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Oak Tree

Oak Tree

Oak is in the genus Quercus of the beech family, Fagaceae. Old World and American oaks having 6 to 8 stamens in each floret, acorns that mature in one year and leaf veins that never extend beyond the margin of the leaf. White oaks have larger, rounded lobes on the leaves, and a red oak’s leaves have jagged lobes. Oak is the most common of all the hardwoods.
Introduction
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Description

Optimal Time/Temperature for Germination:
Look for an acorn to plant in early autumn, germinate it, and start it in a container. Then, transplant your acorn in a prepared site. Care for your growing oak tree so that future generations can enjoy it for years to come! If possible, look for suitable trees in the summer. You’ll want mature trees whose acorns are easily-reached via ladder or with a long pole. Some oak varieties, like red oaks, have acorns that take two years to mature, rather than one. As you pick suitable trees in the summer, keep this in mind – the acorns on some oaks will be ready in the fall, while others won’t be ready until the following year. (3 to 9 zones preferred). Oak takes up to 15 years to mature.
Optimal Soil Conditions:
Location is everything – pick a location for your oak tree where it has room to grow and won’t be a hindrance when they’ve grown large. When choosing the site for your oak tree, some things to consider are: The availability of sunlight. Like all photosynthetic plants, oaks need sunlight to survive, so don’t plant them in shaded areas. The location of nearby sidewalks, water lines, buried pipes, etc. You don’t want to have to kill your tree if work needs to be done in your yard. The shading effect of the full-grown tree. If you would like your oak tree to eventually provide shade for your home, plant it to the west or southwest of your home to maximize the shading effect it will have in the summer, while minimizing its shade in the winter. Note – in the southern hemisphere, the tree should be to the west or northwest side of your house to get the shading effect. Nearby vegetation. Plants compete with each other for sun, moisture, and other resources. Don’t plant your young oak right next to any substantial vegetation, or it may not reach maturity. A live oak (a majestic tree that stays green year round) will require well-drained, loamy or sandy soil, and at least 4 to 6 hours of sunlight. When you’ve picked a good spot for your tree, clear any minor vegetation in a 3-foot (90 cm) circle away. Use a shovel to turn over the dirt in the area to a depth of about 10 inches (25 cm), breaking up any large clods. If the soil isn’t moist, you may want to moisten the soil yourself or wait until after a rain to plant your tree. White oaks, which produce large numbers of acorns, thrive in moist, well-drained, acidic soil.
Seed Planting Depth, Spacing and Procedure:
Obtain fairly small 2 inch (5 cm) diameter gardening pots or milk cartons for your plants. Fill these with a good quality potting soil (some sources also recommend adding milled sphagnum moss ). For watering purposes, leave about an inch (2.5 cm) of space at the top. Plant your acorn just below the surface with the root facing down. If using a milk carton, poke holes in the sides of the cup near the bottom so that water can escape. If you prefer, you can also try just burying the acorn in the yard. Bury the root in a shallow hole and gently tuck the acorn to one side on top of suitable rich, soft soil. This will only work if the taproot is already well established, long, and has detached adequately from the acorn. Be warned – this leaves the seedling vulnerable to mice, squirrels, etc. It’s best to wrap a cage around the seedling to protect it from animals. Gardening sources differ about the next steps to take – some recommend planting seedlings directly into the ground after a few weeks of growth in a pot, while others recommend gradually increasing the amount of each day that the plant is exposed to the outdoor weather before finally planting it in the ground. Still others recommend transplanting the seedling to a larger pot, allowing it to grow further, and then finally planting it in the ground. Though there is no single right way to decide when to transplant a seedling into the ground, there are qualities to look for which can inform your decision to transplant your seedling. Good candidates for transplanting: Are about four to six inches tall (10 – 15 cm), with small leaves. Have white, healthy-looking roots. Appear to be outgrowing their container. Have shown substantial taproot growth. Are a few weeks to several months old. Putting your seedlings outside without getting them accustomed to the outdoors can kill your plant. About a week or two before planting your seeds outside, place your seedlings outdoors for a few hours. Slowly increase how long you leave the seedlings outside each day for the next week or two. Then, your seedlings will be ready to be planted outdoors. Make sure your seedlings are protected from the wind so they don’t blow over. Taproot facing down and leaves facing up, gently place your oak into the hole you’ve prepared. Make sure the hole is deep enough to accommodate the oak’s roots. Replace the dirt around the plant, packing it in lightly. Water your seedling after planting it. Pack soil around the oak seeding, sloping the soil away from the seedling so that water does not sit at the trunk of the tree, which can be damaging. Lay a circular ring of mulch about one foot (30 cm) around the tree to help the soil retain moisture and discourage the growth of weeds. Make sure it does not touch the stem of the tree. To increase the chances of a successful planting, you may want to place several acorns in the same area. In this case, plant young seedling acorns directly into the ground by clearing a 2×2 foot (61 cm x 61 cm) area and placing two acorns into that space, with one or two inches (2.5 cm – 5 cm) of soil on top.
Best Companion Plants and Plants that Hinder:
You can consider for landscaping beneath oaks are species that do not need water or fertilizer in summer- purple needlegrass, coral bells, wild lilac, xylella. peace lily, fern, croton, chenille, ginger, dwarf azalea.

