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'.