Oak tree acorn ID and planting.

[SamT1]

So we attended a wedding this weekend. It was under a monster oak tree with some smaller trees around it. I picked up a few acorns hoping I might could plant them and get a tree? Does anyone know what kind these are and what to do with them to try for a tree?
Sorry I didn’t take a pic of the leaves.
North of Dallas Tx if that helps.

 

[Woody912]

Did it have a shaggy cup that extended way down over the acorn? Look like burr oak acorns but not sure if they occur in Texas. Too round for swamp chestnut ( cow oak ) I think. Do not let them dry out regardless

 

[SamT1]

Did it have a shaggy cup that extended way down over the acorn? Look like burr oak acorns but not sure if they occur in Texas. Too round for swamp chestnut ( cow oak ) I think. Do not let them dry out regardless

Big one had a shaggy cup and little one just a regular acorn cup.

 

[Woody912]

Big one had a shaggy cup and little one just a regular acorn cup.

little one looks like a northern red oak

 

[johninky]

Burr oak. Neighbor has one about 60 years old and it's a monster.

 

[cedarhollow]

stick them in ground just like a squirrel would, unless you want to start them in pots. last batch i gathered i left in the truck over winter in a zip lock bag and some kind of worms ate the meat out of the nuts had a feast.
plant them now and you will know the success rate in the spring when they sprout. TX A&M forestry dept may offer you info and assistance if you contact them

 

[sb47]

First put them in a bucket of water and the ones that sink are good and the ones that float are bad. The first tree farm I planted I bought little trees already started in 1 gallon pots and they were planted in mulch with very little soil mixed in. They took off great and I was moving them with a tree digger in 7 years and they had 3'' to 4'' trunks. The next field I planted I started my own using the same 1,000 - 1 gallon pots I saved from the first field I planted. I picked up the acorns and only planted the ones that sank in a bucket of water and I got almost 100% success. I planted 2 or 3 acorns per pot and pinch off all but one if more then one sprouts. I planted a verity of water, red, live, bur, nut all, saw tooth oaks.

 

[SamT1]

First put them in a bucket of water and the ones that sink are good and the ones that float are bad. The first tree farm I planted I bought little trees already started in 1 gallon pots and they were planted in mulch with very little soil mixed in. They took off great and I was moving them with a tree digger in 7 years and they had 3'' to 4'' trunks. The next field I planted I started my own using the same 1,000 - 1 gallon pots I saved from the first field I planted. I picked up the acorns and only planted the ones that sank in a bucket of water and I got almost 100% success. I planted 2 or 3 acorns per pot and pinch off all but one if more then one sprouts. I planted a verity of water, red, live, bur, nut all, saw tooth oaks.

I’ve rounded up lots of acorns from trees I thought were awesome. Did you plant them in potting soil or soil with mulch?

I’m going to start some in pots and then just plant some in the pasture with chem tote cages around them for protection.

 

[sb47]

I’ve rounded up lots of acorns from trees I thought were awesome. Did you plant them in potting soil or soil with mulch?

I’m going to start some in pots and then just plant some in the pasture with chem tote cages around them for protection.

I have a pile of leaves and saw dust and I dump my ashes from my wood stove with a little soil and some chicken manure and let it compost into black gold. So I made my own potting soil. It worked great and didn't turn into a hard solid soil, it was pretty fluffy and stayed that way till I took them out of the one gallon containers I planted the acorns in. I only put about 6'' of compost in the containers and planted the acorns about 2'' deep in the containers with about 4'' of compost under the bottom. So I only planted them about a third of the depth of the 6'' of compost that was in the container. It made getting the trees out of the container real easy because the compost was still soft and not hard dirt. Make sure it has completely composted or it may burn the acorns if it's still generating heat from composting.
I'm sure any commercial potting soil will work. I just happen to have plenty that I made from my own composting pile.

Some of them had started getting root bound but the soft mulch mad it easy to loosen the roots and I put compost in the hole when I transplanted them in the ground. They were only about a 1/4'' trunks and about a foot or so tall when I moved them out in the field. I only kept them minimally watered after I transplanted them in the field. If you over water them the roots will stay shallow so you want to only water as little as possible so the roots will go down looking for water and it helps anchor them better and makes them more drought resistant and you get less blow over. If you stake them make sure you keep the stake at least 4'' away from the trunk. If you put the stake against the trunk it gets less light on that side of the trunk and when you remove the stake several years later, the tree will lean over and not grow strait. Never put the stake against the trunk. Use two stakes if you have to but keep them away from the trunk or it will lean when you remove the stake later.
I like to plant them small and only stake them if I have to. I like the wind to blow them around cause it makes a stringer trunk.
Once they take hold and the roots are solid I stop watering them all together. It slows growth but makes the roots go deep and makes a stronger tree in the long run.

The tree farms that were on drip systems all had shallow roots and we had to stake them after moving them with the tree spade. It also made it harder to make them take hold because they get use to lots of water and you have to water them more to keep them alive. The tree farms where I only watered when they were young, had much deeper roots and didn't need staking and required less watering after they were transplanted.
A tree spade cuts a clean hole and it made it easy to see how deep the roots were when I dug them up with the tree spade.

When you transplant a tree and the leaves turn brown, grab the leaves and see if they are dry and crunchy or soft and pliable even though they are brown. Give the tree a shake and see if the leaves fall off easily. If they do, strip them off and they will put new leaves back on in a few weeks. If they don't fall off and are hard to pull off, chances are the tree will die.
If the brown leaves are crunchy it needs more water, if the are yellowish or brown yet still soft a supple, you are over watering it and it will get root rot and drowned and die.
Always plant the root flair level with the ground and not too deep or they may drowned if you get a lot of rain or over water.

 

[SamT1]

Awesome thanks! I really like the oaks in east Texas. Gonna try to create me a little piece of heaven. I have atleast 5 different kinds of acorns now. I don’t guess I really care what they are, but 2 are from trees that stayed green in the winter so I’ll keep them separate and when I transplant try to scatter them around.

I may start 20 or so in pots and then just throw the rest of them out in the field and disk em in. I’m tempted to take a rake and go harvest some. I can drive 45 minutes east and pick em up all over.
I also have a friend that’s offered me some dead oaks to cut up, now I’m wondering if he may have some small ones in his pasture I can transplant.

 

[sb47]

Awesome thanks! I really like the oaks in east Texas. Gonna try to create me a little piece of heaven. I have atleast 5 different kinds of acorns now. I don’t guess I really care what they are, but 2 are from trees that stayed green in the winter so I’ll keep them separate and when I transplant try to scatter them around.

I may start 20 or so in pots and then just throw the rest of them out in the field and disk em in. I’m tempted to take a rake and go harvest some. I can drive 45 minutes east and pick em up all over.
I also have a friend that’s offered me some dead oaks to cut up, now I’m wondering if he may have some small ones in his pasture I can transplant.

I have so many acorns on the ground it's like walking on marbles. After a good rain is a good time to collect them because they tend to wash up and collect in bunches. I could get acorns by the 55 gallon barrel full just from the ones laying in my yard. If you use a tractor to rake them up your gonna ruin a lot of the by cracking the shell. Live oaks are evergreen and will hold there leaves all winter and drop them in the spring. They put on new leaves as they drop the old ones.
I like live oaks for that reason but there is a tried off in areas where you get ice storms because the ice will weigh the tree limbs down and break them off causing a lot of damage. But on the plus side they are evergreen and they don't drop dead limbs as much as water/white oaks do.
If you have access to all the acorns you can get then that sounds like a good way to do it. I have thousands of little trees sprouting out all over the yard and if I want a new tree I just mow around it and let it grow. The best ones are the ones that come up on there own. They seem to be the strongest and grow the best if they came up on there own. Natural volunteers save you the recovery time that transplanting takes to get them started and they are the most drought resistant vs. transplanting them.
I planted a field of new container trees and a rabbit came along and snipped the tops off and I thought I would have to go back and replace them but they soon put out new leaves and made some of the best trees out of all I planted. Don't be afraid to prune early and train them to be a single trunk or multi trunk depending on what you would like the tree to become.
We had a guy that we bought trees from and he would use old news paper or cardboard around the base to keep the grass back from the trunk so he didn't have to weed around the tree. More trees are damaged from weed eaters because the nick the bark and that causes scars and weak spots on the trunks.
If a tree stays small and wont seem to grow, we would strip off the leaves and take a stick and give the tree a good spanking. It forces the tree to go into survival mode and it will soon take off and grow like it should.
Soil and location and growing seasons will set the speed of growth but we would hit them twice a years with a little 13-13-13 fertilizer. Once in the spring and once in the fall.
Googal pruning methods to learn how to prune them to shape up the way you would like them to be. Pruning off the limbs that you don't want will make it grow faster because it gets rid of growth that it taking energy away from unwanted limbs and forces the ones you do want to grow faster. I would prune twice a year to keep sucker limbs off the tree and give that growing energy to what you plan to keep.

If you have enough trees to experiment with, you can try different pruning techniques and see the results for yourself. Good luck!

P.S. I have planted thousands of oaks and some will just naturally grow faster then the others even though the seeds came from the same tree and are grown in the same field. You will get crosses as well. It's all about the genetics of the seed.

The trees will grow taller and faster in the middle of the field vs on the edges, depending on how close they are planted. Keep the field mowed as much as possible while they are young, high grass will slow tree growth till they get bigger. Keeping low limbs on the trunks will make the trunks get bigger but it all depends on what you are looking for in your tree field.

Remember trees will get huge once they get grown so give them plenty of room and don't plant them to close together unless you want groups of trees or single trees that stand out on there own. The biggest mistake is planting to close together unless you can plant so many you can thin them out later.

 

[sb47]

Where in east Texas are you located?

 

[SamT1]

I’m north central, north of Abilene. No native oaks here. They mix with the mesquites anout 45 miles east of here and go to all oak pretty fast.

The field has quite a few mesquites now. I’m gonna cut all the small ones and then trim the big ones and small ones by themselves to look like yard trees. I’ll probably try to transplant 1-2 oaks per acre. It needs to be thin enough I can get a fertilizer buggy around and spray weeds between them. Will have cattle in it, but I can use chem tote cages to protect the trees.

I’m wanting big singles. Hopefully when I’m old I can really enjoy them.

I don’t think I’ll plant any to sell, but it could be cool to have some spares to give as housewarming/wedding gifts.

 

[sb47]

I’m north central, north of Abilene. No native oaks here. They mix with the mesquites anout 45 miles east of here and go to all oak pretty fast.

The field has quite a few mesquites now. I’m gonna cut all the small ones and then trim the big ones and small ones by themselves to look like yard trees. I’ll probably try to transplant 1-2 oaks per acre. It needs to be thin enough I can get a fertilizer buggy around and spray weeds between them. Will have cattle in it, but I can use chem tote cages to protect the trees.

I’m wanting big singles. Hopefully when I’m old I can really enjoy them.

I don’t think I’ll plant any to sell, but it could be cool to have some spares to give as housewarming/wedding gifts.

My guess and it's only a guess is they will be slow growers given the location. I google mapped the area and see that though there are big trees in the area, they are mostly located in populated areas where they have been watered more then trees in rural areas. Yes you will need to keep the cattle off of them till they get big enough that they can't eat or kill them by rubbing on them. Once they get big the cows will use them for shade in the summer.
Whats the annual rain fall in your area?
As for the mesquites you can prone them and make them look like trees more then scrub bushes and I would do that as well.
I don't think water oaks will do well in your area so I would go with live oaks because they are more drought resistant and can tolerate heat well.
What types of oaks do you see growing well in your area?
If you have low land or a creek the water oaks may do ok in those areas.
Water oaks will tend to drop the lower limbs as they grow and for that reason I would not plant them near any place where a limb can drop and cause damage to cars or buildings. Water oaks will get taller then live oaks. Live oaks will only grow tall if they are close together but will generally stay short if out in the open. Live oaks will have a larger spreed then height. Live oaks can have very small leaves like a yopon and I have fond those grow very slow. Live oaks with bigger leaves will grow faster. Live oaks with very small leaves also grow with a lot of forks and crooked limbs vs. the ones with bigger leaves.
You can drive around and look at whats growing in your area and see how they look once they get bigger.

I planted a bunch of oaks at a family's ranch in the Brigham area and they grow very slow compared to where I am located about 100 miles east of there. Soil and climate do effect growing speed but you have to work with what you got, given your location.
I think live oaks will do well in your area but they may grow slowly if it's a dry climate.
If you start them in pots you will have to ween them off water before you move them out in the field where they won't get as much water from rain fall.
I do see live oaks doing well in that area from the google map pics I looked at but Those are growing in urban areas vs rural areas, but to that the pics of rural areas are hard to see from a distance. I used street view to see whats growing North of Adaline so I could only see close pictures of urban areas. Rural areas everything is too far away to see well from street view.
In your acorn pic I see what looks like burr oak acorns for sure, and the smaller one looks like it could be Sheumard red oak or live oak. Live oaks acorns tend to be longer the the one you show in your pic.

 

[SamT1]

I have some long ones too. I’ll put pics of what I have.

We get anywhere from 5 to 35 inches of rain. The field I want to plant in is an old train track right a way. So there is a good bit of water it captures.
The train quit running in about 1995 and so they quit maintaining and spraying. I have mesquites that are 18” at the base and 25’ tall in spots.

Most our residential trees are pecan and mulberry here where I live. But I do have an oak in my yard and my parents have several. I don’t mind watering them some with a nurse trailer. Once their roots get 10’ they will tap underground water.

Around here anything that has mesquites on it you can tell how the ground water is by their size. Bushy=no shallow water, big and tall like a normal tree=water.

Biggest issue we have is chemical drift from fields. It really Jack’s with our trees.

 

[sb47]

I have some long ones too. I’ll put pics of what I have.

We get anywhere from 5 to 35 inches of rain. The field I want to plant in is an old train track right a way. So there is a good bit of water it captures.
The train quit running in about 1995 and so they quit maintaining and spraying. I have mesquites that are 18” at the base and 25’ tall in spots.

Most our residential trees are pecan and mulberry here where I live. But I do have an oak in my yard and my parents have several. I don’t mind watering them some with a nurse trailer. Once their roots get 10’ they will tap underground water.

Around here anything that has mesquites on it you can tell how the ground water is by their size. Bushy=no shallow water, big and tall like a normal tree=water.

Biggest issue we have is chemical drift from fields. It really Jack’s with our trees.

Identifying acorns can be difficult if all you have is the acorn. I have seen a single oak tree put out different size acorns. But I will be glad to give it my best shot and best guess.
Most oaks don't put down a deep tap root like a pecan or pine tree will. Oaks generally are somewhat shallow rooted but do have some deeper roots but no tap root to speak of. They tend to angle down rather then put a tap root strait down. I have seen oaks put roots down about 6 to 10 feet but the majority of them are somewhat shallow.

 

[sb47]

I googled Stamford just north of Abilene and saw lots of large oaks growing in urban areas so oaks may do well in your area. It may take a little work getting them going but they may do well there once you get them started and established well.

 

[SamT1]

These little guys are from a tree along the road by newcastle, Tx. They are scattered amongst other oaks and mesquites in the cattle pastures there. They were green still. So it’s something native, stays green, big single trunk. The biggest ones were 25 ft tall and maybe a 30’ spread on them. There was a few leaves in the baggie. Not 100% they fell from the tree.

 

[sb47]

I found this 2 part video that may help you decide what type of oak you may want to choose.
Part 1.....
Part 2......