White oaks mixed results/ Chestnut question

[fishslayer]

You mean you don't have many oaks? Our camp,in McArthurs Mills is full of them. Good crop of acorns = lots of deer.

Roe+

Ya I know! To the north and east of the lake we hunt, the area is jammed with them. just not where we are.

[Roe+]

Are you talking about Pritchard?

Roe+

[dutchhunter]

the oaks at mom and dads grow on the rim of deep gullys .we have a lot of them and thy are very big trees ,Thy are growing along the top of the gullys all around the farm and the farms next to us for miles ,,thy had the best year last that I have ever seen more acorns then we could keep swept up with the tractor and sweeper ,,tons of them ,,I will get a pic of the leaves up soon Dutch

[LeakyBoots]

You mean you don't have many oaks? Our camp,in McArthurs Mills is full of them. Good crop of acorns = lots of deer.

Roe+

No there are lots of oaks in the area, just not in the immediate area where we hunt. More than anything, I need to look more closely.

[dutchhunter]

here are the trees I transplanted .thy have been in the pots for a few weeks now ,so what kind of oak are thy ,,,Dutch

[werner.reiche]

Look like white oaks to me.

[Marker]

Look like white oaks to me.

I agree, White Oak. The first leaves to sprout on my white oak seedlings look the same as yours. As the tree grows you should see the leaf take on more shape, on mine the second branch down usually shows more typical white oak features of rounded lobes and a deeper v section between the lobes.

Your plants look quite healthy, keep doing what you already doing and I think you will have some nice seedlings to plant.

[dutchhunter]

thanks I got a dozen left just like the ones in the pic ,what do I do with them come late fall .or should I plant them before freeze up ,Dutch

[Marker]

thanks I got a dozen left just like the ones in the pic ,what do I do with them come late fall .or should I plant them before freeze up ,Dutch

That's a good question, I have read the best time to plant is spring or fall when the tree is dormant but I will be planting mine throughout the year as I can only get to my hunting spots occasionally so I do not have much choice. After saying that, when I did landscaping years ago we planted most of our trees in the summer and they did fine as long as: 1. the roots do not get exposed to the air, and 2. they get watered regularly until the tap root develops.

I would definitely use some form of protection from deer grazing.

Here is a pic of an Oak planted in 1965 with no protection (http://www.hastingsreserve.org/OakStory/Deer2.html):



I have got chicken wire around some smaller saplings but as they grow I will be replacing that with tree tubes. I took tomato frames turned them upside down and wrapped in chicken wire, an idea I got from the internet (on the right):

[johny]

Burr Oaks are the only big oak trees in the Northwest.
They grow well along shorelines like the Rainy River.
But they also grow well in many areas in the clay soils of division 10.

There is about 10 acres dominated by oak on the south end of my property.
Does it help deer hunting? Probably not.
It seems bears are the main big game animal that eats acorns in the fall.

I am no expert but have learned a lot the past year so I hope to pass along my experiences so others can experience a better success rate. In respect to your prospective planting location (Bancroft) I would lean towards the Bur Oak (or Bur hybrids) as it has a natural range in that zone (all other White Oaks are more Southern):



I did not mention the zones to Dutch as he is in a warmer area where common Whites are naturally occurring.


Bur Oaks have fuzzy acorn shells (see pic below), if you can find some acorns that's the cheapest thing to do (the closest I know of are in Michigan). Alternatively you can order Bur Saplings from a nursery (Rhora's sells them for $10 each http://www.nuttrees.com/hybrid.htm):