True. I figured that out since that post was made. Good reminder for everyone though. Now I rinse them as soon as I get home from picking, place in the refrigerator, & plant in the fall.

I got my annual acorns planted today..490..with a headset on during the Packer game. The Squirrel tool makes it fast. Usually I plant more but I could only find 500 this year. It was a lot of work in the heat, but is rewarding.

The other day I visited the white oak tree that I get my annual acorns from. It looks to be a bumper crop. I'll probably be busy picking in 3 weeks.

In my opinion, forget the sawtooth and plant native oaks. Sawtooth produce faster but studies I’ve read over the years stated the protein content is about 1/3 of native oaks. Many sawtooths I planted 25 years ago have died in the last 7-8 years. The white oaks and burr oaks are doing great and producing well. I’m at an age I’ll probably won’t see the benefit of the white oaks I’m planting now but my kids will.

The forester told me to avoid sawtooth too.

I started picking tonight. The earliest I've ever started. I gathered 57 good ones tonight. White oak on the left, bur oak on the right. I have a tool for planting them. I'll plant them as time allows this year.




I removed the caps from the bur oaks that had caps--I'm not sure if that's necessary.

Oh my have the acorns been dropping. I picked these 2,815 off the ground by hand since last week. The gallon on the right is bur oak & the rest are white oak

There is a seed weevil in the acorns and best way to remove them is to do a float test where the good ones sink and the weevil bored ones float to the top- scoop and discard. The chickadee's really love eating the larvae.

OP started this post in 9/22, I'd like to know if he can give and idea on how many are up and growing, Just a rough total planted and a rough number of how many are up and growing.

Also there have been 3 growing seasons for the first batch, have they been surviving without deer browsing?


Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks

I’ll add a bit

Have one huge tree behind my house in the city that drops 5 gallons of acorns every year. Previous owner must of planted one from a nursery. It started producing nuts at about 12-13 years old is my guess. I take them out to the cabin and plant them. No wild acorns where I live except for hazel nuts. I plant and raise them and sell them off. Used to be careful planting and storing the nuts…. Not anymore.

Rototill a spot ,broadcast seed and harrow over. Always digging and moving trees. They root down deep. Bobcat helps when digging.


Had a pail in a grain bin over winter here. We get cold. Found this in the spring

3 year old trees

2 year old trees


From this spring planting


I’ve planted them in rows 2 inches deep. Squirrels dig half them up. The once that are fenced seem to do better if no animals hit them in winter. They be dug up this fall and put in pots to get rid of next spring. They like sandy soil better than rich dark soil here. Still learning about them but once they start growing and make it one year they are a tough tree.

Great thread! Will continue to follow along.

I’ve got our family property enrolled in some oak plantings through a grant program. Only 50 trees, but we have the ability to extend our term and am now scheming to start some trees so I can plant a bunch during the extension.

The problem with starting in pots is two fold
freezing/thawing fries the small roots on the edge of the pots
and down the road in 5 years the curl of the root system chocks the main plant

even after 2 years deer mice will still go down and nip the acorn part and the tree dies
<hunting buddy did his Phd on bur oak planting and many a scotch was poured at deer camp>

I'd say decent success. The way I randomly plant them, it's hard to say what portion I think survive. Some of the areas I plant them is dense wild grass, & I think that makes it harder for them. I tend to plant way more than I think I will need. I try to change it up a bit..plant at different depths, different time of years, & on occasion I gather the seed source from different trees. I think it's been succesful enough that I would recommend it. Yesterday I planted bur oak for the 1st time. I focus on white oak. Part of the reason I plant extra is so it doesn't hurt if deer chew on some. I'll provide more updates when possible. On average I plant at least 1k/year. They don't seem to be growing fast--I think b/c of their grassy competition.

I went to a class on trees this past Saturday morning and learned more than I thought I would, about planting hardwood trees , it was at our Michigan state research center, about 5 miles from my hose, they said that the English oak can be planted right where were the ash trees all die, and that they will produce acorns in 8-10 years, I was only able to stay for part of the class, but it was great, they had trees that they planted in spring , already poking out of the top of 5 foot tubes, one major thing they said was to kill all the grass growing around the tube,

I have Oregon White Oaks in my yard, I throw away huge amounts of acorns every year. This year looks to be a good crop, I’ll throw away a 55 gallon drum of them at least.

wws

I haven't been able to discern if early acorns work out different than those dropping later in the fall.

The white oak are starting to grow in a bucket in the fridge.

I planted 20 English oaks yesterday, have 20 more to go today, was told that they can grow right where ash trees do, time will tell

I rinsed my remaining white oak in apple cider vinegar--supposedly a mold preventer. Then they went back in the fridge.