Growing Instructions

Crop Maintenance

Oak trees – especially young, fragile ones – are a source of food for many herbivorous animals. Acorns are a frequent snack for squirrels and mice, who can easily dig them up. Small seedlings are also vulnerable to rabbits, deer, and other animals that like to eat leaves. To ensure your young oak trees aren’t devoured, take steps to protect them. Cage your young trees with chicken wire or sturdy plastic fencing around their stem to prevent animals from reaching them. If you live in an area where deer are common, you may even want to consider caging the top of the tree.
Moisture Requirements & Solutions:
Water your plant until water comes out of the holes at the bottom of its container. In the coming weeks, water frequently, never allowing the soil to dry out. In this stage of their life, keep your seedlings indoors. Place them on a southern windowsill, where they can absorb the winter sun. You may not notice rapid above-ground growth right away. This is because, during the first stage of its life, the plant is developing its taproot below the surface of the dirt. If you live in the southern hemisphere, place your seedlings on a northern windowsill instead. If your seedling isn’t getting much sun, use a supplemental indoor grow light to provide more sunlight. An oak’s long taproot allows it to draw moisture from deep soils even when surface soils have been completely dried out. During the winter and wet months, it’s not usually necessary to water your oak trees. However, when oaks are young, hot and dry weather can be damaging. A drip irrigation system is a useful way to get water to young oak trees when they need it most. Irrigate your tree with about 10 US gallons (38 liters) of water via drip irrigation system every week to two weeks. Irrigate during the hottest and driest months for about two years, lessening the irrigation frequency as the tree grows. Remember not to allow water to collect around the base of the tree. Arrange your irrigation system so that water drips around the tree, not directly onto its base, where it can cause rot. As your oak grows and its roots deepen, you will need to care for it less and less. Eventually, it will be big and tall enough that animals won’t be able to kill it and its roots will be deep enough for it to survive the summer without any watering. Slowly, over several years, reduce the amount of care you give your tree (which, aside from watering during dry months and protecting it from animals, should not be all that much). Eventually, your tree should be able to thrive on its own without showing any signs of distress. Enjoy the lifelong gift you’ve given others.
Weeding Needs & Solutions:
Its necessary while the tree is young but once mature, shade growing plants are workable.
Feeding Needs/Optimal Natural Fertilizers:
Oak trees need calcium, magnesium, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur. Mulch helps keep the soil aerated and these absorbing roots healthier. There are many natural fertilizers you can locate but since coffee grounds are a natural source of nitrogen, they are a cheap and effective fertilizer for oak trees. Moreover, they contain no harsh chemicals and can be considered as green compost. Therefore, it’s a smart way to provide your plants with all the essential components that it needs.
Pests, Diseases & Solutions:
Mistletoe, Lichen, and Spanish moss may frequent the oaks. Galls are defined as irregular growths or swellings, and they vary greatly in size, shape, and location on the plant. Gall development is a reaction by the plant tissue to feeding or egg-laying by various mites and insects. Some tried-and-true ways to manage disease types: Oak leaf blister is rarely severe enough to require control measures (and fungicide treatments are generally ineffective). armillaria root rot- remove the diseased tree(s) along with as much of the root system as possible. Protect healthy trees in the area from stress / bacterial leaf scorch – remove trees infected with bacterial leaf scorch and replant with several different species. Ganoderma root rot – any tree with fungal fruiting structures should be removed immediately. Powdery mildew – no control measures are recommended since this disease develops so late in the year that no significant damage occurs. Hypoxylon canker – control is achieved by keeping trees as healthy as possible, as this disease occurs primarily on trees that have been in stressed conditions. Avoid injury to the trunk and never apply fill soil around the trees. Oak anthracnose – prune and destroy dead twigs and branches during dormancy; apply a fungicide to protect new leaves and branches. (Only high-valued trees should be treated with a fungicide.) Oak wilt prevention is best as there is no treatment. Trees infected with oak wilt should be removed and destroyed before the disease has a chance to spread. Leaf spot – fortunately, little damage results from this so no control action is recommended.
