Hello everyone!

First of all let me say that the anti-bot filter made it hard for ME! Especially the "type the 6 digits or letters you see in the box" - I couldn't see most of them!

Anyway, the question I have is this: I picked up ~15 acorns last October from 2 oaks near my house and planted them in a flowerpot, somewhere mid December I decided to dig around them and check for roots - by gently testing whether the acorns were loose or not. Turns out that 7 of them had rooted, of those 3 made it to oak seedlings which are now ~20cm tall each and starting to leaf. The plants were outside throughout the winter and until now with the exception of 10 days that I was away and brought them in the house to avoid drying out (it was quite hot), now since I put them back outside their leaves drooped. Originally I thought that their leaves may be too heavy for them and that nature will take its course, however last night I put them back in the house to shield from very high winds and rain and in 24 hours their leaves have perked up almost perpendicular to the stem.

Is this normal? Could it be caused by the cold that we are having this week? Am I confusing them by alternating temperature between indoors and outdoors?

I am attaching a photograph from last Saturday to illustrate what I mean, the plant at the back has been the faster grower, I think I got two species here, Q. robur (the red/brown coloured leaves) and Q. petraea.

A friend who also grew oaks years ago said "You're worrying too much, just leave them outside - they look fine".

Comments?

"karamonde" wrote in message

First of all let me say that the anti-bot filter made it hard for ME!
Especially the "type the 6 digits or letters you see in the box" - I
couldn't see most of them!

Most of us don't have the problem of the '6 digits' because we don't use
garden banter. Most of us use 'newsgroups' aka 'usenet'. If you want to
know what that is (and how easy it is to use as opposed to garden banter,
which steals our posts and puts them on it's forum site) then use google to
look up those 2 terms.

Anyway, the question I have is this: I picked up ~15 acorns last October
from 2 oaks near my house and planted them in a flowerpot, somewhere mid
December I decided to dig around them and check for roots - by gently
testing whether the acorns were loose or not. Turns out that 7 of them
had rooted, of those 3 made it to oak seedlings which are now ~20cm tall
each and starting to leaf. The plants were outside throughout the winter
and until now with the exception of 10 days that I was away and brought
them in the house to avoid drying out (it was quite hot), now since I
put them back outside their leaves drooped. Originally I thought that
their leaves may be too heavy for them and that nature will take its
course, however last night I put them back in the house to shield from
very high winds and rain and in 24 hours their leaves have perked up
almost perpendicular to the stem.

No need to bother with any of that faffing round. Oaks are tough. We leave
ours outside from the time they are stuffed into the milk cartons as acorns
till they are planted out into windbreaks of a paddock. and it gets a lot
hotter here in Oz than it does in the UK and we are also pretty sloppy about
the care they get and we've yet to have any die on us that I can recall.
I've got about 26 Red/Scarlet Oaks in containers ATM and about 15 common old
oaks.

Is this normal? Could it be caused by the cold that we are having this
week?

Few of us here would know about the cold you're getting since most of us are
in other o****ries than you. The majority of people here are in the US and
then there are a couple of Aussies and a few Brits.

Am I confusing them by alternating temperature between indoors and
outdoors?

Probably. Just leave the poor things in the one spot till they are ready to
go in the ground. Not full sun by preference but certainly where they get
good light and not too much shade.

I am attaching a photograph from last Saturday to illustrate what I
mean, the plant at the back has been the faster grower, I think I got
two species here, Q. robur (the red/brown coloured leaves) and Q.
petraea.

Most of us will not be able to see any pic since we use newsgroups. For us,
you'd need to put them on a site such as photobucket and then provide us
with a link.

A friend who also grew oaks years ago said "You're worrying too much,
just leave them outside - they look fine".

I gree totally with your friend. Yours are more likely to keel over and ie
than if you'd left them to quietly get on with things in a sensible spot.

Comments?

On 4/27/12 1:07 PM, karamonde wrote:
Hello everyone!

First of all let me say that the anti-bot filter made it hard for ME!
Especially the "type the 6 digits or letters you see in the box" - I
couldn't see most of them!

