Preserving and storing large amounts of acorns.

[ruskbucks]

I have a friend that is extremely anal about everything. He has red oak tress in his yard and can't stand having acorns in his grass. He sent me a text saying cleaning up acorns do you want any? I screwed up and said yes I'll take all you have. Well 3 hrs later he shows up with 12 garbage bags half full of acorns! Literally his truck bed was full. I thought about storing them for bear season or even just throwing them out for the animals this winter. Another friend said that he tried this and they molded pretty quick. Any idea reasonable to preserve them?

 

[b116757]

Cool dark place root cellar maybe for so many or if you don’t care about germination chest freezer if you do care about germination fridge. We used to pick many bags of apples and store them in the basement we knew which ones lasted the longest in storage and would feed out the quicker degrading ones first.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

If you have an area that needs oaks, you could spread the acorns now and some of them should turn into oak trees. A % of acorns have little worms in them, so if you save them indoors you will likely have little maggot like worms crawling around your basement. I occasionally save acorns for bear baiting a week or two after the acorns fall and the bottom of the acorn bucket frequently has a bunch of white maggoty things in it.

 

[ruskbucks]

If you have an area that needs oaks, you could spread the acorns now and some of them should turn into oak trees. A % of acorns have little worms in them, so if you save them indoors you will likely have little maggot like worms crawling around your basement. I occasionally save acorns for bear baiting a week or two after the acorns fall and the bottom of the acorn bucket frequently has a bunch of white maggoty things in it.

I have thousands of little oaks popping up everywhere after the logging. I did think about using them for bear bait but my one friend has me worried because of the worms and he said his got moldy. I was wondering if they would make it a year without the worms turning them into sawdust if I put them in plastic barrels in the basement.

 

[b116757]

I’d say feed sacks would be better

 

[b116757]

Also float test them now you may only be storing a fraction of what u have

 

[RGrizzzz]

I did this a few years ago. Collected 20 5 gallon buckets. They did mold after a week or two. The deer didn't mind. I think the ones that molded first were mostly broken ones. They were in a parking lot edge.

 

[ruskbucks]

Also float test them now you may only be storing a fraction of what u have

I did one garbage bag. I filled up a big cooler with water. Really disappointed. I would say about 20 percent sank. Some of them looked really good that floated. I cut them open and they looked fine. I'm sure what ever eats them won't know the difference.

 

[ruskbucks]

I did this a few years ago. Collected 20 5 gallon buckets. They did mold after a week or two. The deer didn't mind. I think the ones that molded first were mostly broken ones. They were in a parking lot edge.

Dang maybe I should just dump them all out. This is alot of work having this many. Could your acorns of been wet when you picked them?

 

[b116757]

Personally I’d only save the acorns that sink and toss the rest throw them where u hunt or something any good ones the critters will find or you may get some germination but I wouldn’t store all of them just the sinkers to feed out latter in the fall/winter or to plant next spring.

 

[ruskbucks]

Personally I’d only save the acorns that sink and toss the rest throw them where u hunt or something any good ones the critters will find or you may get some germination but I wouldn’t store all of them just the sinkers to feed out latter in the fall/winter or to plant next spring.

I took your advice and kept a 5 gallon bucket of the prime acorns. I'm going to take a bunch and dump them in the woods for whatever wants to eat them. The other 1000lbs I'm giving to my friend that raises pigs. I don't have the time or patience to float and separate them. I'm overwhelmed with these things.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I don't think the float test is 100% accurate for most nuts, but if you wanted to save space and have higher efficiency, it does the trick. I float tested a number of acorns last year and a number of the ones that floated still ended up germinating.

 

[ruskbucks]

I don't think the float test is 100% accurate for most nuts, but if you wanted to save space and have higher efficiency, it does the trick. I float tested a number of acorns last year and a number of the ones that floated still ended up germinating.

I was wondering that. Three out of the 4 floaters I cut open looked perfect inside. I couldn't see any reason why they wouldn't germinate. I was glad to see that 80 percent of them weren't rotten or have worms inside.

 

[b116757]

On the float test I do think some of the semi floaters are likely ok but I don’t plant so many that tossing those that are a little suspect hurts me any. If I was broadcast planting them into a prepared seed bed I would likely just plant everything because what would it really matter in that situation. For potted trees or even direct planted with tubes I just as soon keep my germination rate as high as I possibly can.

 

[RGrizzzz]

Dang maybe I should just dump them all out. This is alot of work having this many. Could your acorns of been wet when you picked them?

I'd put them out for the critters ASAP.

 

[Tree Spud]

This sounds like a be careful of what you ask for situation

 

[Angus 1895]

I don't think the float test is 100% accurate for most nuts, but if you wanted to save space and have higher efficiency, it does the trick. I float tested a number of acorns last year and a number of the ones that floated still ended up germinating.

Same here.