Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Anyone growing gobbler sawtooth oaks?

Anyone have gobbler sawtooth oaks on their property?

I have about 20, 15-16 year old trees. Unfortunately, I believe the incredibly dry late spring really curtailed acorn production. The past 3-4 years they produced very well.

About this time in recent years, I notice an abundance of end twigs nipped off and on the ground around the base of the tree. Do I have impatient squirrels that can't wait for the acorns to fall? Or are they afraid to scamper out to the end of the limbs to grab to few acorns that are there?

Any dendrology thoughts from the CF?

Thanks and be well.

I put a bunch of them on my place is SW Georgia...

They are an amazing tree... fast, strong, huge acorns.

But is always weird that leaves don't come off until Spring...

https://gatrees.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/SEEDLING-BROCHURE-2023-24-2.pdf

We have several sawtooth oaks and it has been extremely dry and we still have a bumper crop of acorns. Right now the squirrels are working hard to get what they can. The deer come at night and stay until daylight eating also.

A variety of the Red Oak family?
My Reds of several varieties hold leaves through most of the winter here in SWVA

We had a late freeze last spring and it hit just as our sawtooth trees were blooming. There's just a very few acorns this fall on those trees. Same freeze kept the blueberry and mayhaws from making this year.

Not sure exactly...

I got lots of trees from Georgia Forestry when I was down there... and the Sawtooths were a "new offering" at the time (1998+/-).

Side note... The GA Forestry program I linked above is the GREATEST .GOV operation I have ever seen.

Tremendous respect for what they do and the extraordinary efficiency in their entire operation.

i.e. Almost never does .GOV get anything right... but the GA Forestry program DOES!

An interesting tree, and appears to be a beautiful ornamental, just read some material on it. I like the rapid growth thing, but not the invasive aspect as we have far too many of those up here. I also would not plant it in our yard here as it would not be a favorite food source for wildlife. These critters up here love the white oak family , then red oak. Bitternut hickory only if they are lazy, the critters will carry a whole cob of corn in their mouths and there is a sheitload of that stuff!

Have a friend who has one. It grows fast but ice storms strip the limbs off easier than native oaks.

Is there more than one variety of saw tooth oak.

I planted some but they didn’t do well in NE.

Back to my original question, any idea why the tips of the branches are being nipped off, most often with leaves still attached? It has to be squirrels.
For those of you that are skeptical about planting them, we live in northwestern - often with very harsh winters, although not lately. When these trees produce, there are deer and turkey magnets.
As stated, they are somewhat susceptible to limb damage during a heavy, wet snow. I just keep them trimmed back.

I don't have the type of oaks that you are asking about ,but I have regular oaks and elm that show what you are talking about. Some of it will be worms that gnaw around the tips until they fall. Others will be from squirrels getting material to build a nest. they will drop quite a few. miles