Anyway, the question I have is this: I picked up ~15 acorns last October
from 2 oaks near my house and planted them in a flowerpot, somewhere mid
December I decided to dig around them and check for roots - by gently
testing whether the acorns were loose or not. Turns out that 7 of them
had rooted, of those 3 made it to oak seedlings which are now ~20cm tall
each and starting to leaf. The plants were outside throughout the winter
and until now with the exception of 10 days that I was away and brought
them in the house to avoid drying out (it was quite hot), now since I
put them back outside their leaves drooped. Originally I thought that
their leaves may be too heavy for them and that nature will take its
course, however last night I put them back in the house to shield from
very high winds and rain and in 24 hours their leaves have perked up
almost perpendicular to the stem.

Is this normal? Could it be caused by the cold that we are having this
week? Am I confusing them by alternating temperature between indoors and
outdoors?

I am attaching a photograph from last Saturday to illustrate what I
mean, the plant at the back has been the faster grower, I think I got
two species here, Q. robur (the red/brown coloured leaves) and Q.
petraea.

A friend who also grew oaks years ago said "You're worrying too much,
just leave them outside - they look fine".

Comments?


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: IMG_0036.jpg |
|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14948|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

See my http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_oak_acorn.html.


--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

"David E. Ross" wrote in message
...
On 4/27/12 1:07 PM, karamonde wrote:
Hello everyone!

First of all let me say that the anti-bot filter made it hard for ME!
Especially the "type the 6 digits or letters you see in the box" - I
couldn't see most of them!

Anyway, the question I have is this: I picked up ~15 acorns last October
from 2 oaks near my house and planted them in a flowerpot, somewhere mid
December I decided to dig around them and check for roots - by gently
testing whether the acorns were loose or not. Turns out that 7 of them
had rooted, of those 3 made it to oak seedlings which are now ~20cm tall
each and starting to leaf. The plants were outside throughout the winter
and until now with the exception of 10 days that I was away and brought
them in the house to avoid drying out (it was quite hot), now since I
put them back outside their leaves drooped. Originally I thought that
their leaves may be too heavy for them and that nature will take its
course, however last night I put them back in the house to shield from
very high winds and rain and in 24 hours their leaves have perked up
almost perpendicular to the stem.

Is this normal? Could it be caused by the cold that we are having this
week? Am I confusing them by alternating temperature between indoors and
outdoors?

I am attaching a photograph from last Saturday to illustrate what I
mean, the plant at the back has been the faster grower, I think I got
two species here, Q. robur (the red/brown coloured leaves) and Q.
petraea.

A friend who also grew oaks years ago said "You're worrying too much,
just leave them outside - they look fine".

Comments?


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: IMG_0036.jpg |
|Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14948|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

See my http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_oak_acorn.html.

David you say that your oak is 28 years old and in 'recent' years it's
dropped acorns. How 'recent' is 'recent'? We have oaks of at least 4
different types that would be less than 10 years old dropping acorns. Is
that type of oak slow to form and drop acorns or does that just apply to
oaks in your area?

On 4/27/2012 8:18 PM, Farm1 wrote:
. uk wrote in message

First of all let me say that the anti-bot filter made it hard for ME!
Especially the "type the 6 digits or letters you see in the box" - I
couldn't see most of them!

Most of us don't have the problem of the '6 digits' because we don't use
garden banter. Most of us use 'newsgroups' aka 'usenet'. If you want to
know what that is (and how easy it is to use as opposed to garden banter,
which steals our posts and puts them on it's forum site) then use google to
look up those 2 terms.

Anyway, the question I have is this: I picked up ~15 acorns last October
from 2 oaks near my house and planted them in a flowerpot, somewhere mid
December I decided to dig around them and check for roots - by gently
testing whether the acorns were loose or not. Turns out that 7 of them
had rooted, of those 3 made it to oak seedlings which are now ~20cm tall
each and starting to leaf. The plants were outside throughout the winter
and until now with the exception of 10 days that I was away and brought
them in the house to avoid drying out (it was quite hot), now since I
put them back outside their leaves drooped. Originally I thought that
their leaves may be too heavy for them and that nature will take its
course, however last night I put them back in the house to shield from
very high winds and rain and in 24 hours their leaves have perked up
almost perpendicular to the stem.