When to Harvest/Number of days to maturity:
Within 20 years, your oak may begin producing acorns of its own, though, depending on the species, optimal acorn growth may not occur for up to 50 years. Gulf Coast live oaks can produce acorns as early as 3 to 5 years. Many other varieties don’t produce acorns until they are 20 to 25 years old. Acorns are best harvested in the early-to-mid autumn before they have fallen from the tree. Choose acorns that are free of worms, holes, and fungus. Suitable acorns should be brownish with slight tinges of green remaining, though the appearance of acorns can vary based on the type of oak tree they come from. A good general rule is that acorns are ready for picking when they can be removed from the cap without tearing them. Note that the cap is not part of the acorn, but a (separate) protective covering. By removing the acorn from the cap you are not damaging it unless you tear the acorn itself.
How to Harvest:
Put the acorns that you’ve harvested, without caps, in a bucket of water. Allow the acorns to settle for a minute or two. Discard any acorns that float – these acorns are bad. An acorn may float because a worm or grub has burrowed into it, creating an air hole. Similarly, a fungus can make the acorn float. If, at any point, you notice that an acorn is soft to the touch, discard it as well. Soft, mushy acorns are rotten.
Optimal Storage temperature and conditions:
Even when stored in the refrigerator, most acorns will begin to germinate in the presence of moisture. The root end may begin to crack through the shell around early December (late fall, early winter). Whether or not the root has cracked through, the acorn is ready to be planted after about 40-45 days of storage. Handle your seedlings with care – the emerging roots are easily damaged.
Optimal Preserving Procedures:
Seed Saving:
Take the “good” acorns out of the water and dry them off. Place them in a large zipper bag with damp sawdust, vermiculite, peat mix, or another growth medium that can hold moisture. You should be able to fit up to 250 acorns in especially large bags. Put the bag in the refrigerator for a month and a half or longer – as long as is needed to germinate the new oak. This process is known as stratification, which is simply exposing a seed to cold temperatures, mimicking the natural conditions that a seed would experience had it fallen to the ground. This primes the seed for sprouting in the spring. Periodically check on your acorns. The medium should be just barely moist. Too moist, and the acorns may rot. Too dry, and they may not grow.

Harvest and Storage

Notes

You should never damage the leading branch. This will damage the tree’s appearance and make it vulnerable to disease. It’s better to plant a variety of oaks, including scrub oak or a gambel oak, which will branch low or look more like a shrub. Even small oak trees lose their leaves in autumn, so don’t be discouraged if all the leaves turn brown or fall off. Just wait for spring. Bur oaks, also called majestic oaks, are slow-growing, 80-foot (24.4 m) tall trees with an 80-foot (24.4 m) spread. The trees are often used as ornamentals or as windbreaks, especially on farms. Sawtooth oaks have moderate water needs and tolerate salty soil, but not alkaline soil. they provide good shade as the canopies spread 40 to 60 feet (12.2 to 18.3 m) and mature height of the tree is up to 60 feet (18.3 m) tall. Gobbler sawtooth oak trees are similar to sawtooth oaks, but provide smaller acorns that are eaten by wild turkeys. Willow oaks tolerate drought, standing water, salty soil, heat and pollution. Water needs are moderate soil. Planting a red oak in Michigan isn’t a good idea: red oak can’t survive below -17°C (5°F). Mature oaks only need pruning to remove dead or weakened branches.

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