Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Planting Sawtooth Oak Acorns

Last fall I gathered up three gallons of sawtooth acorns. Soaked them in the sink for two days and discarded the few floaters that were there. Then put them in gallon ziplocks with pretty damp (not dripping) sawdust, and put them in the fridge for about 80 days, until I started noticing the cracked shells and sprouts. Took them out to one of my tracts and just walked and shoveled them in 2" deep wherever I went (thinned pine plantation) I have HUNDREDS of trees coming up that are now 6"-15" tall.

I planted a bunch last year that I put in grow tubes that are doing good, but require a LOT more work. It is a LONG term food source, and it will be a minimum of 4 years before they produce anything. I also took a backpack sprayer and killed the grass around each one that I could find.

Just throwing this out there if some of you want to try it.

Fastest growing oaks I've ever seen. My inlaws plant them every year. It doesn't take long and they'll put on plenty of acorns. He has some trees that are probably around 15yo and they put on tons of acorns each year. They are a surprising size for that short period as far as oaks go. The deer love them.

R7RM - do they plant seedlings or the acorns?

That sounds like a good idea.

I did something similar with red oaks. I currently have about 40 wrapped in heavy tomatoe cages, and wrapped with chicken wire to prevent deer and squirrels from eating them while they grow (they smell of acorns while young and tender.)

Acorns in 5 years? I believe that's what I've read.

Along the same lines, has anyone had any luck with chestnuts? If so please offer up the pre-plant treatments. Chinese, as I know our American chestnut is toast.

We have a few hundred sawtooth trees on our CRP land that were planted in 1998.They will produce acorns in 5 or 6 years if planted in good soil. After a few years they produce tons of acorns very early in the season (September in Louisiana) and the acorns fall off quickly. The seedlings were drought resistant. The spring of 1998 was very hot and dry in North Louisiana but the seedlings survived. If you have deer or hogs in the area they will move in when the nuts fall. One thing about sawtooth oak is that it seems to only do well if not crowded by other trees. Plant them on 12 x 12 foot spacing and start thinning as they grow. They do grow fast but I imagine that portends a relatively short life for an oak.

Look up Dunstan chestnuts. They are a popular variety folks are planting.

Though probably of mostly local interest, the USFS is trying to get some chestnuts back on the landscape. They are hybrids. I hope to check out a few of these project areas this fall/winter.

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2011/05/13/american-chestnut-trees-return-hoosier-national-forest

I have a friend that has a sawtooth in his yard. Any Ice storm breaks almost every limb off the tree. But it does grow back fast.

He's done both and they grow well, but most were seedlings dug up around the trees in the spring.

He doesn't have a whole bunch, they were plant for quick shade around a house yard. They give most of the seedlings away or plant them in friends and family's yards. I'll prob get some next year to plant on my new land. I might push a shooting lane and go down each side with STs

I want to find a good source for some White oaks. That is deer candy. Also, easier to grow than red oaks, which require 1000hrs at @40° half in/half out of the ground, on thier side, to germinate. And that is after the float test. White oaks germinate just about as soon as the acorn stops bouncing.....

White Oaks are everywhere in Maryland.
I planted a stand of Persimmon trees on the edge of a bean field. Deer Candy in the Fall. You'll find trails to and from them are frequented by deer.
The Maryland Dept of Natural Resources released a study that said deer from the mountainous Western part of the state don't get as big as deer in the flatter rest of the state because soybeans and corn on farmland provide hardier and more plentiful food than the acorns in the mountains. However, they turn around and say that farmland and suburban deer are getting smaller due to overpopulation. Kind of left hand right hand need to get together and make up their mind.
More oak trees are a plus wherever you plant them! Pine forest doesn't provide much in the way of long term forage.

Planting mast trees is one of the best long term forage improvements you can do. A mix of species can give a longer production time and some years one species will do better than another or they will alternate years of a bumper crop. This company has all types and a number of hybrids selected especially for food plots there are others too. https://www.nativnurseries.com/c-5-hybrid-oaks.aspx

What are sawtooth acorns? Never heard the term before.

Doc

Just ordered oaks from nativnurseries. Hope they make it in my location, kind of borderline for sure.

Which species/varieties? Some of them native to the plains may have a chance. Distribution maps show black oak, blackjack oak, and bur oak being in adjacent states. With some help, namely water, you might be able to get them going where you are.

From the Sawtooth oak tree. Not native to the U.S. but planted here long ago. Considered an invasive species in some areas.

Pointer, Hoping by watering them a few years, they can get roots down close to a water table. Thinking we have some water down around 18-20' in one of our lowspots. Trying Chinkapin, Bur, Northern Red Oak, Shumard, and a Red Oak/Willow Oak hybrid. I don't irrigate any grass out here so watering 8-10 oaks hopefully won't be too bad. If they make it, I'll have a deer magnet on the place as there are no oaks other than scrub anywhere around here.