No need to bother with any of that faffing round. Oaks are tough. We leave
ours outside from the time they are stuffed into the milk cartons as acorns
till they are planted out into windbreaks of a paddock. and it gets a lot
hotter here in Oz than it does in the UK and we are also pretty sloppy about
the care they get and we've yet to have any die on us that I can recall.
I've got about 26 Red/Scarlet Oaks in containers ATM and about 15 common old
oaks.

Is this normal? Could it be caused by the cold that we are having this
week?

Few of us here would know about the cold you're getting since most of us are
in other o****ries than you. The majority of people here are in the US and
then there are a couple of Aussies and a few Brits.

Am I confusing them by alternating temperature between indoors and
outdoors?

Probably. Just leave the poor things in the one spot till they are ready to
go in the ground. Not full sun by preference but certainly where they get
good light and not too much shade.

I am attaching a photograph from last Saturday to illustrate what I
mean, the plant at the back has been the faster grower, I think I got
two species here, Q. robur (the red/brown coloured leaves) and Q.
petraea.

Most of us will not be able to see any pic since we use newsgroups. For us,
you'd need to put them on a site such as photobucket and then provide us
with a link.

A friend who also grew oaks years ago said "You're worrying too much,
just leave them outside - they look fine".

I gree totally with your friend. Yours are more likely to keel over and ie
than if you'd left them to quietly get on with things in a sensible spot.

Comments?



You actually plant acorns? Every Spring I spend many hours pulling out
literally hundreds of oaks which have sprouted from acorns which fell and
lay unnoticed over the winter. My hosta beds look like some sort of
deciduous forest by May if I don't keep after them. They grow fast and
require no attention at all. Except for those which the squirrels eat (and
I have hordes of squirrels on my property) I'd guess that half of the
acorns sprout and would quickly grow into a dense forest if given half a
chance. Of course, the oaks are nothing compared to the maples which have
no rodents bothering to feed on them.

Advice to anyone wanting mighty oaks -- plant a couple of acorns in each
location where you want one. Wait a year or two and then cull the extra(s).
Wait a few decades. No other attention should be required if your climate
is suitable for oaks in the first place.

John McGaw writes:

You actually plant acorns? Every Spring I spend many hours pulling out
literally hundreds of oaks which have sprouted from acorns which fell
and lay unnoticed over the winter. My hosta beds look like some sort
of deciduous forest by May if I don't keep after them. They grow fast
and require no attention at all. Except for those which the squirrels
eat (and I have hordes of squirrels on my property) I'd guess that
half of the acorns sprout and would quickly grow into a dense forest
if given half a chance. Of course, the oaks are nothing compared to
the maples which have no rodents bothering to feed on them.

Hmm, we used to have a maple right outside our front window.
In the fall we'd see squirrels in the tree hanging upside down
like Xmas ornaments eating the maple seeds.

--
Dan Espen

Well given that I am extremely fond of this particular tree I did decide to plant some and see what happens. Turns out that watching things grow is far far more enjoyable than I ever imagined.

I have also planted some english yew seeds: picked the berries, cleaned them, stored them in the fridge for 2 months and then planted. Nothing has happened yet though, I hear that yews are a bit moody and take their time, they might sprout or they might not. Next year I think I'll just collect more!

Thanks for the replies!

On 4/28/2012 10:18 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
John writes:

You actually plant acorns? Every Spring I spend many hours pulling out
literally hundreds of oaks which have sprouted from acorns which fell
and lay unnoticed over the winter. My hosta beds look like some sort
of deciduous forest by May if I don't keep after them. They grow fast
and require no attention at all. Except for those which the squirrels
eat (and I have hordes of squirrels on my property) I'd guess that
half of the acorns sprout and would quickly grow into a dense forest
if given half a chance. Of course, the oaks are nothing compared to
the maples which have no rodents bothering to feed on them.

Hmm, we used to have a maple right outside our front window.
In the fall we'd see squirrels in the tree hanging upside down
like Xmas ornaments eating the maple seeds.


