Hybrid oaks.

The Kelly Tree Farm source for Swamp Bur Oaks seems to be a good one . They survive in my zone (West Central MN) … I’m going to add some 3 -4 footers in Iowa.
Think I’ll give some of those a try next year.
 
These Kelly tree farm Schuette oak leafs vary alot from one to the next. I've planted Swamp white, Schuette, and Concordia oaks . The Schuette has been by far the most impressive at my location. 43°N20220829_171736.jpg20220829_171520.jpg20220829_171447.jpg20220829_171437.jpg 20220829_171544.jpg
 
^^^those look like nice trees but based on past experience would be afraid to plant fast bearing hybrids at my place. Bears would tear the crap outta em as they rip whole branches and tops off to get at acorns while laying on ground. As mentioned by others, bears are dicks!

Now going forward I actually hope for bad acorn years like this year from late frost so trees can put on a bit more wood.

The red oaks tend to take more time until first acorns compared to burrs and whites and yes hybrids.
 
I wonder how f2 s behave?

Dot they lose their hybrid vigor?
 
These Kelly tree farm Schuette oak leafs vary alot from one to the next. I've planted Swamp white, Schuette, and Concordia oaks . The Schuette has been by far the most impressive at my location. 43°NView attachment 45686View attachment 45687View attachment 45688View attachment 45689 View attachment 45685
Looks like you've got pretty good "help" ^^

bill
 
I went ahead and ordered some more Burgambel oaks from the Idaho State Nursery today. I’ll use some as replacements for my larger planting and plant some on the new farm.
 
Does anyone know of a source of the hybrid oaks by seed for sale? I'm particularly interested in Champion but am not a choosing beggar. The area they would be planted is in Northern Missouri.
 
Went for a walk with my wife and baby this afternoon peeping oak, apple, and plum trees along the way and I finally came across the first nice swamp white oak I’ve seen since I started paying attention this spring. It’s still holding a nice crop of green acorns while all of the bur oaks around here are bare. I thought it must be a hybrid because of the cups but upon further look it seems that’s just the way SWO acorns are? I snagged a few green acorns for seed but are you better off with dried and fallen acorns?

This is on the border of 4a and 4b in Wright county, MN.

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Look good!
I'd wait a little while longer before collecting. They'll fill out more.
 
Went for a walk with my wife and baby this afternoon peeping oak, apple, and plum trees along the way and I finally came across the first nice swamp white oak I’ve seen since I started paying attention this spring. It’s still holding a nice crop of green acorns while all of the bur oaks around here are bare. I thought it must be a hybrid because of the cups but upon further look it seems that’s just the way SWO acorns are? I snagged a few green acorns for seed but are you better off with dried and fallen acorns?

This is on the border of 4a and 4b in Wright county, MN.

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If you could grab a 1 gallon pail of fallen brown acorns I'll pay for shipping.
 
If you could grab a 1 gallon pail of fallen brown acorns I'll pay for shipping.

Unlikely I’ll get much quantity as the tree is in someone’s back yard along a walking path. I’m hoping my wife can pick some up when she’s walking the baby since I’ll likely be gone when they fall. If I get a minute this week I might ring their doorbell and tell ‘em I’d pay a nominal fee for a bucket or ziplock of them.

As others have done for me, I’ll share if I have em to share!
 
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There are quite a few younger SWO planted in Hutchinson, MN along some of the side streets in town and I see them often. I really like them so 3 years ago I planted about 20 of them and caged them. Planted a few more this year from Chief River. I have about 25 of them total. Oddly enough nearly all of my SWO is in cage and all of my burr oak is in tubes. My caged SWO are much shorter then the tubed burrs. The caged trees look more uniform and tougher though. I will be doing a round of maintenance on all of them next year.

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I was in Hutchinson today and stopped to check the some of the swamp white oak trees up there. The acorns are just starting to fall and there seems to be a solid crop on these trees again this year. I pulled some acorns off the trees. The ones that have fallen appear to be getting cleaned up just as soon as they hit the ground.


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I was in Hutchinson yesterday again. I went and visited about 12 beautiful swamp white oak trees scattered around town. Still holding a very good crop of some big meaty acorns. I crushed a few with a hammer this evening and chewed on them. Not bitter at all. Very dense. Now I really wish I had planted more of these sooner and fewer burr oaks later. I have only been watching these trees for a few years, but they seem way more consistent then burr oaks in the area and they are really hanging on nice.



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My wife swung by the one nice SWO near us this week and it was still holding big green acorns as well. I knocked on the front door to make sure they don’t mind me picking acorns out of their yard last week😂
 
Nice!

I've only encountered SWO in municipal street plantings. It may be 'native' here, but I don't ever see it 'in the wild'. Never recall encountering it in 25 years of roaming and hunting the woods in east AL - of course, forests there were predominated by slash & loblolly pine, water oak (Q.nigra), sweetgum and seedling pecans. There were Southern red and an occasional scarlet oak... and the AL state champion Swamp Chestnut oak lived in the creekbottom forest on my family's farm. But I was too young to appreciate what was and wasn't growing there at the time.

Most reliable bearers for me here have been bur oak - and some of the bur hybrids.
 
Interesting on the SWO still hanging on. The few acorns on burr and whites by me have already dropped. Maybe gotta check some native SWO on state land close to my house and see what the acorn situation is.

Not looking for quick acorn production on trees due to bear problems but a later hanging acorn would be some more diversity.
 
No acorns on it this year, but I have grafts of 'Macon' NuttallXPin oak that will hang and drop all winter - I've seen photos of it on March 15, with a bunch of acorns still hanging.
If you decide to try your hand at grafting - it's really easy! - I can send scionwood. My grafts of it on Q.rubra and Q.falcata look fine... on Q.palustris not so much, but we're 8 years out and the graft hasn't failed yet.
Thankfully, bears are not an issue here. I have enough problems with the hooved rats.
 
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