Acorns in Your Area

The Sand Live Oaks I have seen on the coast here almost always have multiple trunks and are no taller than 20ft . They seem to all be within 20 miles of the coast. I suppose inland they could grow bigger and be trained to a single trunk, although they don't naturally grow there.

The only wild Sand Live Oaks I've seen on the panhandle of Florida and the Mobile area of Alabama are just like how escambiaguy describes. But I've read and seen photos of ones growing in inland areas of Florida(they're native throughout the entire state) which are much bigger and single trunked.

Check out this one at this U of Florida professor's website: http://hort.ufl.edu/woody/planting/Pages/quegem/quegem.htm

Thanks for the alternative suggestions. I'll note them in my garden journal for future reference.

Everyday I pass by a nearby church which is named after the Live Oak. They have 3 young lovely trees planted in a row between the church and parsonage and the road(the road is named after the church). It will be interesting to see over the years how they will manage the trees since they are planted too close to the church, road and each other. I have been very tempted to plant a regular Live Oak since it would probably not outgrow its space in my lifetime but I just cannot bring myself to knowingly create such a dillema for the future. The trees are so magnificent in old age.

Chamthy, you would be amazed at how live oaks can adapt to their environment. I have seen them planted very close to houses. A live oak will basically grow it limbs up and over the building, and then the other side of the tree may swoop the ground. They react the same way when growing next to other trees. If you can see that as a positive and enjoy the shade created by it, go ahead and plant one. They are very strong trees and the chances of it crashing down on your house are slim. The problem arises when people don't want branches hanging over their house so they hire a tree trimmer to cut them off. If you're that type of person I recommend finding another type of tree.

Power lines also create a problem, but that's with any tree.

Liveoaklady,
I agree, it's not an overcup - no doubt about bur oak being the predominant phenotypic expression, but the acorn has some features that might lead one to suspect, as Matt indicated in his inspection of Horseshoe's photo, the possibility of some introgression of overcup oak in the tree's ancestry.
Leaves on the TX tree are quite different from most I've encountered on bur oak, though that species is perhaps one of the most variable in leaf and acorn morphology of any of the Quercus species.

Now that's something I didn't know. I've read that they grow rapidly in early years and then slow down. How tall how fast? I figure we've got maybe forty more years here if we're lucky. I've gotten DH to agree to a 30 ft tree in the front yard. The back yard has an observatory so I'm not allowed anything that tall to block the sky. Why do we have to have conflicting hobbies? :(

Chamthy: This is an oak that I planted as a young sapling 15 years ago. It grew quite quickly the first years. It will slow its growth when it reaches about 30 years. It is 15 feet from my house and I merely trim the branches that might graze the roof. It withstood the winds of Katrina at 115+ mph and probably helped lift the winds over my house. Some of the lower limbs were cut by FEMA (without my permission) after Katrina.
In 40 years you can really enjoy your oak!

Thanks for the picture Liveoaklady. I may see if I can get some acorns from the trees at the church( which don't appear to be as old as yours).

We have tons of acorns this year. The most I've seen in a very long time. The ground is covered almost. We will keep any tiny liveoak saplings to plant. We have several we started from acorns. I'm amazed at how fast they are growing.
Lin

Early snow along the Blue Ridge Parkway on Sunday might give a hint that this will be a cold winter in the southeastern and northeastern parts of the United States. The oak trees may be right after all.
Southeast Louisiana had its first freeze today which is earlier than most years.

Any suggestions on ones to plant here in Northern Illinois? I have good old growth on my acre here on the river, but lost a huge maple to lightning & my neighbor just cut down a gorgeous sycamore & a lovely tulip tree, so it might be time to start thinking ahead & considering diversity. Right now I'm pretty thick with oaks & maples, plus pine trees along the road & half-a-dozen spruces flanking the driveway.

Summerkid:
Bur Oak and Overcup Oak might do well where you are.

If your neighbor just cut down a nice tulip poplar how about planting another one to take it's place? I'm not sure if gypsy moths are in your area, but tulip poplars are resistant to them. If you liked the way the sycamore looked, I recommend London Plane tree which is similar but has better disease resistance. Bald Cypress and Dawn Redwood are other great choices for moist areas.

Love the look of your tree there Lucky. Looks like the leaves have piano fingers. It would be interesting to se e what some of the babies produce.

I just gathered another bunch of live oak seeds from where the bad storms and high winds finally brought some of the out of reach, got-em before the squirrels could get em, nuts down if anybody would like a few to try and grow. Just dmail me.

LiveOakLady. My fridge will not hold anymore pots of dirt with seeds in it. Do you think I can plant these live oak nuts in the house on the kitcken table with out them reciving any cold stratification and have them do ok? I have screen that would protect the squirrels from getting into the top of the pots, but with even though I freezing, the groudn is warm enough for things to still be crawling around and don't want to see anything crawl up into the pots and destroy them. Would appreciate any suggestions.

I planted lots of acorns in styrofoam cups two years ago and kept them in a big dog cage that I fortified with chicken wire to keep the squirrels out. I had them on the southside of the house away from the north wind in a spot that received sun most of the day and they did well. I do not know how cold it gets where you are but mine survived a few freezes as long as they were well watered.

Mine are all outside in 1gal pots right now and they have all germinated. You won't see any stem growth until spring, but the roots will be growing all winter long.

The year we moved in I did not see any acorns on the ground.
Last year it was raining acorns to a point that we moved to
sleep downstairs. This year I can count the acorns I planted.
It seems that there is a two cycle for our white oaks.

I planted some acorns along the sidewalk terrace last year.
Not sure what to do with them. This is not the place for them to
grow permanently. Should I move the oaks seedlings into galon pots
or let them grow and transplant directly later?

enya:
I would transplant them directly from where they are. If they are large enough you can do that this season.

For those of you who grow bur oak, do you consider it to grow faster than white oak or about the same? Some reports say slow and others say moderate. Just curious.

I have some bur oak saplings that I grew from acorns that Starhill told me where to pick them. I find it to be slow growing, too.

All of the Bur Oak I've grown tend to grow faster than the Eastern White Oak I've grown. I usually get between 18" and 24" of growth the first year from acorn for Bur Oaks, while the Eastern White Oak only tend to grow between 6" and 12" their first year from seed.

Same for me k-man; My oldest bur oak seedlings are about 14 yrs old, transplanted as 2-yr seedlings when we moved to KY 12 years ago. They've routinely put on an average of nearly 2 ft of growth every year.
I have some, planted in the nursery beds - 2001 crop acorns - that are pretty close to 10 ft tall.