This year was a dismal year for mast here in Maine. I decided to try and start some oak trees for a piece of property I own. The property currently has a few red oaks but as we all know deer prefer white oaks to red oaks hands down. I went out an collected about a 1 gallon zip lock bag of white oak acorns and am planning on planting them but I can't seem to find any info on when to plant and what to fertilize with.

If you have any experience with planting oaks I'd greatly appreciate any pointers.

Thanks,
Adams

White oaks acorns could be planted now, they will germinate (just root) during the fall. You can test the ones you have to see if they are viable by putting them in a bucket of water, they good ones will sink (you could let it sit for an hour or two to see if some floaters fall). You would then have to find creative way to keep critters from diffing them up. On the other hand you could keep them till spring (in cool moist medium with ventilation) and try to get them to sprout then, the only trouble with that is finding a way to NOT damage tap root as its needed in early life of the tree.

Dan O had good luck sprouting some Sawtooth acorns I sent him. He would probably be able to help when he signs on.

Ray C. pretty well summed it up. I use moist spagnum peat moss in ziplock bags (poke some pin holes for ventilation) in a refrigerator set at just above freezing to store the acorns over winter. If you only put a few acorns (10-20) in each bag and you keep them cool enough it slows down the rooting and they aren't too tangled when you try to seperate them for planting.

Don't use a frost free refrigerator. They actually warm up well above freezing during the defrost cycle. A local nursery operator discovered that when he installed a min-max thermometer in a fridge and it was going up to almost 50 F.

Dan O.

Adams, I planted several oaks and other varieties of trees as part of a conservation program on my farm. It was called CREP; you may want to look into it. If you own any land near a body of water they will pay to plant the trees and fence out livestock. I don't know whether or not this would be an option.

If you are going to plant oaks you will be waiting at least eight years to see good acorn production with the sawtooth oaks, the earliest producers. And, about three times as long for most other varieties. I would suggest you contact your local department of forestry and purchase some seedlings that are a couple of years old. This will help you get a head start. Good Luck!

Maine is too far north for sawtooth oaks, as is most of the upper midwest.

White or Bur Oak is defiinately the way to go, and maybe in your life time you can enjoy the fruits/nuts of your labor. Bur Oak is also highly prefered as White oak is and is more cold tolerant than white oak. Very few people plant native oaks anymore because they want results NOW! This country used to be full of oaks, now there are fewer and fewer.

You might also consider American elderberry, american plum, american hazelnut, Highbush Cranberry, zone 3 hardy disease resistant apples, for hardy, native, northern deer habitat plantings.

adams; from the climatic zone map you may be able to grow sawtooths if you're within about 50 miles of the coast. It's best if you call up the map yorself and make sure that you're not in zone 4. If that's the case there is a hardier (Korean) Sawtooth that can handle that zone.

Dan O.

You guys rock! Thanks for all the great info. DanO, I'm within two miles of the coast so sawtooth might be a viable option. I'm expecting this to be a long process but I was thinking I'd get them started and them package them up like a nursary dose until I have a permenant home for them. I have a good sized piece of property but it's on the market so I'd just be using it to get them started.

I guess for starters I'll weed out the good from the bad and get them bagged up for winter. I may be back in the spring looking for more tips.

Thanks again to all who replied. I really appreciate the info.

Adams