Swamp White Oak

The Swamp White Oak is a tree of longevity and character. With age, this tree develops a drooping branched crown and dominates many fores...Read Moreted wetlands here in Western Pa. The tree tolerates long periods of inundation yet I have seen it growing well on dryer, rocky sites. It does best in moist silt loams and river bottoms. During the Gypsy Moth outbreak in the early-mid 80's, the Swamp White Oak was not affected here while it's close cousin, Quercus alba was decimated over large areas. One of my favorite trees, the Swamp White Oak provides an edible acorn which is attractive to many wildlife species. I have planted many of these trees over the years on variable sites and have been very pleased with the results.

I really like this tree. Wanted to plant one two years ago and could not find it locally, so ordered a 5 ft whip from Forestfarm. It wa...Read Mores low maintenance from the get-go and did not require a ton of supplemental watering. The thing is growing like crazy. Put on 3-4 ft in height the second growing season alone, has bushed out nicely with new growth, and even the trunk looks much more stout than when I planted. Really impressed with the vigor. It has been labeled as a slow grower in a lot of tree reference books, but the books need to be updated. I have a 12 ft diameter ring around the plant that I top-dress with leaf compost. The tree seems to dig it. Appears to be adaptable to wet and dry conditions - we have had both. Only problem I have is the deer are chomping on the new growth, so I had to put a net around it until ready to limb it up.

I have noticed this year that swamp white is now available almost everywhere locally. Home Depot and Lowes both have 12 ft specimens, as do the local nurseries. Seems to have become popular in a hurry. I can see why with its adaptability and white oak characteristics. Nothing wrong with buying it smaller though so you can train the leader and lower limb structure yourself. Also guessing that the smaller, container-grown specimen will catch up with the larger B&B version quickly. The pin and to a lesser-extent northern red and scarlet have ruled this area as far as landscape oaks go. So it is nice to see a native member of the white group finally start to gain some traction in the landscape industry.

A good quality shade tree that has been becoming popular since the 1980's, offered at quite a few big nurseries. Most of the trees I have...Read More seen planted in Illinois or Pennsylvania are still young. It grows fairly fast of usually 1.5 to 2 ft/yr in most landscapes; to 3 ft/yr in rich wetlands. It does not develop a taproot, which is why nurseries like to grow it B&B. It normally holds much of its leaves much of the winter. The only problem is that the soil should be acid. I don't know where the breaking point is on pH. Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL reported that it could adapt to some alkaline soil after awhile. Most Chicagoland soils have a pH about 6.8 to 7.1, where I have seen them planted there. I think this species is alright up to around pH 7.0.

The main reason why this species is not grown more often becomes clear when the leaves fall during fall - there are hundreds of woody gal...Read Morels that started out as growth on new twigs, making the trees look ugly. The galls lasted until the branches fall off, unlike leaf galls which fall off with the old leaves.