My herd of squirrels must be inefficient. Or maybe they prefer the acorns
and hickory nuts but in my yard maple seedlings come up so thickly that
attacking large swaths of property with a Stihl FS85 weed whacker is the
only solution. Same thing with ash and beech and holly seedlings. I love
having wooded property but the woods seem entirely too eager to eat the
house if I let my guard down.

On Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:55:53 +0000, karamonde
wrote:


John McGaw;957266 Wrote:


You actually plant acorns? Every Spring I spend many hours pulling out
literally hundreds of oaks which have sprouted from acorns which fell
and
lay unnoticed over the winter. My hosta beds look like some sort of
deciduous forest by May if I don't keep after them. They grow fast and
require no attention at all. Except for those which the squirrels eat
(and
I have hordes of squirrels on my property) I'd guess that half of the
acorns sprout and would quickly grow into a dense forest if given half a

chance. Of course, the oaks are nothing compared to the maples which
have
no rodents bothering to feed on them.

Advice to anyone wanting mighty oaks -- plant a couple of acorns in each

location where you want one. Wait a year or two and then cull the
extra(s).
Wait a few decades. No other attention should be required if your
climate
is suitable for oaks in the first place.

Well given that I am extremely fond of this particular tree I did decide
to plant some and see what happens. Turns out that watching things grow
is far far more enjoyable than I ever imagined.

I have also planted some english yew seeds: picked the berries, cleaned
them, stored them in the fridge for 2 months and then planted. Nothing
has happened yet though, I hear that yews are a bit moody and take their
time, they might sprout or they might not. Next year I think I'll just
collect more!


Unless it's a special variety that you can't find at a plant nursery
or you are growing a farm that you're leaving to your heirs planting
hardwood trees from seed is very silly, especially oak trees...
seedlings (1st 5 years) grow relatively fast, saplings (2nd 5 years)
slow down a lot, after that oak tree growth slows to a crawl... unless
you are rather young (teenager) you'll likely be very old or dead
before you will sit in its shade. I strongly suggest planting the
largest sapling you can afford... the typical 10 year old oak tree
sapling will be about 8'tall and 1 1/2" caliper... and you'll still
need to wait like thirty more years before you can sit in its shade.
Planting an acorn you lose ten years of growth and really gain
nothing... nurserys sell oak tree saplings for very cheap... and odds
are strong that the first winter critters will dig up and eat your
acorns, all of them.
http://trees.naturehills.com/search/...0trees&filters[status][0]=InStock

On 4/27/12 10:35 PM, Farm1 wrote:
"David E. Ross" wrote in message
...
On 4/27/12 1:07 PM, karamonde wrote:
Hello everyone!

First of all let me say that the anti-bot filter made it hard for ME!
Especially the "type the 6 digits or letters you see in the box" - I
couldn't see most of them!

Anyway, the question I have is this: I picked up ~15 acorns last October
from 2 oaks near my house and planted them in a flowerpot, somewhere mid
December I decided to dig around them and check for roots - by gently
testing whether the acorns were loose or not. Turns out that 7 of them
had rooted, of those 3 made it to oak seedlings which are now ~20cm tall
each and starting to leaf. The plants were outside throughout the winter
and until now with the exception of 10 days that I was away and brought
them in the house to avoid drying out (it was quite hot), now since I
put them back outside their leaves drooped. Originally I thought that
their leaves may be too heavy for them and that nature will take its
course, however last night I put them back in the house to shield from
very high winds and rain and in 24 hours their leaves have perked up
almost perpendicular to the stem.

Is this normal? Could it be caused by the cold that we are having this
week? Am I confusing them by alternating temperature between indoors and
outdoors?

I am attaching a photograph from last Saturday to illustrate what I
mean, the plant at the back has been the faster grower, I think I got
two species here, Q. robur (the red/brown coloured leaves) and Q.
petraea.

A friend who also grew oaks years ago said "You're worrying too much,
just leave them outside - they look fine".

Comments?


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: IMG_0036.jpg |
|Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14948|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

See my http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_oak_acorn.html.

David you say that your oak is 28 years old and in 'recent' years it's
dropped acorns. How 'recent' is 'recent'? We have oaks of at least 4
different types that would be less than 10 years old dropping acorns. Is
that type of oak slow to form and drop acorns or does that just apply to
oaks in your area?



