Oak trees are starting to drop acorns. Picked many up along the fenceline,
don't want any trees here. Most are green, normal sized. A few are dark
brown, and still fewer are very small and dark brown.

Rear of the backyard, on the other side of the fence, is an area workman and
delivery people used for their vehicles during the building of the house. I
would like a few tree back there.

Is it possible to grow a few oak trees from the acorns? If so, which
acorns, green or brown colored? Should I wait until early spring, then
plant them? Should I plant directly, or plant in a container then
transplant?

Variety of oak is live oak. They shed leaves for one week in early spring
and quickly replace them, but have leaves the remainder of the year. Texas
hill country area. I could probably transplant some saplings from the road
frontage on my property, if growing from seed is too difficult. These are
Texas Red Oak variety. Long term plan is to provide shade in area, put a
sight buffer between the backyard and the street, and increase the potential
of the Palmetto variety St. Augustine grass's growth by decreasing water
evaporation. (shading). Right now, except for the most hardy natural
growth, is barren.

Winning the fight against the prolific juniper trees here. Now the oaks can
have some water. No, they're not cedar trees, although I do have some cedar
on the property.
http://southwestfarmpress.com/news/0...ions-rainfall/
http://agnews.tamu.edu/dailynews/sto...C/Oct2004a.htm
For awhile, cutting of junipers was banned here due to this bird. But
they're still around.
http://aviary.owls.com/golden_cheeke...k_warbler.html

It is best to pick your seed from the tree. Those on the ground may have
been attacked by a small worm as evidenced by a small hole in the shell.
You can pick from the tree as soon as they come free with only a slight
twist. If you want to use the ones from the ground give them a float test.
Put them in a bucket of water, those that float are bad. When planting I
would suggest starting in a pot as if you try to go directly into the ground
the squirrels will find them. Put two or three acorns in a pot, pointy end
down and just push them even with the top of the soil. You can leave them
outside and they really don't need a lot of attention but do need to be
covered with a strong screen to keep the varmints out. I planted some burr
oak acorns and covered with ordinary window screen only to have them stolen
with in a week. Good Luck.

"Lil' Dave" wrote in message
ink.net...
Oak trees are starting to drop acorns. Picked many up along the
fenceline,
don't want any trees here. Most are green, normal sized. A few are dark
brown, and still fewer are very small and dark brown.

Rear of the backyard, on the other side of the fence, is an area workman
and
delivery people used for their vehicles during the building of the house.
I
would like a few tree back there.

Is it possible to grow a few oak trees from the acorns? If so, which
acorns, green or brown colored? Should I wait until early spring, then
plant them? Should I plant directly, or plant in a container then
transplant?

Variety of oak is live oak. They shed leaves for one week in early spring
and quickly replace them, but have leaves the remainder of the year.
Texas
hill country area. I could probably transplant some saplings from the
road
frontage on my property, if growing from seed is too difficult. These are
Texas Red Oak variety. Long term plan is to provide shade in area, put a
sight buffer between the backyard and the street, and increase the
potential
of the Palmetto variety St. Augustine grass's growth by decreasing water
evaporation. (shading). Right now, except for the most hardy natural
growth, is barren.

Winning the fight against the prolific juniper trees here. Now the oaks
can
have some water. No, they're not cedar trees, although I do have some
cedar
on the property.
http://southwestfarmpress.com/news/0...ions-rainfall/
http://agnews.tamu.edu/dailynews/sto...C/Oct2004a.htm
For awhile, cutting of junipers was banned here due to this bird. But
they're still around.
http://aviary.owls.com/golden_cheeke...k_warbler.html

It seems to me that the first decision you need to make is whether you want
trees in that location which have leaves during the winter or not. It may
make a considerable change to the feeling you get in your backyard and even
in the back part of your house.

Current wisdom is that due to the threat of oak wilt, one should plant new
trees which are resistant to that disease and to increase biodiversity. A
disadvantage to planting deciduous trees (other than live oaks) is that you
will have leaf drop twice a year. We have that in our font yard and over
our driveway as we have a mixture of live oak and cedar elm.

I suggest you start with one gallon plants which you have purchased or grown
yourself. Since you are willing to start small, cost of plants and
excavation will be minimal.

James Johnson

PS: You don't need to pick up acorns to prevent their sprouting. Sprouting
oak trees are easily controlled by mowing with an ordinary rotary lawn
mower.

I think your post contains a couple of "urban myths", or perhaps "rural
myths".

"Lil' Dave" wrote:
Winning the fight against the prolific juniper trees here. Now the oaks
can
have some water. No, they're not cedar trees,

Correct, they are probably Ashe juniper trees.

although I do have some cedar on the property.

