start trees from acorns

I think the red oak acorns sprout in the spring. So you keep them in a damp paper towel in the fridge until then. I have grown a sawtooth from an acorn. I had a bunch of swamp chestnuts oaks planted in pots in my yard, but like the guy above the squirrels got to them.

I've tried pulling up 3 oak saplings this past year just for fun. None of them made it. I pulled them, the long root came up with it. I put them in a pot with potting soil. I made sure they were watered, but they died. I figured I did something wrong?

lots of times they’ll drop leaves and look dead but if you leave them alone they’ll resprout. Earlier this summer I yanked up a three foot oak, stuck it in the ground and ignored it. It looked dead all summer but now is greening back up

great info all. any recs on protection sleeves? i intend to put trees in my pastures and wont be able to watch after them very well

I have 17 that were planted in the late 50’s from acorns selected on LSU’s campus and Oak Alley plantation. I have planted a few from acorns for family members over the years that have done well. They’re about 10-15 years old now.

acorns sprout spontaneously all over my yard, I cleaned out my gutters the other day and they were full of oak sprouts LOL so the wet leaves/wood chips thing certainly will work.

I had a tomato plant growing from a gutter. Put it in the garden and it is setting some fruit right now.

I plant about 300-400 acorns every January that I collected the previous fall. White oaks you can plant immediately upon collecting in fall. They’ll send a shoot down soon after. Red oaks need to be stratified for 90-120 days in fridge, then will sprout in January when planted in soil. As mentioned above, keep in damp peat moss in fridge for stratification.

Multiple posters have brought this up but you absolutely have to have a squirrel-proof cage of some sort. A typical large-ish greenhouse won’t even cut it oftentimes. They’ll find their way in. A “planter box” enclosed by chicken wire works great for squirrel proofing.

Overall, it’s a really cool process and very rewarding to plant trees in the ground on your property that you grew from seed. Expect 20-30% success rate when done correctly based on total number of acorns you collect/plant. And even then, that number usually drops a bit due to squirrels, caterpillars, or other pests. Plant more than you believe you’ll need, if you need to give some away that’s a good problem to have.

Currently I am looking for overcup oak, bur oak, and cow oak acorns to plant for this coming cycle.

I’ve done this. Find an oak tree that has the qualities you want, I went get acorns about this time from the big oak tree at the cathedral in Lafayette. I put them in a damp cloth and then in a paper bag for a minimum of 75 days then planted each one in small pots and just kept transplanting them to larger pots until they were about 1.5” caliper. And I poured the fertilizer to them. They grow quick