Maximizing Acorn Production

[BenA]

Pretty good podcast on acorn production as well as TSI.
https://sportsmensnation.com/podcasts/maximizing-acorn-production-with-dr-craig-harper

 

[OakSeeds]

I don't want to hijack your thread; however, I recently presented a short summary (on another thread) regarding the 5 critical characteristics of a good oak tree for habitat purposes. The main additional point from that discussion - which I reiterate here - is the value of monitoring the productivity of potential parent trees to ensure that you gather seeds from stock with great genetics. It is more than worth your effort!

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I haven't listened to the pod cast yet but all I can say is sunlight. The trees on the edge of the woods almost always produce more and bigger acorns.

 

[j-bird]

oak trees are just like deer or our other food plot plants. They more and better resources you can provide to them the better they will do. There are still genetics involved as not every deer has the genetic make-up to be a 200" deer, just like not every oak has the genetic make-up to produce buckets and buckets of acorns. I do agree in that selecting acorns from trees that are known to produce more/better would be optimal if possible. Planting acorns from a tree that only produces every 10 years is not the ideal candidate for you to propagate for wildlife. The trick is having that information..... I know I have a large white oak tree that produce only on the lower 1/3 of the tree and is very sporadic on the years it produces. Planting those acorns is a bad idea from a wildlife perspective. As such I am watching some swamp white oaks that seem to produce every year and heavy crops at that. Those are the ones I need to be planting.

 

[yoderjac]

oak trees are just like deer or our other food plot plants. They more and better resources you can provide to them the better they will do. There are still genetics involved as not every deer has the genetic make-up to be a 200" deer, just like not every oak has the genetic make-up to produce buckets and buckets of acorns. I do agree in that selecting acorns from trees that are known to produce more/better would be optimal if possible. Planting acorns from a tree that only produces every 10 years is not the ideal candidate for you to propagate for wildlife. The trick is having that information..... I know I have a large white oak tree that produce only on the lower 1/3 of the tree and is very sporadic on the years it produces. Planting those acorns is a bad idea from a wildlife perspective. As such I am watching some swamp white oaks that seem to produce every year and heavy crops at that. Those are the ones I need to be planting.

To a point. I believe I've seen some study somewhere suggesting that fertilizing oak trees did not improve yield or acorn nutritional content. It is probably because of the deep and large root system of an oak tree. Studies have shown that you can improve overall acorn production by removing poor producers allowing more sun and resources for the good producers. I believe the problem is monitoring the trees over a sufficient number of years to identify poor producers verses prolific trees since there is a lot of year to year variability.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[OakSeeds]

Jack … with all due respect, I can pretty much tell you the value of a seed-source tree in 5-6 years. Both very good and very bad trees (as seed source trees) have little variability.
VERY BAD trees as a source for acorns, rarely if ever produce an acorn (consistently bad) while VERY GOOD seed-source oak trees have a good crop probably 5 out of 6 years (consistency / low variability). I have an English Oak that has cranked out copious numbers for acorns for the last 8 years … without missing a beat. The second point I would make concerns the root structure/configuration of members of the white oak tree group. The tap root of white oak trees anchors the tree and allows it to grab subsoil moisture as drought protection. Most of the root structure responsible for picking up water and nutrients are located in the top 18-20 inches of the soil column; hence, the concern about soil compaction (don't drive on them and keep large cows from seeking shade under them (especially in wet weather). Just a couple of poinnts worth noting.

 

[yoderjac]

Jack … with all due respect, I can pretty much tell you the value of a seed-source tree in 5-6 years. Both very good and very bad trees (as seed source trees) have little variability.
VERY BAD trees as a source for acorns, rarely if ever produce an acorn (consistently bad) while VERY GOOD seed-source oak trees have a good crop probably 5 out of 6 years (consistency / low variability). I have an English Oak that has cranked out copious numbers for acorns for the last 8 years … without missing a beat. The second point I would make concerns the root structure/configuration of members of the white oak tree group. The tap root of white oak trees anchors the tree and allows it to grab subsoil moisture as drought protection. Most of the root structure responsible for picking up water and nutrients are located in the top 18-20 inches of the soil column; hence, the concern about soil compaction (don't drive on them and keep large cows from seeking shade under them (especially in wet weather). Just a couple of poinnts worth noting.

No offence taken. I'll see if I can find the studies when I get back to CONUS. They showed improvement be culling less productive trees but none from fertilizer. I was only assuming as to why. They did not provide a reason, just the data. As for production, in my area weather effects can be very localized. Perhaps it is location specific. Here, a few feet in elevation can be the difference from pollination and not in the spring.

Thanks,


Jack

 

[The Fishman]

To a point. I believe I've seen some study somewhere suggesting that fertilizing oak trees did not improve yield or acorn nutritional content.

I haven't listened to the podcast yet, but I assume that Dr. Harper was discussing this study that he worked on. There are other studies that show similar results in that the majority of oak trees are not good acorn producers. Here is another article by Dr. Harper with information on how to study trees to see which ones are producers and then remove bad producers to give the good producers more light and nutrients.

 

[yoderjac]

Exactly. From what I recall (ageing brain may not be 100%), fertilizing did not have a statistically significant impact, but removing poor producers increased overall production by providing more resources to the prolific producers.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[jsasker007]

I was told fertilizing around the drip line of trees is the best way to get the trees growing better,faster and in Minnesota you end up with most trees going dormant for almost half of every year due to the colder temps. I would think location might be a much bigger factor than people realize. There are a lot of things you just can't plant here because they can't take the cold. I want persimmons trees but would really be rolling the dice to get any to make it. I try to clear out anything growing around my oak trees until the oaks get some size to them. Oaks respond very well when they start getting more sunlight.