in a pail of water, keeping only sinkers. Acorns that float often have been damaged by insects or have not matured properly But if acorns were collected off the ground where they may have dried out, soak them longer—up to 24 hours—before discarding floaters.

Storing acorns. Acorns may lie stored up to six months without significant loss in viability if they are kept cool and not allowed to dry out. Place them in peat or saw dust within polyethylene bags, in an environment with temperatures around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, such as in a refrigerator. Polyethylene bags with a wall thickness of four to ten mils are ideal for storing acorns since they are permeable to carbon dioxide and oxygen hut impermeable to moisture—two factors that help maintain acorn viability.

Preparation for planting. Float the acorns again, and select the sinkers.

Planting directly in the field. Direct planting of acorns eliminates the root disturbance that occurs with transplanting and allows maximum root development. Methods for planting vary tremendously, so feel free to experiment.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow....don't how I missed this before...thanks for posting it Chris....

[/ QUOTE ]

You know Clay, I almost gave you one of these ---> the other day because, well, you figured it out. lol.

The previous owner of my house was into planting trees. He planted well over 100 white pines that are now over 15'. He also planted a bunch of acorns all over. Way out in my field, he planted about 20 white oaks. A few years ago, I dug up 3 of them and moved them to the front. I just noticed the biggest of the transplants developed a few acorn cups on it. Don't know if it will actually produce nuts. It looks like it didn't get pollinated. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I will say one thing, if you plan on transplanting the seedlings, make sure you do it when the tree is dormant, like in March, and don't let it get too big. anything over 2 feet will be pretty tough to transplant because oaks grow an incredibly long tap root. Found out the hard way on that one. Unfortunately, I killed a couple trees while trying to transplant them.

[TreeWalker]

Well I brought home my first batch of acorns......nearly 100 of them, only had 4 floaters..............man the acorns are dropping like crazy right now.........

Can't wait to plant these, and see how many I get to come up.....

[Tominator]

Very cool. Good luck with them. I have a buddy that propogates them commercially, let me know if you run into problems and I'll forward them to him.

[MarylandQDMA]

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