Oh, I doubt it, unless you or a previous owner planted them. Perhaps you
have some other species of juniper trees on the property?

For awhile, cutting of junipers was banned here due to this bird. But
they're still around.

I am aware that the endangered golden-cheeked warbler requires old-growth
stands of Ashe juniper to use the bark as nest building material. However,
I am not aware of any all-out ban on the cutting of Ashe junipers in central
Texas. Was this some rule in your neighborhood?

I have murdered several hundreds, if not thousands, of Ashe juniper trees.
However, I don't hate them. For an alternative perspective on the Ashe
juniper, see "Untwisting the Cedar, the myths & culture of the Ashe juniper
tree" at: http://members.toast.net/juniper/

Unfortunately the website uses frames rather than hyperlinks, so I can't
specify a link directly to the article.

Come to think of it, a screen of female Ashe juniper trees might be a good
solution to your landscape challenge.

jjhnsn

From the house, the backyard and aft is north. Yes, I want trees there.
Generally, the native fauna has two varieties of oak, two varieties of
juniper, and a few scant pecan trees in lowlying areas. Attempting to
remain within those two former tree varieties, as they obviously can
tolerate less precipitation, high heat conditions without human assistance.
Am attempting a couple of pecan trees within the fenceline.

Don't normally mow that low for the lawnmower to affect the acorns. The
mower can't get to the fenceline anyway, the fence is in the way. If you're
thinking flat, thick rich topsoil here. Nope. Lotsa rocks of many
different sizes and shapes intermixed with the soil. Rocks are on the
surface too. This traps the acorns making a planter for many. The current
lawn runs 12 ft from the house out, and covers the perimeter of the house.
The fenceline is 30 feet or more from the house with native soil and fauna.
Only stand of trees within the fence line (live oak and junipers) are west
within an extended fenceline there. The acorns are falling from a few trees
on the front outside and along the fenceline SE side. These are the only
trees that are in vincinity of the fenceline. Have laid some additional
rocks at the fenceline to deter the dogs from digging here.

"James Lee Johnson" wrote in message
ink.net...
It seems to me that the first decision you need to make is whether you
want
trees in that location which have leaves during the winter or not. It may
make a considerable change to the feeling you get in your backyard and
even
in the back part of your house.

Current wisdom is that due to the threat of oak wilt, one should plant new
trees which are resistant to that disease and to increase biodiversity. A
disadvantage to planting deciduous trees (other than live oaks) is that
you
will have leaf drop twice a year. We have that in our font yard and over
our driveway as we have a mixture of live oak and cedar elm.

I suggest you start with one gallon plants which you have purchased or
grown
yourself. Since you are willing to start small, cost of plants and
excavation will be minimal.

James Johnson

PS: You don't need to pick up acorns to prevent their sprouting.
Sprouting
oak trees are easily controlled by mowing with an ordinary rotary lawn
mower.

Where is the rural legend?
Many folks in the area swear the junipers are sucking the moisture out of
the ground. Preventing other fauna from growing or proliferating. The
first two links proved that to be a fact. But actually disproved it, proved
that the moisture never got to the ground outside of this variety of juniper
tree due to the natural leaf diversion of water down its trunk. In essence,
the legend of whatever source was true.
There was a ban in Texas, not local, from cutting down the variety of jumper
noted in the last link a few years ago. Very shortlived though. Most
people paid no mind unless it affected them directly at the time.

"James Lee Johnson" wrote in message
ink.net...
I think your post contains a couple of "urban myths", or perhaps "rural
myths".

"Lil' Dave" wrote:
Winning the fight against the prolific juniper trees here. Now the oaks
can
have some water. No, they're not cedar trees,

Correct, they are probably Ashe juniper trees.

although I do have some cedar on the property.

Oh, I doubt it, unless you or a previous owner planted them. Perhaps you
have some other species of juniper trees on the property?

For awhile, cutting of junipers was banned here due to this bird. But
they're still around.

I am aware that the endangered golden-cheeked warbler requires old-growth
stands of Ashe juniper to use the bark as nest building material.
However,
I am not aware of any all-out ban on the cutting of Ashe junipers in
central
Texas. Was this some rule in your neighborhood?

I have murdered several hundreds, if not thousands, of Ashe juniper trees.
However, I don't hate them. For an alternative perspective on the Ashe
juniper, see "Untwisting the Cedar, the myths & culture of the Ashe
juniper
tree" at: http://members.toast.net/juniper/

Unfortunately the website uses frames rather than hyperlinks, so I can't
specify a link directly to the article.

