2014 acorn harvest has started

For the past couple of weekends I've picked about 100 swamp white oak acorns and planted 60. Of the three oaks only one is producing a moderate number of acorns. Not much from the other two.

Below: swamp white oak, black oak, red oak and four bur oak acorns on top.

The white and red oaks have plenty more acorns to fall from the tree and I fully expect to gather more. Last year produced very few red oak acorns and this year it seems that the black oaks are the species that aren't yielding much.

A camera shy red squirrel was stuffing his cheeks while I picked up the 150 or so red oak acorns last night after work. Maybe his descendents will be nibbling acorns from one of the seedlings that will sprout up from this harvest (20+ years from now.) Another squirrel would take a few bites from an acorn and drop the remnants on me while I picked from the ground. After the second acorn to wiz by my ear, I decided this was enough for today.

I floated off the bad acorns and bagged the good ones into ziplock baggies with peat moss. I have about a couple hundred feet to finish off the row to plant the white oak this fall and what I don't plant this fall will be left in the spare fridge to plant in the spring with the red, black and bur oaks.

These will fill in nicely where we lose a seedling this winter.

2014 planting update, 3/24/14

Red oak planted in containers:

 

One month after planting, the tallest reached 2 and a half inches. Those planted in the star trays are only about an inch. I'm not sure why the difference, but I like the progress on these. The roots will start to wrap around the bottom of the container or try to poke its way out the drain holes. I've had good success with pin oaks the past two seasons with this size of cup and will get these in the ground after another 6 weeks or so.

When we get back to actual spring-like temperatures for good, these will be outside for the duration.

Also in the ground this past weekend: 15 coffeetree seeds and another 10 black oak acorns.

Spring planting - getting ready

In the crisper tray of a basement refrigerator is where I have acorns, chestnuts and a few other seeds, some of which were stored in bags of peat moss. While always in the back of my mind, I haven't made a habit of peaking in our stash.

On Saturday I discovered that a good majority of the red and black oak acorns had germinated:

Now it's time to think about getting them in the ground soon, except the ground is frozen down to 24". The next best thing is to put them in dirt in planters. I was impressed with the star trays that we received the aronia plants in, and I purchased a few for this purpose. The trays that came with the aronias are currently in the garden filled with white oak acorns (with hardware cloth covering to keep the critters out.)

I put the nuts in a peat moss/sand mix and gave them a good soaking. These are placed under a south facing window near a heat vent.

Since nearly all of the chestnuts germinated as well, some with an inch plus root, I planted some of those in a tray and a few extra pots. Those 32oz drink cups from the convenient store work very well for planters. 

Potted this past weekend: 45 red oak, 38 black oak, 52 chestnut.

2013 Fall Planting Update

In mid-October we planted all the seedlings that David aka Sam delivered up to us. A couple of swamp white oak, a couple of catalpa and what ended up with 5 Kentucky coffeetree (a few volunteers were in the pots). The chestnut is planted in what is our new grove. I planted 5 more chestnut nuts so I think that qualifies as a grove.

The catalpa are framing the cedars as "bookends" on the west and the coffeetrees were added to the row with our showcase tree and to a couple of other rows with smaller coffeetrees. The swamp white oak were planted in the last row next to the willows.

Of course. all were caged with woven wire and chicken wire or hardware cloth to prevent the large and small vermin from doing damage.

Catalpa:

Swamp white oak:

Tree number one of the chestnut grove:

I planted 51 swamp white oak acorns up the bottom three rows using an old brass planting stick. I have 100+ planted in planters in the back yard of the homestead.

50 black oak acorns are planted in the northern three rows at the farm. Another 190 black oak acorns are in a bag of peat moss in the bottom of a fridge in the basement.

I have a couple of tubs buried in the garden that I sowed aronia seeds and planters that have paw paw seedlings and hard maple seeds that fell this fall from my neighbor's tree.

After a few more chestnuts get in the ground, I think I've just about finished with the fall planting.

Acorn and chestnut inventory, 10/08/13

Last week I received about 500 red oak acorns from Acorno.com. They're supposed to have come from Iowa, but I'll have to take them at their word. I still ended up with about 500 after floating them and at a price less than what they currently list. The reason for ordering was that my local trees had none. Not a single acorn from any of the red oak trees that I know of that are easily accessible.

About 300 swamp white oak acorns from a local college campus. Floating was about 80-90 percent successful. The four trees had a good crop this year and I've been battling the squirrels to get at them. A couple of the locals aren't too happy with me taking their food supply.

The black oak inventory nearly doubled to 39 acorns on Monday after I stopped to pick up #2 son on campus and I went to my source. This one tree sits very close to a linden and I picked up a few dozen of those seeds to try my hand with. Only about 5% of the acorns have been viable after floating. I've been checking this tree for the past month to try to increase my numbers and only getting a couple of good acorns on each visit.

I get some strange looks as I pick up acorns and seeds from around campus. I'm thinking of wearing a tuxedo while picking but someone is sure to call security and I'd rather not be chased about by net-carrying guys in white coats.

David aka True Blue Sam and his mom, Bea, stopped by and dropped off at least 2 gallons of Chinese chestnuts. With a very good flavor, some of them will not make it to the tree farm. But I have a planned spot where the chestnut grove will be and I'll be getting some in the ground this fall. With his generosity, I have several to experiment with to see what works best for my ground.

Here's the inventory:

 From left to right - swamp white oak, Chinese chestnuts, red oak and black oak.

We have a good supply for this year's fall planting and for spring. An old fridge in the basement now holds our inventory and the "crisper" drawer is a little full.