Collected Acorns yesterday.

[BuckSutherland]

My best friends (plural) were given a piece of land by her dad recently that has about 50 big mature oak trees on it (Sibley County). They mow grass and everything out there and keep it super clean. Yesterday I took two of my girls down there and collected acorns. I figure I have over 800-1,000 in the ice cream pail and I have 291 in the Ziploc (we had a guessing contest). The ones in the Ziploc were kept separate cause that tree has produced a heavy crop two years in a row and looked really healthy. I chewed on many of those acorns and they werent bitter at all. I can see why the animals go nuts for them. The ones in the ice cream pail were picked at random from the other heavy producers. It was raining acorns under a few of them.

In a few weeks I have to go up and bud cap my spruce trees. I will try to direct seed a couple of areas on my land and maybe plop a few into public land were they just logged. I also have 25 1 gallon pots that I bought and was gonna putz with some in the basement over the winter. I'm not expecting miracles from any of it.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I also scored on some nice cedar logs last time up north with my chippewa forest permit that allows me to take down wood. The cedar smelled so damn good that I brought a few logs home and chopped them up and layered our hunting clothes with them. The deer up where I hunt go nuts for cedar. Most bucks I have seen shot up there have it caked to there foreheads when they are harvested. Both of my big ones did.

I opened the bins this morning and they smelled great. Hope it can cover some of our stink.

 

[bwoods11]

Looks good!

 

[OakSeeds]

The photo of your daughters is priceless; when they are adults, they will have fond memories of collecting acorns with Dad. Congratulations on introducing them to the world of acorns. You might want to float test your acorns and discard any that float (would probably make storage easier). Remember, HEAT is the biggest threat to the viability of acorns; most folks store them in the crisper of a fridge. In the 3rd photo, you can see the trees have limbs/foliage fairly close to the ground …. a characteristic of trees growing in an oak-savanna type environment. I'd like to see some leaves off the tree that produced the smaller acorns contained in the zip lock bag if you can obtain them with little effort. Again, congratulations on a wonderful outing and a great find.

 

[j-bird]

I like getting the kids involved. I picked up a few acorns as well (my source wasn't quite ready yet for the big haul). Float test them and get the bad ones away from the good ones. Get them in the ground or in the fridge....as the white oak will try to germinate if the temps are warm enough. Red oaks will need a cold process to germinate. The only time I have had any real success growing them is by taking care of them. I tossed over 1,000 acorns last year and to my knowledge all I did was feed the squirrels. Those I just got, I put in pots on the back porch in a cage. Direct seeding is fine, but without protection they tend to get dug up and ate. I have to put my pots in a wire dog kennel because of the bushy tailed thieves!

 

[TreeDaddy]

Ditto above

Unless they are direct seeded with the same care and attention to detail given container planting,they are doomed to predation

Oakseeds shared his methods with me in a PM several years ago

I will post if I can find it

bill

 

[j-bird]

I have some sawtooth oaks I planted from acorns ( shipped to me in 10/2016 - planted 4/2017). Now sawtooth are known to grow fast as it is. Those planted in the woods....dead. Those planted in plots and ignored....dead. Those planted in plots but not taken care of real well...are struggling (like maybe knee high). Those I planted in plots and really took care of....one is over 5 feet tall (most are roughly 3 feet tall). So if you want results you can see....you are going to have to go "all in" in caring for them.

Sometimes - volume tends to mean lack of quality care. In my case that is certainly true and it's just easier to care for a few and do a little at a time than do too much and do a half-assed job of it.

 

[BuckSutherland]

We planted some acorns today. I have a 4 foot LED light coming from Amazon on Wednesday. I am gonna set them up in the basement for the winter on a 4 foot piece of plywood. I will eventually transfer the best to 1 gallon pots. Cut little drainage slots in the Styrofoam cups. Mixed a little peat moss, topsoil and compost. My first try ever. Hope I can make it to spring with 50% success rate. The rest are in the fridge and will be direct seeded in two weeks.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I am roofing a house in Watertown today. They have an oak tree with the most massive acorns I have ever seen. They are still really green and holding tight. It’s a younger tree with a pretty decent crop. I got my ladder out and swiped about 15 acorns to bring home and try to plant. Seems the bugs like them.

 

[scott44]

Good find, Bur oak it looks like.

 

[j-bird]

Nice find.....look like bur oak to me as well....I hope they are developed enough for you and they grow. I like seeing little girls with their hands dirty. I turned mine loose once adding coating to some AWP seed before....they had a ball.

 

[OakSeeds]

While very similar to a Bur Oak, it is likely the acorns you have collected are from a white oak tree called an Overcup. White Oak. The "fringe" on the top of the cap is shorter than most found on Bur Oaks and the cap covers most of the acorn unlike a Bur Oak. Given the diameter of the trunk, you may have a hybrid with vigorous growth potential since it appears to be producing acorns at a relatively young age. Keep an eye on that tree. Congratulations!

https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_quly.pdf

https://www.bing.com/images/search?...eed&selectedindex=2&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2,6

 

[bwoods11]

I am no expert, but it seems like younger planted oaks produce acorns in years where the overall acorn crop is poor (like this year in my area of MN). My young bur oaks and hybrids were solid, but a low number from my mature bur oaks

 

[The Fishman]

I was thinking those were overcup oaks also. Overcup oaks live in wet places that naturally flood so the acorns are designed to float. The float test will not work on overcup oak acorns since even viable acorns will float. Even if you remove the cap, the acorn will still float. I have heard conflicting reports on whether deer will eat overcup acorns. I have found them to be fast growers and make good landscaping trees around the house.

 

[BuckSutherland]

They did not float. Sank right away. I took 5 out of the cap and the shell was thick. I actually broke a piece of the outer shell on the acorn itself when trying to take the cap off. I am gonna let them dry a bit before I try to bust more out. She said I could come back and get more if needed. I hope that tree holds really late every year.

I was working for a fella today that had a degree in forestry and spent considerable time working for the forest service. He thought it was some type of burr hybrid and that ovrrcup is rare in MN.

 

[BuckSutherland]

The kids and I got all setup in the basement this evening. I got a 4ft LED light from amazon for about $45. I am getting some trays tomorrow for all of the cups so they can drain if needed. I labeled all the cups of the different acorns collected.

I should have around 125 cups of various oaks when done. I might try a few white pine seeds too. Would be pretty happy to have 30-40 trees for myself and then give the rest away.

 

[sandbur]

I just picked up a few northern red oak acorns. Planting acorns on about my 65th Birthday is called optimism!

Buck, do you really have to bud cap spruce?

Most people up north just worry about white pine.


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[Frosted brassica]

Not sure if I should make a separate post but I am curious what tools you all use. I heard a podcast where they said they used some kind of roller to pick up acorns. Any recommendations?

 

[BuckSutherland]

Buck, do you really have to bud cap spruce?

Most people up north just worry about white pine.


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For sure. I have been trying to make sidewalks that follow a path of spruce trees. They use the sidewalks too much and stop and browse all my little seedlings along the way. I will bid cap all of my Norways, Meyers, scotch pine, red pine, and probably my cannan fir. The white pines are all in cages.

I think two more years after this one and I can be done bud capping once they harden off. It’s been hell to try and get Norway’s to grow by us cause of all the browsing.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Not sure if I should make a separate post but I am curious what tools you all use. I heard a podcast where they said they used some kind of roller to pick up acorns. Any recommendations?

I just picked them up by hand with the kids. It really doesn’t take long at all to pick up hundreds of them if you have a good tree.