I cannot emphasize this enough: KILL THE GRASS IN A 2-3 FOOT CIRCLE AROUND THOSE YOUNG TREES! We did a bunch of field trials years ago that showed nearly double the early growth when this is done. Roundup or "Grass-B-Gone" is your friend.

B-1 83 said:

---

I cannot emphasize this enough: KILL THE GRASS IN A 2-3 FOOT CIRCLE AROUND THOSE YOUNG TREES! We did a bunch of field trials years ago that showed nearly double the early growth when this is done. Roundup or "Grass-B-Gone" is your friend.

---

So roundup won't harm the trees? I assume as long as you don't get any on tree leaves you're good.

Ag for Life said:

---

B-1 83 said:

---

I cannot emphasize this enough: KILL THE GRASS IN A 2-3 FOOT CIRCLE AROUND THOSE YOUNG TREES! We did a bunch of field trials years ago that showed nearly double the early growth when this is done. Roundup or "Grass-B-Gone" is your friend.

---

So roundup won't harm the trees? I assume as long as you don't get any on tree leaves you're good.

---

I've always done it around bushes and trees. I just try not to get it on the tree, but typically it won't do any damage if a little hits it. Still, that hasn't made much of a difference.

I think the biggest issue is (like someone said earlier), you have to pretty much water each tree daily from Spring through Fall the first several years.

These are pretty damn expensive, but work really well.......I ended up buying 4 of them and would just move them around to the tree that looked the weakest. Being 3.5 hours from my trees made it hard to get there regularly. Typically get down there every 6-8 weeks though.

https://www.treediaper.com/products.cfm?ProductID=1036vA

Just posted a long reply with pictures and it crashed on my phone. I'll try again later. Off to dig up and transplant a few live oaks.

I have good luck growning my own trees from acorns. I kept them in 1 gallon containers and tranferred to 7 or 10 gallon container. Once they were about 5ft, I transplanted them where I wanted. I do have to water still sometimes as they are young and I dont want to waste my time invested. I fertilize regularly as well. These were red and burr oak. Gonna try some black walnuts this year.

Most people on this board don't have the years to allow growing trees from acorns…

It takes a long time to get a decent sized tree from acorn. Decades.

https://imgur.com/xtaW7WF

This is the reason you still plant a tree

https://www.farmanddairy.com/top-stories/how-to-grow-black-walnut-trees-from-seed/636838.html

Some info for starting Black Walnuts from seed.
Most Black Walnuts in Texas were cut down around 100 years ago & send to Europe for furniture.

thanks

Thanks for the link

What does your mortality after permanently transplanting look like? Are you watering them after permanently transplanting them?

Only planted 11, only one died. Gave away about 10 more red oaks and the person that took them says they are doing well. He makes sure to take care of them more than I probably
Probably a bad location. I water once I do not get rain for two or three weeks. Say 2.5 gallon each tree a week if zero rain and hot for two or three weeks prior. Once get a decent rain I hold off watering again per above. I fertilize regularly. Maybe every few months. Use a hybrid fertilizer program to Producers Coop Jack n the Beanstalk.

Here's 3 of my Mossy Oak trees. These are going on 2 and 3 years old. Basically only oaks (and hybrid oaks) seem to do good fit me and everything else is very iffy. You have to water the crap out of them pretty much daily through summer the first few years. I spray around the base of them and keep the grass from growing close, however I'm due for another spray.

For comparison, the first pic is a live oak I transplanted from our family place about 5 years ago. It was maybe 2 feet tall at the time and is now a good 8'h by 7'w. I like this one being wide to shade the house from the sun set.

The second pic is another that lost all its leaves about 2 months ago, but has a ton of new little ones coming out now. Same transplant time period.

Third picture is a feed store live oak I bought 2 years ago for $50 and planted. It's doing great.

First picture is a feed store $27 live oak I planted last year. I planted 3 and all survived the freeze and everything else.

