Concordia Oaks and Swamp / Bur Hybrids

This is the first year I've used rootmakers and with intention to over-winter them. How to go about that was going to be a thread topic i planned to make.
Dad covers his with mulch, which seems to work fairly well. I just move my pots to my garage. The oaks do fine but I've been losing a significant number of the chestnuts. They never freeze in the garage, and I don't let them dry out
 
Dad covers his with mulch, which seems to work fairly well. I just move my pots to my garage. The oaks do fine but I've been losing a significant number of the chestnuts. They never freeze in the garage, and I don't let them dry out
I may put them in my pole-barn or basement.
 
Just read this

They recommend stratifying bur oak acorns

Aren't bur oaks in the white oak family?

bill
Yes, but the burs I've collected didn't put out a radicle until late winter, unlike white and swamp white.
 
Here's a couple pictures of straight swamp white oaks that I have planted. The one on top came from Itasca greenhouse in plug form and was a puny little deformed thing when I planted it. I have about 12 others from Itasca that year. Only about 3 of the other ones look decent. The others look poor. Not very happy with many of the plug oaks I have planted. Bareroots have been way better.


The bottom tree was ordered as a bareroot from Chief River nursery. Didn't do much the first two years, but now its coming to life. I went through all my planted oaks last week. Think I have at least 40 SWO that I have planted. Of all the oaks that could survive in my woods I like the idea of having SWO the best. I like that early October drop time!


All of my SWO will be getting a big round of maintenance this winter and early next spring. Gonna do a little pruning, some competion removal around them, likely an application of gypsum or pell lime and some fertilizer. I really wanna see acorns from my trees before I die.


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The tallest oaks I have all came from seeds. And many of them are SWO.

Some of them are from Hutchinson Minnesota.

If I hadn’t weed matted and put composted manure over the mats this year I would be in a world of hurt. We have had 1.25 inches of rain since June.
 
The tallest oaks I have all came from seeds. And many of them are SWO.

Some of them are from Hutchinson Minnesota.

If I hadn’t weed matted and put composted manure over the mats this year I would be in a world of hurt. We have had 1.25 inches of rain since June.


Are any of your SWOs the ones that I mailed to you?
 
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This looks like a columnar SWO in a parking lot. Grabbed a few green acorns, will plant them next spring


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Do columnar acorns always produce columnar trees, or can they revert back to normal (in this case SWO) tree form?
 
Do columnar acorns always produce columnar trees, or can they revert back to normal (in this case SWO) tree form?

That’s a really good question. I’ll know in a short 8-15 years


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I would assume they will be some portion of the parent trees and probably will eventually revert back to SWO. May take a few generations though.
I've considered filling in-between my normal oak spacing with these columnar oaks to increase the mast density, with the eventual removal of them when the crowns start to close in. ( if I'm still here!)
 
I just ordered more Red Oak, Swamp White Oak, & Chinkapin Oak from MDC. I didn’t see Concordia Oak this year? Sold out/no inventory?

Not sure ? EDIT… it’s says sold out ! 😒
 
From my experience, F2 and beyond generations "typically" exhibit the columnar shape to a great extent; however, a few (probably < 10%) take - what I would call a gnarly less-than-columnar shape. I doubt they would ever become the attractive, well-shaped full crown of a true SWO. That said, I think Teeder is using them quite effectively to provide potential screening while augmenting the total mast available. They can pump out a fair number of acorns fairly early in their life (especially the WO X Col. EO hybrid - e.g. Quercus robur x Quercus alba - aka Crimson Spire) with a vertical crown that grows rapidly and may fruit within 6-8 years. I have Crimson Spire germinated acorns I have been holding in cold storage for 4-5 months ... will attach a photo later.

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I just ordered more Red Oak, Swamp White Oak, & Chinkapin Oak from MDC. I didn’t see Concordia Oak this year? Sold out/no inventory?

Not sure ? EDIT… it’s says sold out ! 😒
Order them anyways. There have only been a few that were listed as sold out that I didn't end up getting at least some. I think they somewhat conservative in their estimates for tree numbers in their gravel beds, and once they know officially how many orders there are and the remaining stock, they work back through wait-listed or reallocated orders.
 
Order them anyways. There have only been a few that were listed as sold out that I didn't end up getting at least some. I think they somewhat conservative in their estimates for tree numbers in their gravel beds, and once they know officially how many orders there are and the remaining stock, they work back through wait-listed or reallocated orders.
I ordered some Bottomland Bur Oaks from Iowa DNR Forestry (25) so I’m good for this year .
 
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