Come to think of it, a screen of female Ashe juniper trees might be a good
solution to your landscape challenge.

jjhnsn

"Lil' Dave" wrote:
From the house, the backyard and aft is north. Yes, I want trees there.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I meant was: "It seems to me that the first
decision you need to make is whether you want trees in that location which
have leaves during the winter (or trees which are bare in the winter). It
may make a considerable change to the feeling you get in your backyard and
even in the back part of your house (during the winter)". I didn't use the
word deciduous, because as you know, the live oaks are actually deciduous
but keep their leaves throughout our winters.

Attempting to remain within those two former tree varieties, as they
obviously can
tolerate less precipitation, high heat conditions without human
assistance.
Am attempting a couple of pecan trees within the fenceline.

You are wise to stick with trees which are well adapted and require little
care. However, I think you should also consider biodiversity. There are
other native trees which do well in the Texas hill country. I have many
native elm trees, both in Austin and on my rural property 30 miles west of
Austin. They don't require any more care that the oaks do and they aren't
susceptible to oak wilt or oak decline. Even pecan trees, which will
require a bit more attention to get started, will survive fine when mature.
However, pecan trees are slow growing and will likely grow even slower in
the poor soil conditions.

It was common practice in the Texas Hill Country, to "improve" the land by
removing all living things except some of the medium and large oak trees.
Alas, this is still a common practice which can readily be seen throughout
the area. This is often done by people who couldn't tell a pecan tree from a
Texas madrone, or don't really care. Thus a lot of the hill country has
only oak trees and junipers, which are "nature's bandaid" in the Texas hill
country.

I'm convinced ALL the trees were cleared from the "flat" areas of my rural
land about 50-60 years ago. There are no really larges trees in those
areas. However, in the ravines, scarps, and slopes, there are large live
oak trees as well as other oaks, cedar and American elms, pecans, and many
other native woody plants.

If you call the Travis County Cooperative Extension Service at 512-854-9600
they will send you a very nice booklet titled "Native and Adapted Landscape
Plants; an earthwise guide for Central Texas". Ask for the Master Gardner
desk. The booklet will cost a maximum of $1, but is free for people in
Austin.

I hope this message is more clear.

jjhnsn

In article et,
"James Lee Johnson" wrote:

"Lil' Dave" wrote:
From the house, the backyard and aft is north. Yes, I want trees there.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I meant was: "It seems to me that the first
decision you need to make is whether you want trees in that location which
have leaves during the winter (or trees which are bare in the winter). It
may make a considerable change to the feeling you get in your backyard and
even in the back part of your house (during the winter)". I didn't use the
word deciduous, because as you know, the live oaks are actually deciduous
but keep their leaves throughout our winters.

Attempting to remain within those two former tree varieties, as they
obviously can
tolerate less precipitation, high heat conditions without human
assistance.
Am attempting a couple of pecan trees within the fenceline.

You are wise to stick with trees which are well adapted and require little
care. However, I think you should also consider biodiversity. There are
other native trees which do well in the Texas hill country. I have many
native elm trees, both in Austin and on my rural property 30 miles west of
Austin. They don't require any more care that the oaks do and they aren't
susceptible to oak wilt or oak decline. Even pecan trees, which will
require a bit more attention to get started, will survive fine when mature.
However, pecan trees are slow growing and will likely grow even slower in
the poor soil conditions.

It was common practice in the Texas Hill Country, to "improve" the land by
removing all living things except some of the medium and large oak trees.
Alas, this is still a common practice which can readily be seen throughout
the area. This is often done by people who couldn't tell a pecan tree from a
Texas madrone, or don't really care. Thus a lot of the hill country has
only oak trees and junipers, which are "nature's bandaid" in the Texas hill
country.

I'm convinced ALL the trees were cleared from the "flat" areas of my rural
land about 50-60 years ago. There are no really larges trees in those
areas. However, in the ravines, scarps, and slopes, there are large live
oak trees as well as other oaks, cedar and American elms, pecans, and many
other native woody plants.

If you call the Travis County Cooperative Extension Service at 512-854-9600
they will send you a very nice booklet titled "Native and Adapted Landscape
Plants; an earthwise guide for Central Texas". Ask for the Master Gardner
desk. The booklet will cost a maximum of $1, but is free for people in
Austin.

I hope this message is more clear.

jjhnsn




Want some Hackberry seeds? ;-)
My trees are currently shedding tons of them. lol

Cheers!