It was 28 years old in 2004, the last time the page was updated. It is
now approaching 36 years.

It dropped acorns before 2004.
In recent years, it has dropped acorns of its own. I started two
seedlings from this tree. They are now large saplings.
That is, by 2004 I had already picked up acorns, sprouted them, and
nursed them to saplings in 5 gallon cans. Given how long that takes and
the fact that I did not initially do anything with the acorns it
dropped, the tree may have started dropping acorns at 20 years.

My oak is a valley white oak (Quercus lobata). These are slow to mature
and then live 200 or more years. Some may even live 500 years. It is
not unusual for a mature, old valley white oak to have a trunk that is 2
yards (72 inches, 1.8 m) in diameter at chest height. Mine is "only" 21
inches (0.54 m) in diameter. While it is mature, it is still quite young.

My ash tree (Fraxinus uhdei) was a sapling when I planted it about 38
years ago. For an ash tree, it is not only mature but also quite old.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On 4/28/12 9:15 AM, John McGaw wrote:
On 4/28/2012 10:18 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
John writes:

You actually plant acorns? Every Spring I spend many hours pulling out
literally hundreds of oaks which have sprouted from acorns which fell
and lay unnoticed over the winter. My hosta beds look like some sort
of deciduous forest by May if I don't keep after them. They grow fast
and require no attention at all. Except for those which the squirrels
eat (and I have hordes of squirrels on my property) I'd guess that
half of the acorns sprout and would quickly grow into a dense forest
if given half a chance. Of course, the oaks are nothing compared to
the maples which have no rodents bothering to feed on them.

Hmm, we used to have a maple right outside our front window.
In the fall we'd see squirrels in the tree hanging upside down
like Xmas ornaments eating the maple seeds.


My herd of squirrels must be inefficient. Or maybe they prefer the acorns
and hickory nuts but in my yard maple seedlings come up so thickly that
attacking large swaths of property with a Stihl FS85 weed whacker is the
only solution. Same thing with ash and beech and holly seedlings. I love
having wooded property but the woods seem entirely too eager to eat the
house if I let my guard down.

The most common weed in my garden is ash seedlings. The tree is in my
back yard; but I have seedlings in the front yard, too. I sweep
bucketsful of seeds from my patio every summer.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

"John McGaw" wrote in message
On 4/27/2012 8:18 PM, Farm1 wrote:
. uk wrote in message

I picked up ~15 acorns last October
from 2 oaks near my house

Oaks are tough. We leave
ours outside from the time they are stuffed into the milk cartons as
acorns
till they are planted out into windbreaks of a paddock. and it gets a
lot
hotter here in Oz than it does in the UK and we are also pretty sloppy
about
the care they get and we've yet to have any die on us that I can recall.
I've got about 26 Red/Scarlet Oaks in containers ATM and about 15 common
old
oaks.

You actually plant acorns?

Of course I do. If I'm lucky enough to beat the parrots to them. They eat
most of the acorns and also decimate the pine cones and the smaller nut like
growths on the upright piney Italian looking ugly things.

Every Spring I spend many hours pulling out
literally hundreds of oaks which have sprouted from acorns which fell and
lay unnoticed over the winter.

You haven't got a oak infestation, you have a parrot deficit.

My hosta beds look like some sort of
deciduous forest by May if I don't keep after them. They grow fast and
require no attention at all. Except for those which the squirrels eat (and
I have hordes of squirrels on my property)

Sounds like you have an insufficient squirrels population too.

I'd guess that half of the
acorns sprout and would quickly grow into a dense forest if given half a
chance. Of course, the oaks are nothing compared to the maples which have
no rodents bothering to feed on them.

Advice to anyone wanting mighty oaks -- plant a couple of acorns in each
location where you want one. Wait a year or two and then cull the
extra(s).

That might work where you live, but you would be the exception rather than
the rule. We have to make sure we water them (it's way too dry for young
oaks to survive without that), put tree guards aorund them when they are
small (or the hares eat them), and make sure they are well protected by
stock proof fences (or the kangaroos decimate them or the cows eat them).