Good deal! I'm giving the bur the best odds. If you will be watering them my hand, the "treegator" type rings are pretty affordable for the number you are dealing with. Even that can be replicated fairly easy with some DIY skills and a bucket.

If you do lose a few, consider black and/or blackjack. They are more prevalent in drier country.

PS- I'm thinking it's going to be a while before the roots hit 20'.

You may be right on the 20 foot root depth lol. Long term it is their best bet if they can get deep enough. Those watering bags look really cool. May try a few of those out. Trying to keep them planted within easy hose distance of the house but the bags would open things up for me.

There is probably a reason I don't see any growing around here but I am up for an attempt anyway. After living in MO, IN, IL, and OH, I do miss the big ole oak trees being around.

Checked them yesterday, and they are from 14"-18" tall already. I imagine I had 85-90% success with the acorns I planted numbering probably 300. It is going to be epic.

Congrats on the success. It will be epic if they all make it.

On another note, the Nativ Nurseries/Mossy Oak seedlings arrived via UPS. Look super healthy. If they don't make it, it is due to my climate or me. I'd recommend them if anyone needs oak seedlings.

30338 They will be under a lot less stress if you plant them late winter/early spring next year... if you don't get a lot of water on them soon after you put them in the ground, they will become stressed.

Planted and will water every other day. Fingers crossed.

Good luck.

Did you tube or cage them? Deer seem to LOVE to chew on oak seedlings...

Mine are completely enclosed in heavy tomato cages and chicken wire. @30 of them.

I tubed about 50 saplings in December. I planted several hundred acorns that are thriving. Our deer have so much to eat that is better than trees, they leave them alone

I have planted 100s maybe 1000's of trees and what I found out that really helps is inoculating the roots with Mycoryzhia. Here is one source:
http://www.fungi.com/

Especial here in Texas we will typically see 90% die off of un-irrigated saplings planted. With the fungi and a little rain I have gotten success rates of 50-100%.
I water it in to buckets of saplings in tubes and wait till I can see the fungi before planting. Many of the State Forresters have gone to this so I don't think it is Voodoo it's been proven too many times.

The Fungi is adaptable but best to get from local sources. The ones with funky names like dead mans toe or dog turd mushroom are the Glamaris species you want.

Sending you a PM. We are planting American Chestnut "mother trees" right now at our camp. The American Chestnut Foundation https://www.acf.org/ is developing a blight resistant strain that they will graft to our seedlings later on.

Sawtooth oaks are white oaks. I am told that all oaks are either white oak or red oak with different varieties in each class. Sawtooth seems very hardy. Louisiana Dept. of Agriculture and Forestry sell seedlings in the winter. Not sure if they sell out of state.

Thank you, but there are more than 60 variety of oaks in North America, and most of them can be divided into red oaks and white oaks. (Whites germinate in one year, reds in two years).

https://owlcation.com/stem/Types-of-Oak-Trees-with-pictures-of-bark

If you want another fast growing oak, try the Nuttall oak. They like wet areas such as lowlands or river bottoms that floor. I have 2 in my yard, planted 4 years ago and one is 8ft tall. The other is only 4ft thanks to the deer eating it! Most usfs offices have a source of all kinds of tree saplings.

OK - the Sawtooth acorns are just starting to fall hard now. Several of you had asked me by pm, to remind you about picking up some acorns to plant. I picked up a few gallons of acorns in 15 minutes and am going to repeat the process... just one way we can give back.

sawtooth oaks, aka japanese redoaks in some circles are a wonderful source of food for wildlife. i've grown them out and about for years. a pasture planted full of them will fatten quite a hog herd. there's a much smaller variety of the same species that are geared specifically for a turkey food source.

some people raise an eyebrow because they're not a native species. that fact has never really bothered me.

Hmmm something for my Brother to do when the Pine Plantation behind his house gets cleared by Irma early next week. He has been talking about planting sawtooth oaks for a while as well as putting out a food plot or two.

Live oaks grow very fast here in Texas. Lots of acorns.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_acutissima Sawtooth Oaks

The Blandy farm, home of the VA State Arboretum, has a chesnut recovery program. They cross Chinese with American, then cross the strongest to American again, hoping for a mostly American, blight-resistant strain. The hybrids live long enough to put out some nuts, then get sick and croak. We used to collect a few there every year, but now they have signs up. No matter, my vet has a bunch of Chinese trees and lets my Yellow Peril collect all she wants. Got a bunch yesterday, in fact, after an appointment.

My next-door neighbor has a sawtooth tree, and it grew pretty big pretty fast. Got some funky acorns, too.

Saw a couple of the sawtooths in the Bass Pro shops parking lot were dropping acorns today. Big ones for sawtooths as well. Ours in Va seem to drop about the first week of October.

Cool thread. Come well have 50 or 60 seedlings under our Shumard oak.

I've planted a good # of sawtooth oaks and hybrid chestnuts. The sawtooths will definitely produce quicker, but both seem a win for critters.

How do these sawtooth oaks do in northern climates?

Not well above Iowa