Second picture is a white oak I planted from MO last year. As you can see, it's pretty much the same size as last year when I planted it. I have about 6 planted around and all look the same.

Here's a $125 live oak from the feed store I planted last year. It's lost a lot of leaves, but still putting out acorns in its first year here. I'm hoping it buds out new leaves soon. This one is a good 11' or so, but thin.

Now my new trees I transplanted yesterday. These are live oaks from the same family place the very first two were from. Hopefully they do good. And yes, I'm still going to repaint the boards around them. Top of the boards is about 5'.

First is about 11' (very similar to the thin live oak in the last picture)

Second is about 6'.

Third is about 5'.

And the fourth is about 2.5'.

It'll be interesting to see how native Texas live oaks grow in comparison to the Mossy Oak trees. Basically though, a bigger, more established, deeper rooted tree does significantly better than the Mossy Oak trees, but if you like to gamble and can baby them, go for it. They just take a reeeeally long time to grow 10'.

ought1ag said:

---

https://imgur.com/xtaW7WF

This is the reason you still plant a tree

---

And I'm very aware of that. Because my grandpa started our little tree farm 30-40 years ago we have quite a few decent trees (most all live oaks and crepe myrtls). And it's also why I plant a dozen or so a year myself.

Awesome, thanks for the update. Did the ones you planted in the pasture make it?

I think I have a whopping 5 still alive in the pasture over several plantings. I've probably planted close to 30 or so altogether in the pasture and crappy soil combined with our heat is just really tough on little trees like these.

giddings_ag_06 said:

---

Most people on this board don't have the years to allow growing trees from acorns…

It takes a long time to get a decent sized tree from acorn. Decades.

---

I planted acorns this past spring and the seedlings are as big as the trees you started out with 3 years ago.

White oaks are notoriously slow growers. Can't compare them to the others. But if they ever produce, they're the best deer attractant you can have.

as in they are the size of the 3 year old trees when he first purchased them or the ones you planted are already as big as his that have been growing for 3 years?

angryocotillo said:

---

as in they are the size of the 3 year old trees when he first purchased them or the ones you planted are already as big as his that have been growing for 3 years?

---

When he first planted them. I was just pointing out he was talking about people not having the time to wait for the trees to grow from acorns, but it only takes one growing season to get the size he was planting.

So I just ordered several ShuWillow hybrids from Nativ and while googling around came across this thread.

Curious to hear how they are doing several years on now?

I've spent about the last 10 years getting the hang of planting bare root seedlings in the open and it's definitely a struggle but have a few which are 20' tall and thriving at this point.

The biggest thing that limits growth in the summer is the heat, but a shade cloth fastened over a landscape cage or a tube makes a world of difference and gives the seedlings a much stronger chance. They effectively have zero protection from sun scald and their vascular tissue cooks in the intense sunlight. Bear in mind, ambient temperature can be 100 degrees but we've measured temps in tree canopies with a laser thermometer in the 140-160 degree range at peak summer (no different than how the surfaces in your car are hotter than the air outside).

Photos of a Shumard oak planted as a pencil whip sapling in 2013. Photos from November 2022 and July 2023. It stayed less than 2-ft tall for 6-7 years and then in the last three seasons put on 5-ft a year. Moving forward I'm going to put up a shade screen for all saplings their first 2 summers. Did that this year and have seen night-and-day differences with vigor and growth from years past, even with 110 degree weather.

Quote:

---

If you're worried about drift, or can't wait for a still day, put the roundup in a paint tray and apply it to the grass with a roller.

---

Or carry a small piece of cardboard to use as a shield- place it between the truck & the area you are spraying.

I have a red oak from an acorn that Grew for One year
In a pot. Grew slowly for 2-3 years after i planted it. I'm at about year 8 and it's 25-30 feet hi. Really took off the last 3-4 years. Pruned lower branches once they stopped growing and were getting shaded by those above them for a few years.