2nd, overcup oak trees - including hybrids (yes, they hybridize with several other white oak species) can have lots of characteristics which make them a great tree for for many locations and especially in zones like 5 and the lower half of 4.
A cross with a bur oak is likely to be cold hardy, tolerant of wet feet on a frequent basis, easy to grow, great in clay soils, very easy to store through stratification and productive with regard t6o larger acorns that deerf will eat. The following sources will provide lots of good info....
https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_2/quercus/lyrata.htm USDA
“In flooded areas the acorns remain dormant over winter and germinate in the spring after the surface waters recede, making overcup acorns one of the few of the white oak
group that do not germinate until spring (10).” “In tests, overcup oak
survived continuous flooding for at least two growing seasons.” “ In spite of its natural occurrence on wet clay sites, overcup oak grows best on sites with better drainage and soil texture (10).”
Overcup oak develops a shallow, saucer-shaped root system. The heavy
clay soils and wet sites where
overcup oak typically grows restrict root development to relatively shallow depths. Although the seedlings initially produce taproots, these are replaced by a lateral root system. The root system of one large tree consisted of many small branching roots with no large main roots.
Quercus lyrata hybridizes with
Q. alba; Q. durandii; Q. bicolor (Q. x humidicola Palmer),
Q. macrocarpa (Q. x megaleia Laughlin);
Q. michauxii (Q. x tottenii Melvin);
Q. stellata (Q. x sterrettii Trel.); and
Q. virginiana (Q. x comptoniae Sarg.) (8).
OVERCUP OAK
3-2021 Lucky P posted … “I have two SWOxOvercup
hybrid selections that have been given to me over the years - one from Osage City KS, the other from Columbia MO. Have them grafted on SWO understock. Leaves are sort of intermediate, but most resemble the SWO parent. Acorns look like a small overcup acorn, almost completely enclosed in cap
, born in twos on a long peduncle, like SWO... and the acorn 'shell' is not as 'corky' as overcup, so I doubt they'd float like overcup. They do germinate late, like overcup.”
-tbc -
