I have two Burr Oak trees that were planted as seedlings 10 years ago. Now one is loaded (I mean really loaded) with acorns. How can I know which acorns will grow and how do I go about it?

Bur oaks are very easy to grow & grow fast. The key is to plant the acorn IMMEDIATELY after picking them. I mean no longer than 5 days. The quicker you get them in the ground, the better. The best thing to plant them in is a 1-5 gallon nursery container with a mix of half compost & half native soil. In reality, any soil mix will do at this acorn-seedling stage.

Fill the pot with the soil & push the acorn into the soil until the upper surface of the acorn is no more than half an inch deep. Keep the soil moist & the acorn will sprout within 2-3 weeks...or less. If you just have a few pots to fool with, move them in on cold days & out on warm days during this first winter. I have done this in the past and it's not difficult to have the seedlings be 12 or more inches tall by April or May.

If you are planting too many to move in & out, place the pots in a south facing protected area & they will do fine. They won't be as large next spring as those that were pampered but they will turn into fine trees.

Another key thing to do is pick the ripe acorns from the tree just before they are ready to fall. Once they hit the ground, seed weevils will enter the acorn quickly & eat the kernel making the acorn worthless for seed. If you must pick the acorn from the ground, try to pick the freshest to plant. Any acorns with tiny holes in their shell have already been killed by weevils so don't waste your time planting them.

Since you have not done this before, I want to remind you to take the acorn out of the "cup" before you plant it. Sometimes bur oak acorns fall from the tree still in the cup and it will just get in the way of your new seedling if you leave it attached

thank you so much for the great info. Some of the acorns (both on the tree and off) have a split straight down the side. Are these bad or getting ready to sprout? These two trees are about 10 years old and huge but this is the first time we've seen acorns. And only one tree has acorns but it is loaded! We are excited about the possibility of a second generation!

I don't know for sure but I would guess that the split acorns are a factor of the drought & inconsistent watering more than anything else. In any case, I would not select them for seed. Bur oak do grow amazingly fast with minimal help. I planted a bur oak acorn in a pot when my son was born. About a year later, planted it in the yard when both he & the tree were the same height. He & the tree are both now 22 & "his" tree is now probably between 25 & 30 feet tall with about a 20 inch diameter trunk. I have been collecting & planting "second generation" acorns from his tree for years now & they just keep on growing. With as many acorns as you have, plant a bunch, keep the ones you want & give the rest away.

Wonderful story. Since my oldest ag '07 got married last year and the youngest '09 will get married next year, would love to give them a tree for their first house. Thanx and BTHO TT.

Good info ... thanks from me too.

I have 5 burr oaks in my yard that produce plenty of acorns. Two years ago I put a few acorns into 2 five gallon pails of potting soil and nothing sprouted. My Ag degree from TAMU did not help me at all!

I got enough pointers on this thread to maybe know what to watch for now and will try again.

b.astutus is 110% accurate on this thread.

+1 for picking the ripe acorns off the tree. With live oaks very few of the ones found on the ground germinated. Good luck.

I just put two in some pots that i picked off of my parents tree this morning. I followed the above listed directions to a T. We'll see what happens

I have 200+ acres in Cass county (East Tx) and would like to get some Bur oak acorns so that I can start some trees on my property.
If anyone is willing to box some Bur oak acorns for me, I will send you the cost of shipping, probably by post office flat rate box.
Thanks,
Bob Nisbet
US Army Research and Technology Protection Center
Supporting PEO Aviation
Redstone Arsenal, Alabama 35898
Office: 256-876-1939
(A Displced Texan - RANisbet@Yahoo.Com)

OP, I think that if you shipped them all the way to Bama they will spoil... they have a lot of fat in them and hot conditions makes them go rancid quickly.

Call the Texas Forest Service in Alto or order the seedlings online, might be the best option for you:

https://tfsapps.tamu.edu/wtn/StoreFront/Store_Prod13_Oak-Bur.aspx

Those are coming from Lubbock but they used to do the same thing in Alto. $35 bucks for 25 pencil-sized bareroot seedlings you can plant wherever you want is a good deal.

One additional but very important note that I failed to mention. Protect the planted acorns from squirrels with some sort of wire, grate, or something similar. It's amazing how squirrels can find the acorns in the pots before they have a chance to sprout. They will even dig up seedlings that have already grown 2-3 inches out of the soil. Nothing is more is more frustrating than going out to inspect the progress of your acorns or seedlings and finding nothing more than divots where the acorns used to be. I seem to have an ongoing war with the squirrels in my neighborhood.

