Giant White Oak Acorns - still plant?

[Lee Haakenson]

All, I collected a large amount of white acorns last weekend. They were the largest I've ever seen. I was on a camping trip, and like most of you, I could not resist taking them home. Its been 6 days and some have already grown a 1" root/radicle. I am wondering if they are worth my time to plant them this weekend via direct seeding or is it a lost cause at this point? If there is still hope, do I have to loosen the soil and orient the radicle down or just lay it on its side and it will turn down on its own? I have kept them moist since collecting them. I also float tested 2 gallons of then and maybe 10 floated! I know there are some experts on here that have probably experimented with this before.


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[yoderjac]

Around here, the very large white oak acorns come from chestnut oaks. Unless we have a mast crop failure, the sit on the ground uneaten. They are the very last acorns our deer eat. They are a very large acorn. Most white oaks (with a few exceptions) are a very long-term investment. If you are going to plant them, I would first make sure I identified the trees. I wouldn't mess with chestnut oaks in my area.

With the exception of some sawtooth for poor mast crop years, I don't really plant most oaks in my area since they grow natively and take so long to produce. One exception is DCOs which produce fairly quickly.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[TreeDaddy]

Chinkapin oaks produce early as well

"Oakseeds " is the regnant authority on direct seeding acorns

You might check his posts on this forum and Deer hunter forum

bill

 

[OakSeeds]

TD ... thanks for the vote of confidence .... while I learn new materials every day, I try to help others who want to improve habitat on properties they own or hunt on. LH ... even though I tried to answer your question on another forum, I'll add a couple of comments and photos here that might help you decide to plant your acorns. First, I would assume the "large" acorns you found (again, I assume they were found in MN) are Burr Oak acorns since they frequently are among the largest of the white oak species ... and native to MN (see USDA FS plant guide / recognize also there are Burr Oak trees with relatively small acorns).
http://hort.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/quepria.pdf
http://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/chestnut-oak
I doubt you found any Chestnut Oak acorns (unless it was a specimen tree planted in an urban area) since Chestnut Oaks are NOT native to MN (and very easy to identify by their leaves). I use 4-5 criteria to select oak trees for planting (too much to include in this post) however, I believe Burr Oaks and Swamp White Oaks are the best habitat oak trees.
Currently, I am really having fun experimenting with columnar white oak trees and am amazed at their potential. Attached are photos of large Burr Oak acorns, Burr Oak leaves with clusters of acorns, picture of straight White Oak acorns (they drop too early for use in my areas), a Burr Oak with it's first acorn (direct seeded 5,5 years ago) and 3-4 yr old Col. WO trees. Plant those acorns ... raising trees is almost as much fun as raising children. Go for it!

 

[Lee Haakenson]

TD ... thanks for the vote of confidence .... while I learn new materials every day, I try to help others who want to improve habitat on properties they own or hunt on. LH ... even though I tried to answer your question on another forum, I'll add a couple of comments and photos here that might help you decide to plant your acorns. First, I would assume the "large" acorns you found (again, I assume they were found in MN) are Burr Oak acorns since they frequently are among the largest of the white oak species ... and native to MN (see USDA FS plant guide / recognize also there are Burr Oak trees with relatively small acorns).
http://hort.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/quepria.pdf
http://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/chestnut-oak
I doubt you found any Chestnut Oak acorns (unless it was a specimen tree planted in an urban area) since Chestnut Oaks are NOT native to MN (and very easy to identify by their leaves). I use 4-5 criteria to select oak trees for planting (too much to include in this post) however, I believe Burr Oaks and Swamp White Oaks are the best habitat oak trees.
Currently, I am really having fun experimenting with columnar white oak trees and am amazed at their potential. Attached are photos of large Burr Oak acorns, Burr Oak leaves with clusters of acorns, picture of straight White Oak acorns (they drop too early for use in my areas), a Burr Oak with it's first acorn (direct seeded 5,5 years ago)View attachment 20439View attachment 20440View attachment 20441View attachment 20442View attachment 20443View attachment 20444View attachment 20445View attachment 20446 and 3-4 yr old Col. WO trees. Plant those acorns ... raising trees is almost as much fun as raising children. Go for it!

Thanks OakSeeds. I know these acorns I am planting are definetly white oak. I went thru planting a bunch of bur oak a few weeks back. I am planting around and in the logging cuts harvested this summer. There was alot of aspen and sugar maple in the area so I dont know how well these direct seeded acorns will compete, but planting now will probably be my last chance. Next year it will be well on its way with all kinds of regrowth. I was hoping to plant around remaining trees, so the partial shade will slow the aspen/maple regrowth enough to get the oaks established. There are maybe 3 oaks per acre before logging and most were left (bur, white, northern red) which hopefully will also help with further oak establishment. Pic if the area.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk