4 of 5 Burr Oak acorns that I had germinated and are growing good. The Chinese Chestnuts were doing great until moving them outside. I gradually introduced them to the outside but still have some beginning to lose leaves now.
I did an experiment with some white oak acorns from, well lets just say a white oak far far away. I planted 8 acorns in a chicken coop, minus the chickens. The chickens had been removed 3 weeks prior. I planted these acorns in late October. In just the first year they were all growing up to the top of the cage which was about 5 ft tall. I transplanted a couple. I left the best one in the coup. It grew straight up 5-6 ft before it even branched off. It had an acorn crop to my surprise at 4 years old. It is now over 20 ft tall and probably 8-10 inches in diameter. I did add the chickens back in once they couldn't hurt the tree. the trees I transplanted are still only about 7 ft. I think its obvious what the chicken manure did for the trees. If you live in the country and want to grow a slow growing oak, like chickens, you may want to try this for yourself. The white oak is very full and dark green foliage. Its now 8 years old.
I pull out at least 30 every year that the squirrels plant in my raised bed garden for me. those suckers have some nice hardy root systems. Maybe i'll transplant a few this year into pots and see how they do.
Got me another oak sprout over the weekend. So far 5/5 in my first attempt to grow oak trees from my front yard tree. The one on the right is a mountain laurel pod I planted early this summer. Took awhile but it sprouted. I think there are two more in the pot.
The barn is 16 ft at the peak. The white oak was planted from an acorn in October 2006. Its produced acorns since it was 4 years old. Chicken manure grown. The tree the acorns were collected from was very pretty, huge canopy.
The barn is 16 ft at the peak. The white oak was planted from an acorn in October 2006. Its produced acorns since it was 4 years old. Chicken manure grown. The tree the acorns were collected from was very pretty, huge canopy.
Oops. I forgot about this thread. I had success growing all of the oaks I planted. I only had about 10 Chestnuts and maybe 15 Allegheny Chinkapins survive after being transplanted. I planted out all of my chestnut and chinkapin seedlings and a few each of all the oaks. I sold a few lots of seedlings and gave away a bunch to friends and family. I'm going to try another batch again but am going to focus more on some hybrid oaks, and the chestnuts, and chinkapins.
I pick the acorns directly off the tree before they hit the ground.
I place them in a bucket filled with water. ( the acorns that float, I throw away)
I then place some saw dust in a large ziplock bag and mix in the acorns.
I add water until the saw dust is really damp and then zip tight and place in the bottom of my fridge.( where you keep your lettuce or tomatoes)
After a few weeks I start seeing roots developing and then I will plant the individual acorns.
I am going to try this this year. Natural germination was a complete waste of time. It amazing trees ever plant & grow in the wild by themselves. I already have acorns hitting the ground in the back yard.
Back up from 2015. Is anyone planting trees? I've a got dozens of acorns and persimmons seeds stratifying in the fridge. This will be my 1st year to try my luck at growing them from acorns. I had some luck with persimmons growing last year, but lost a lot in the late summer when I forget to water them enough. I also just ordered a dozen seedlings from Nativ nurseries to plant.
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