I know this thread has been about bur oaks but I am increasingly more fond of chinquapin oaks. They are oak wilt resistant, grow about the same rate as bur oaks, and much more drought tolerant than bur oaks. That has been very evident this year. Chinquapin acorns are harder to come by but worth the extra work to locate.

Anyone know where one of these Chinquapin oaks is located in the BCS area?

Chinquapin oak are interesting oaks in that the acorns do not have as much tannic acid as most other oaks. Consequently, they are frequently found around old Indian camps because supposedly the acorns could be collected, crushed, soaked over night in a stream to leach out remaining tannic acid, and the mash was then edible by humans. I know for a fact that deer LOVE the acorns & it's really, really hard to find ANY acorns on the ground if deer are around. It's easier to collect acorns from chinquapins that are located in a neighborhood in town. If you don't know what they look like well enough to recognize them as you drive through neighborhoods, you might try to ask some Master Gardener types or even your county agent if they know where any can be found in your area. Most folks don't care if you collect some acorns from their tree if you ask first.

Outside of that, nurseries that specialize in native trees ought to be able to either sell one to you or tell you where some acorn bearing trees are. I'll warn you that if they grow their own plants, they can sometimes be protective of their seed sources.

As far as BCS specifically, you might contact somebody in the forestry, plant sci., range, or wildlife depts to see if they know of a specimen tree located somewhere on campus. I was in WFS 30+ years ago and after doing numerous plant, leaf, twig, & seed collections for various classes back then, the instructors ought to know where some specimen trees can be found.


[This message has been edited by b.astutus (edited 10/14/2011 12:20p).]

Can anyone tell me where to find burr oaks in the Houston, Texas area that acorns can be collected from?

Bur oaks should be very easy to find in Houston. I'd bet that most neighborhood parks have one or two growing in them. As mentioned above, I'd ask any Master Gardener/Naturalist type folks you might know personally if they know where one is located. TPWD has Urban Biologists in Houston that will know things like this as well. Houston ought to have an Urban Forester on staff in the parks dept. that could tell you where some are in a public park near you. Start contacting arboretums, REAL nurseries (not box store parking lots), county agent office, & so on. If nothing else, these folks will have a phone number of someone near you that can probably tell you exactly where to go to find a few acorns to plant.


[This message has been edited by b.astutus (edited 10/28/2011 8:27a).]

I'm in the DFW area, right now my Burr Oak is dropping acorns every day.

Free to whomever wants to pick them up.

In fact, I'd appreciate. You can break an ankle stepping on them.

In my yard I have live oak, burr, laceys, monterey, chinquapin, red, and canbys. Most of them are now 20 years old.

I have never seen an acorn on the Chinquapin.

The Lacey's Oak gets about 2 good acorns a year and thousands of immature ones about the size of a baby pea.

Also the Canby's so far only has thousands of tiny acorns that do not mature. I expect this to change as the trees get older.

I have about 70 1 gallon containers planted right now, mixture of live oak, white oak, water oaks. I've been going around the area collecting acorns from the largest and oldest trees I could find. Lots of great live oaks around courthouse/downtown Richmond. I can't find any burr oaks with acorns in Houston either. I looked all along Hershey park yesterday and none of the burr oaks had acorns. I did this last year, but like was mentioned above, the squirrels got to me in about 3 days. I built a wood frame with wire mesh on top that I lay across the containers now to keep them tree rats out. I have about 25 seedlings right now from this spring. This website has alot of info.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/newsletters/hortupdate/hortupdate_archives/2006/nov06/LiveOak.html

[This message has been edited by texagpilot (edited 10/28/2011 9:39a).]

[This message has been edited by texagpilot (edited 10/28/2011 9:39a).]

[This message has been edited by texagpilot (edited 10/28/2011 9:39a).]

Dumb related question here... Does it matter what orientation the acorns are planted in? Meaning is there a "top" and "bottom" to the acorn and should be it be planted a certain way?

Thanks.

Lay them on their side about an inch deep in soil.

Since they sprout from the tip, put them on the side so that the acorn is at a 90 deg angle to the trunk and tap root. Don't plant them too deep - just deep enough to keep critters from noticing them.

I have some acorns I gathered from an oak tree a few weeks ago that I'm not sure of the type. Comparing the leaves and acorns and bark to pictures on the internet I believe it is a Chinquapin or Swamp White oak. Is there any easy way to tell them apart?