Disking in acorns as a direct seeding method?

[IkemanTx]

I have about a 2 acre section of the family farm that I’d like to let go to woods. In order to better control the speed at which it happens, and the species that take over, I am considering disking as many varieties of local native oak acorns into it as I can.

Has anyone used this method for planting oaks? If so, about how many acorns/acre would you use?

The piece is shallow black clay soil on top of degraded limestone bedrock. The topsoil on it ranges from 1-2” up to about 14” I am a little concerned about disking the shallower sections and causing excessive erosion, but didn’t really know another good way to get a full 2 acres done without either a lot of time or expense. I would assume an 80-90% loss rate planting without watering and shelter, so would plant really heavy, and just come back 2 or 3 years later and thin if the stand came in thicker than desired.

The “backup plan” would be to use a power drill and bulb planter auger and just a whole lot more time.


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[Tree Spud]

Sounds like a good plan for a food plot

I'll wait for all the "sure, go for it comments come out ..." let you see the dreams and visions of all the uninitiated

 

[The Fishman]

I don’t know about disking, but I have planted probably 2000 acorns over the past couple of years with a dibble bar. Just drop the dibble bar in to the soil a couple of inches, twist the bar to form a hole, drop an acorn in the hole, step on the hole to cover it, move a couple of steps forward, and lather, rinse, and repeat. Get some headphones and music or an audiobook and you will be surprised how large of an area you can plant in a day. The key is dropping the acorn in the hole from a standing position without having to bend over.

This publication has some good information on direct seeding.

 

[IkemanTx]

Sounds like a good plan for a food plot

I'll wait for all the "sure, go for it comments come out ..." let you see the dreams and visions of all the uninitiated

Haha, well, luckily I don’t have hardly anything in the way of deer density, so the only real threat to seedlings will be competition from grasses, and squirrels the first winter.

I don’t know about disking, but I have planted probably 2000 acorns over the past couple of years with a dibble bar. Just drop the dibble bar in to the soil a couple of inches, twist the bar to form a hole, drop an acorn in the hole, step on the hole to cover it, move a couple of steps forward, and lather, rinse, and repeat. Get some headphones and music or an audiobook and you will be surprised how large of an area you can plant in a day. The key is dropping the acorn in the hole from a standing position without having to bend over.

This publication has some good information on direct seeding.

I hadn’t really thought of a dibble bar. That would probably be faster than the bulb planter idea.

I did find this publication from my home state, and they mentioned planting 1,500 acorns per acre with an assumption of 35% germination success. Does that sound a bit excessive???

https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/uploadedFil...ewardship(1)/Direct_Seeding_of_Oak_Acorns.pdf


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[Native Hunter]

There are some big white oaks in my yard. Some years when I mow the yard for the first time, I cut down hundreds of little white oaks about 4 inches tall. The acorns hit the grassy ground in the fall, lay there over the winter and come up the next spring.

Good luck.

 

[TreeDaddy]

If you have feral hogs, your plan is doomed........

bill

 

[roymunson]

sure, go for it

 

[bwoods11]

It can work, but I would supplement in year 2 or 3 years with bare root or plugs. Also not a bad idea to cage or tube the top survivors! Good luck

 

[The Fishman]

I did find this publication from my home state, and they mentioned planting 1,500 acorns per acre with an assumption of 35% germination success. Does that sound a bit excessive???
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This is from the publication I linked so it looks like the 1500 per acre is what is recommended. "When spot seeding acorns, plan to sow about 1,500 to 2,400 acorns per acre, or allow 18 to 30 square feet per acorn. For instance, a spacing of 3 feet between acorns in the row and 10 feet between rows has shown good results (approximately 1,500 seed per acre)." I think the 35% germination success is optimistic, but if it is just germination and not seedling success, then it might be accurate. I had pretty good germination last year, but an abnormally dry May doomed quite a few seedlings that never made it past 6 inches tall. I did have enough survive (5-10%) where I would call the effort a success, but it would have been better with a little more rain.

The squirrels are going to take their fair share, but if you can spray a pre-emergent herbicide that should help with the weeds. I didn't spray because the weeds helped hide the seedlings from the deer. If you don't have a large deer population, then spraying may benefit the seedlings.

Besides a dibble bar, you can buy or build an acorn planter or if you really want to get serious, you can track down whoever bought this Truax acorn planter on here a couple of years ago to see if they are ready to pass it along to someone else. Here is another thread with photos detailing someone's attempt to direct seed a large area using the Truax acorn planter.

 

[IkemanTx]

Man, that truax looks awesome but definitely overkill for 2 acres.

I think the dibble bar or bulb planter are probably my best bet. The more I look into disking or rototilling, the less I think it would work on this slope. I may look at doing a slight burn down on the grasses mid spring to slow their growth some.




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[Tree Spud]

Many oaks need a cold stratification period of 60-90 days and they recommend a fall planting. Planting depth in a firm seed bed is usually 1-2".

Soaking the acorns in cold water for 24 hrs helps. Any acorns that float will not germinate.

We have a lot of mature oaks on our property and 10,000's of seedlings. Out of a bud, oaks produce a very nice tender new shoot which appears to be very tasty. Between browsing & rubbing, maybe 1 sprouted seedling in 500-1000 makes it beyond 6' tall.

 

[Rit]

I direct seeded an acre this year not in Oaks but in American plum, and a few varieties of dogwoods. It’s way to early to know how this is going to work but I am starting to wish I would have just put something down to improve the soil and planted 10-15 3-4’ trees/plants each year. In a few years I’d have quite a few shrubs that started adding structure instead of potentially an entire year of failure.

I also have several large oaks in my yard and every spring there are hundreds of seedlings that sprout in my yard and flower beds. A good majority of those are buried by squirrels the fall before.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Bill Winke of Midwestwhitetail has written a fair amount about discing and direct seeding. Think he talks about like 5 bushels per acre and did some videos on the topic. Been at least ten years since he started so searching his site you can likely see some progress updates over the years.
Good luck....