Wait a few decades. No other attention should be required if your climate
is suitable for oaks in the first place.

That is just too restrictive a description.

Oaks make superb trees in farmland even in dry and hot locations if and only
if, they can get their roots down. Making sure they can do that takes and
effort, but it's worth it.

I could rave on about the oaks trees on farmland round Tumut in NSW where
the temps regularly get over 40degrees C for long runs of time in summer.
I've been gobbsmacked each time I visit that area at the foresight of the
farmers who planted so many of these trees and obviously had to protect them
from stock and tough conditions for enough time for them to prosper. It was
seeing these stunning big Oaks in an area where they supposeldy wouldn't
thrive, but where they gave such beauty and stock shelter from searing sun
that inspired us to grow and plant them here. Our conditions are less harsh
than the heat and dry of Tumut.

"Brooklyn1" Gravesend1 wrote in message
news
On Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:55:53 +0000, karamonde
wrote:
John McGaw;957266 Wrote:

Advice to anyone wanting mighty oaks -- plant a couple of acorns in each
location where you want one. Wait a year or two and then cull the
extra(s).
Wait a few decades. No other attention should be required if your
climate
is suitable for oaks in the first place.

Well given that I am extremely fond of this particular tree I did decide
to plant some and see what happens. Turns out that watching things grow
is far far more enjoyable than I ever imagined.

I have also planted some english yew seeds: picked the berries, cleaned
them, stored them in the fridge for 2 months and then planted. Nothing
has happened yet though, I hear that yews are a bit moody and take their
time, they might sprout or they might not. Next year I think I'll just
collect more!


Unless it's a special variety that you can't find at a plant nursery
or you are growing a farm that you're leaving to your heirs planting
hardwood trees from seed is very silly, especially oak trees...
seedlings (1st 5 years) grow relatively fast, saplings (2nd 5 years)
slow down a lot, after that oak tree growth slows to a crawl... unless
you are rather young (teenager) you'll likely be very old or dead
before you will sit in its shade.

I can sit in the shade of at least 2 of our oaks that are about 10 years
old. We couldn't get a big party sheltered but certainly we two can sit in
their shade.

I strongly suggest planting the
largest sapling you can afford...

That advice is quite the reverse to my experience and that of most gardeners
I know. Planting tube stock is far better in terms of producing quick and
healthy growth.

In fact just recently in this ng there was advice given to someone about
planting a hedge. Those who I'd rate as better gardeners all told the
person to plant small plants rather than plants in '5 gallon' containers.


the typical 10 year old oak tree
sapling will be about 8'tall and 1 1/2" caliper...

Mine would be much bigger than that - more like 15 ft or even more.

and you'll still
need to wait like thirty more years before you can sit in its shade.
Planting an acorn you lose ten years of growth and really gain
nothing...

Sheldon that is just not so.

"David E. Ross" wrote in message
...
On 4/27/12 10:35 PM, Farm1 wrote:
"David E. Ross" wrote in message
...
On 4/27/12 1:07 PM, karamonde wrote:
Hello everyone!

First of all let me say that the anti-bot filter made it hard for ME!
Especially the "type the 6 digits or letters you see in the box" - I
couldn't see most of them!

Anyway, the question I have is this: I picked up ~15 acorns last
October
from 2 oaks near my house and planted them in a flowerpot, somewhere
mid
December I decided to dig around them and check for roots - by gently
testing whether the acorns were loose or not. Turns out that 7 of them
had rooted, of those 3 made it to oak seedlings which are now ~20cm
tall
each and starting to leaf. The plants were outside throughout the
winter
and until now with the exception of 10 days that I was away and brought
them in the house to avoid drying out (it was quite hot), now since I
put them back outside their leaves drooped. Originally I thought that
their leaves may be too heavy for them and that nature will take its
course, however last night I put them back in the house to shield from
very high winds and rain and in 24 hours their leaves have perked up
almost perpendicular to the stem.

Is this normal? Could it be caused by the cold that we are having this
week? Am I confusing them by alternating temperature between indoors
and
outdoors?

