My 8 year old twins and I scouted out an oak stand near the house today, and they collected about 100 acorns. We thought it would be interesting to try to grow some seedlings. Is there anything special to be done?

They can be potted in normal soil or soiless mixes , you can even plant them where you found them the same way that the squirrels do , but don't expect to see acorns anytime soon .

This should help:
http://www.growtube.com/directseeding.html

Thanks. Hopefully we'll get few to start, and they will grow to shade my grandchildren.

Why don't you try some Sawtooth Oaks? You could then have acorns in 6 or so years.

Right on! Timber.

The sawtooth oak suggestion isn't a bad idea, if you can find the acorns. You might check on e-bay for them if you are interested.

No need. The boys just thought picking up the nuts was fun, and when they got home we got to talking about how oaks and acorns work, and I thought it would be a good idea to show them the full cycle. We have plenty of red oaks to hunt under. But a few more a few decades from now wouldn't hurt either.

I usually stratify the red oak acorns in moist peat moss over winter in a refrigeratorand then plant them out into containers in the spring. You should check out the area for sweeter white oak acorns.

Dan O.