Om (in the Hill country of San Marcos)
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson

On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 23:18:49 GMT, "James Lee Johnson"
wrote:



I have murdered several hundreds, if not thousands, of Ashe juniper trees.
However, I don't hate them. For an alternative perspective on the Ashe
juniper, see "Untwisting the Cedar, the myths & culture of the Ashe juniper
tree" at: http://members.toast.net/juniper/

Unfortunately the website uses frames rather than hyperlinks, so I can't
specify a link directly to the article.



Here you go:
http://members.toast.net/juniper/Ashe%20juniper.html

"MMarks" wrote:
Here you go:
http://members.toast.net/juniper/Ashe%20juniper.html

Thanks!

This is a good read. The author is an expert on Central Texas native
plants. She is trying to provide some balance to the anti-cedar
(anti-juniper) hysteria.

jjhnsn

"James Lee Johnson" wrote in message
nk.net...
"Lil' Dave" wrote:
From the house, the backyard and aft is north. Yes, I want trees there.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I meant was: "It seems to me that the first
decision you need to make is whether you want trees in that location which
have leaves during the winter (or trees which are bare in the winter). It
may make a considerable change to the feeling you get in your backyard and
even in the back part of your house (during the winter)". I didn't use
the
word deciduous, because as you know, the live oaks are actually deciduous
but keep their leaves throughout our winters.

Attempting to remain within those two former tree varieties, as they
obviously can
tolerate less precipitation, high heat conditions without human
assistance.
Am attempting a couple of pecan trees within the fenceline.

You are wise to stick with trees which are well adapted and require little
care. However, I think you should also consider biodiversity. There are
other native trees which do well in the Texas hill country. I have many
native elm trees, both in Austin and on my rural property 30 miles west of
Austin. They don't require any more care that the oaks do and they aren't
susceptible to oak wilt or oak decline. Even pecan trees, which will
require a bit more attention to get started, will survive fine when
mature.
However, pecan trees are slow growing and will likely grow even slower in
the poor soil conditions.

It was common practice in the Texas Hill Country, to "improve" the land by
removing all living things except some of the medium and large oak trees.
Alas, this is still a common practice which can readily be seen
throughout
the area. This is often done by people who couldn't tell a pecan tree from
a
Texas madrone, or don't really care. Thus a lot of the hill country has
only oak trees and junipers, which are "nature's bandaid" in the Texas
hill
country.

I'm convinced ALL the trees were cleared from the "flat" areas of my rural
land about 50-60 years ago. There are no really larges trees in those
areas. However, in the ravines, scarps, and slopes, there are large live
oak trees as well as other oaks, cedar and American elms, pecans, and many
other native woody plants.

If you call the Travis County Cooperative Extension Service at
512-854-9600
they will send you a very nice booklet titled "Native and Adapted
Landscape
Plants; an earthwise guide for Central Texas". Ask for the Master Gardner
desk. The booklet will cost a maximum of $1, but is free for people in
Austin.

I hope this message is more clear.

jjhnsn



Have been careful not to remove too much trees and fauna on my 5 acre plat.
Just generally cleared the area around the house, yard except of a stand of
oaks/junipers on the westside, and workshop. The remainder is natural
except where the electric utility company ran the local community utility
poles through my property before I bought it. This okay, but another issue
as some of the neighbors have trees well within the electric wires. The
utility is obviously not servicing these areas by clearing these trees. Its
part of the easement, and the utility company has free access to do so.
Written into each land survey, so all the landowners are aware.
An issue in rural areas is fire hazard. Fire dept response time, fire
hydrant vicinity, and natural tendency of junipers to burn due to their oils
in their leaves, and dead fauna in autumn and winter, lack of precipitation,
summer heat drying everything up, and some very windy days all add up. They
cut out the junipers out because they don't want to mess with them. So, can
understand why some clear their land to such a degree.
Here's a fix to the juniper problem so you can keep them. Cut the lower
branches completely off to around 7 ft.. Pleasing to the eye, and don't
have near the water diversion ability.
One thing many people overlook is that the juniper roots actually crack the
rock, break it up. In the long run this will make the soil more useful.
Just not in our lifetimes.
Elm tree is not a bad idea. My childhood home had some elms. They rival
the pecan in height and shading when mature. An added bonus, not a buttload
of pecans to pickup out of the yard. Have another pecan sapling near the
front yard, not doing well. May replace with an elm next early spring.

My grandpa was a cedar-chopper, and hauled posts from Burnet to Fredricksburg. Back about 80-90 years ago, that was a scorned profession. I don't know if hed be pleased or dismayed if he knew there was a celebration of that profession today. In the family, we knew it as "buckhorn juniper" due to the way the dead and bleached branches looked.