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Acorns to Oaks!

You have them backwards, the ones you are calling pin oaks are a white oak of some flavor. Looks like a Quercus Alba (white oak) to me.
 
I have 30 or so Chinkapin acorns in the frigde in peat, and they are all doing well(most have sprouted).

Then I have a pound of DCO's in the fridge also, I ordered them from a Bob Henrickson from the Nebraska Arboretum. I float tested, all showed good, then pacted them in damp peat like the others, and only a few have swelled up and craked on the bottom, none have sproted a taproot.

Is this normal? Come this spring when I go to starting them will they germinate then? I didn't know if DCO had a lower germ than the Chinkapin acorns?

Also I plan on doing quite a few in rootmakers this spring and then planting later. There is no way I can start all the acorns I have stored, can I go out and just hand plant some with a tree tube over the top? Can I do that now through spring, or wait until spring?
 
Give them time, the DCO's in my fridge are also slow to germinate, but they will get there. I'd prefer them not to germ till March in the fridge anyways when I go to plant them out.
 
Hey guys thought I would do a little update on some of my acorns. I know you guys start yours a lot later but I have been feeling ambitious so I have been starting some.
Here is my biggest white oak.
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My big bur oak sprouted!
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Got most of the ones that have sprouted planted now but have these left and the rest in my 2nd bag still to plant
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I hadn't paid much attention to my bags of accorns for the past month or so. I got them out of the refrigerator yesterday to find that one the bags had just started to develope a light layer of mold on many of the accorns!:confused: I got them out, rinsed and wiped off the mold. I then re-packed in new soil in new bags. So, my quetion is, has the mold already done the damage or might they make it?

Another question. Out of about 100 accorns in two bags, only about 5 or 6 had split. I also have a bag with 4 American Chestnut and one of them has sprouted with a 3 inch root. Is this a bad sign that only a few have cracked or sprouted?

Is see that Bryan95 has alread started planting them, when are the rest of you going to start?

Thanks!
 
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bowman said:
I hadn't paid much attention to my bags of accorns for the past month or so. I got them out of the refrigerator yesterday to find that one the bags had just started to develope a light layer of mold on many of the accorns!:confused: I got them out, rinced and wiped off the mold. I then re-packed in new soil in new bags. So, my quetion is, has the mold already done the damage or might they make it?

Another question. Out of about 100 accorns in two bags, only about 5 or 6 had split. I also have a bag with 4 American Chestnut and one of them has sprouted with a 3 inch root. Is this a bad sign that only a few have cracked or sprouted?

Is see that Bryan95 has alread started planting them, when are the rest of you going to start?

Thanks!
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Are you using peat for the mix in the acorns? It will do the best against mold cause of the low pH.

What kind of acorns do you have? Red oaks can take a while to break dormancy and go at their own pace where some break dormancy faster than others.

White oak acorns should have already cracked open if they are good...unless you got them fresh from the tree and stored them right at freezing.
 
Oaks (Iowa)

I've got a south facing hillside on my new property in Iowa that is around 6 acres. It is hay ground right now, but it is hard to get to, and maybe a good candidate for CRP.

I was thinking of a riparian buffer on the bottom half, and then WHIP/trees and maybe switchgrass on the remainder.

What oak trees do the best on a south facing hillside (around 39 CSR) soils are average, should have full sun.
 
Hardwood11 said:
I've got a south facing hillside on my new property in Iowa that is around 6 acres. It is hay ground right now, but it is hard to get to, and maybe a good candidate for CRP.

I was thinking of a riparian buffer on the bottom half, and then WHIP/trees and maybe switchgrass on the remainder.

What oak trees do the best on a south facing hillside (around 39 CSR) soils are average, should have full sun.
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Regular white, bur oak, chinkapin and swamp white grow on south facing slopes on my average soils. I'd add in some black oak (dare I saw shingle oaks :D ) and pin oaks.

Northern Reds prefer north or east facing slopes for best growth so I would not put any of them there. I am trying some southern reds from the MDC this year. They say those seedlings should do well over most of MO. Worth a shot anyways since they are a good timber red oak tree that will grow in average soils.

I like the shotgun approach for your field...plant many of those types (and a few others) see what takes and go from there.
 
letemgrow said:
Are you using peat for the mix in the acorns? It will do the best against mold cause of the low pH.

What kind of acorns do you have? Red oaks can take a while to break dormancy and go at their own pace where some break dormancy faster than others.

White oak acorns should have already cracked open if they are good...unless you got them fresh from the tree and stored them right at freezing.
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I am using Miracle Grow potting soil. They are swamp whites and I collected them from a tree that I checked every day and popped some from the cups when they got loose. I float tested them and got them in the potting soil right away in the fridge.I'm not sure what I did wrong except for maybe not checking them for the last month. Should I error on the side of too damp or too dry with the soil?
 
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bowman said:
I am using Miracle Grow potting soil. They are swamp whites and I collected them from a tree that I checked every day and popped some from the cups when they got loose. I float tested them and got them in the potting soil right away in the fridge.I'm not sure what I did wrong except for maybe not checking them for the last month. Should I error on the side of too damp or too dry with the soil?
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Swap for some straight peat instead. It will be more acidic than the potting mix to retard against mold. The potting mix works fine if you can get them enough air IMO. I have used both with good success, but check them weekly with the potting mix.

Swamp whites are not as fast at germinating from what I have seen like a quercus alba or chinkapin oak. They will sprout while still hanging on the tree. :D

Sounds like you did everything right if they were loose in the cap, they were as ready as ever will be. The medium used just has to be moist...too wet will harbor mold faster/easier. Moist to the touch is plenty.
 
Thought I would do another little update. I am waiting on some rootmakes I ordered to transfer some of these into.
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Very nice! You may need to put a small fan on those to help strengthen the stems before you move them outside...;)
 
When you start planting the stored acorns do you plant them and put them outside as long as temps are above freezing or do you start them indoors and let them germinate before moving outside?

I have 18 cell root makers to start them in.
 
I wait till the can go outside, long as it does not get to much below freezing I start them outside then....say late March or so.

You can start them indoors, but to me, it was just too much extra work.
 
Trim seedlings?

I planted about 30 white oak seeds January 2nd (I think they are swamp white oak) and 5 or 6 have more than one sprout coming out of the acorn. Should these be trimmed down to just one sprout per acorn?

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I can't see the pic Banker but I know one sprout could be the root system and the other is the 'truck'... without seeing a pic I'm not sure what your seeds look like.
 
Should these be trimmed down to just one sprout per acorn?
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I would leave them for now and trim at planting if need be...haven't had it happen that often unless I planted several acorns.
 
Well, I'm pretty discouraged. Out of about 100 acorns only 6 have cracked with no sprouts. I only have 4 American Chestnuts but all 4 had cracked and started to sprout. So have 6 acorns and 4 Chestnuts in root makers as of tonight. Here's hoping that the acorns that I direct seeded do a little better than those that were in the refrigerator. The mold that I found a month or two ago must have shut them down.:confused:

I now have two 18 cell root makers and only 10 nuts to plant. Any chance that the other acorns will still sprout this late in the game? I was all ready to buy some tree tubes and grow some trees.:(
 
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