I am attaching a photograph from last Saturday to illustrate what I
mean, the plant at the back has been the faster grower, I think I got
two species here, Q. robur (the red/brown coloured leaves) and Q.
petraea.

A friend who also grew oaks years ago said "You're worrying too much,
just leave them outside - they look fine".

Comments?


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: IMG_0036.jpg |
|Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14948|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

See my http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_oak_acorn.html.

David you say that your oak is 28 years old and in 'recent' years it's
dropped acorns. How 'recent' is 'recent'? We have oaks of at least 4
different types that would be less than 10 years old dropping acorns. Is
that type of oak slow to form and drop acorns or does that just apply to
oaks in your area?



It was 28 years old in 2004, the last time the page was updated. It is
now approaching 36 years.

It dropped acorns before 2004.
In recent years, it has dropped acorns of its own. I started two
seedlings from this tree. They are now large saplings.
That is, by 2004 I had already picked up acorns, sprouted them, and
nursed them to saplings in 5 gallon cans. Given how long that takes and
the fact that I did not initially do anything with the acorns it
dropped, the tree may have started dropping acorns at 20 years.

Wow. That is slow! Or perhaps mine are just precocious trees - but the two
I am thinking of that are dropping acorns are both differerent types of oaks
so I dont' know how that would apply to both types - must og out and check
the other two types.

My oak is a valley white oak (Quercus lobata).

Ahh - will readup on it.

These are slow to mature
and then live 200 or more years.

To mature = to grow?

On 4/28/12 6:33 PM, Farm1 wrote:
"David E. Ross" wrote in message
...
On 4/27/12 10:35 PM, Farm1 wrote:
"David E. Ross" wrote in message
...
On 4/27/12 1:07 PM, karamonde wrote:
Hello everyone!

First of all let me say that the anti-bot filter made it hard for ME!
Especially the "type the 6 digits or letters you see in the box" - I
couldn't see most of them!

Anyway, the question I have is this: I picked up ~15 acorns last
October
from 2 oaks near my house and planted them in a flowerpot, somewhere
mid
December I decided to dig around them and check for roots - by gently
testing whether the acorns were loose or not. Turns out that 7 of them
had rooted, of those 3 made it to oak seedlings which are now ~20cm
tall
each and starting to leaf. The plants were outside throughout the
winter
and until now with the exception of 10 days that I was away and brought
them in the house to avoid drying out (it was quite hot), now since I
put them back outside their leaves drooped. Originally I thought that
their leaves may be too heavy for them and that nature will take its
course, however last night I put them back in the house to shield from
very high winds and rain and in 24 hours their leaves have perked up
almost perpendicular to the stem.

Is this normal? Could it be caused by the cold that we are having this
week? Am I confusing them by alternating temperature between indoors
and
outdoors?

I am attaching a photograph from last Saturday to illustrate what I
mean, the plant at the back has been the faster grower, I think I got
two species here, Q. robur (the red/brown coloured leaves) and Q.
petraea.

A friend who also grew oaks years ago said "You're worrying too much,
just leave them outside - they look fine".

Comments?


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See my http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_oak_acorn.html.

David you say that your oak is 28 years old and in 'recent' years it's
dropped acorns. How 'recent' is 'recent'? We have oaks of at least 4
different types that would be less than 10 years old dropping acorns. Is
that type of oak slow to form and drop acorns or does that just apply to
oaks in your area?



It was 28 years old in 2004, the last time the page was updated. It is
now approaching 36 years.

It dropped acorns before 2004.
In recent years, it has dropped acorns of its own. I started two
seedlings from this tree. They are now large saplings.
That is, by 2004 I had already picked up acorns, sprouted them, and
nursed them to saplings in 5 gallon cans. Given how long that takes and
the fact that I did not initially do anything with the acorns it
dropped, the tree may have started dropping acorns at 20 years.

Wow. That is slow! Or perhaps mine are just precocious trees - but the two
I am thinking of that are dropping acorns are both differerent types of oaks
so I dont' know how that would apply to both types - must og out and check
the other two types.

My oak is a valley white oak (Quercus lobata).

Ahh - will readup on it.

These are slow to mature
and then live 200 or more years.

To mature = to grow?



To start declining.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary