OHIOshedder
New Member
Don't plant in garden without metal screen- rodents love to dig em up.
bowman
Super Moderator
Did that!:way:
Also, thanks for the input Paul. I see allot of grow lights at work but they are not being used for growing acorns.
I've never priced one, hope they aren't too much $$$.
letemgrow
PMA Member
Did that!:way:
Also, thanks for the input Paul. I see allot of grow lights at work but they are not being used for growing acorns.
I bought a high dollar one, but they do come pretty cheap. It's more in the bulb that the fixture. Get bulbs that mimic natural light and u should be fine.
I have seen the bulbs at wal-mart and lots of the grow lights at pet stores for fish and reptiles.
AIRASSAULT
PMA Member
Spent a few hours yesterday getting all of the acorns (about 500) I collected this past fall planted into the Rootmaker trays. I decided to go with the smaller cell sizes because of the massive quantity of acorns I had collected. These trays are extremely expensive for my budget and I didn't want to drop a bunch of money on bigger trays with fewer cells and have nothing sprout. Once they sprout and grow a bit, I think I will transplant the survivors into bigger celled trays.
Being that I don't have a great spot inside that gets a lot of sun, I decided to build my own little green house. It probably only cost me around $10 to build using 2x2's, some screws, a staple gun and some thick painters plastic. I have it out on my second-story deck and I screwed it to the deck with a couple hinges and a small hasp to help prevent the wind from taking off with it. I'm still nervous about them freezing overnight with the low-temps yet, so, I'm going to be taking them inside in the evenings and putting them back out in the mornings for awhile until the overnight temps rise a bit. Hopefully I have a good turnout. I had a lot of acorns, especially the whiteoaks and DCO's that didn't survive their refridgerator dormancy, but, I had enough that I think made it to fill the trays. The Chestnuts I had looked the best, all having 1-2" healthy roots sprouted. I ended up planting DCO's, Swamp White Oak (from Nebraska), Swamp White Oak (local finds), White Oak, American Chestnut, and Burr Oak.
Being that I don't have a great spot inside that gets a lot of sun, I decided to build my own little green house. It probably only cost me around $10 to build using 2x2's, some screws, a staple gun and some thick painters plastic. I have it out on my second-story deck and I screwed it to the deck with a couple hinges and a small hasp to help prevent the wind from taking off with it. I'm still nervous about them freezing overnight with the low-temps yet, so, I'm going to be taking them inside in the evenings and putting them back out in the mornings for awhile until the overnight temps rise a bit. Hopefully I have a good turnout. I had a lot of acorns, especially the whiteoaks and DCO's that didn't survive their refridgerator dormancy, but, I had enough that I think made it to fill the trays. The Chestnuts I had looked the best, all having 1-2" healthy roots sprouted. I ended up planting DCO's, Swamp White Oak (from Nebraska), Swamp White Oak (local finds), White Oak, American Chestnut, and Burr Oak.
dbltree
Super Moderator
April 25th, 2013
Unlike 2012, this has been a cold wet spring and wanting to spare my wife the mess in our living room, we waited til it warmed up a bit before starting an assortment of chestnuts and acorns in RootMaker 18 cell trays. No sign of life yet but hopefully some 70 degree weather will help!
We raised a nice batch of chestnuts and oaks all last summer but were so incredibly busy with our habitat business that before we knew it...November was here and who wants to monkey with tree planting then! In a hurry one day I (foolishly) took the trays to the garden and heaped dirt over them leaving only part of the seedlings exposed....just enough for deer and rabbits to enjoy a tender feast!
The good news is that the trees are already budding out and will quickly recover
Never put the cells with nuts/seeds/acorns in them on the ground as mice and ground squirrels will chew thru them and lay waste to the seeds, likewise rabbits and deer will happily eat the seedlings if they can so cover with wire fencing to protect them.
Jesse dug up my "mess" and once they recover sufficiently he'll get them planted and tubed
The massive root systems that develop thanks to the RM cells are of course still intact and both oaks and chestnuts will generally recover quickly.
Big Rock Trees is a great source for RM products and I highly recommend the Express 18 cell system versus the tray form for ease of handling/planting...those were not available when we bought ours. You also have option of transferring seedlings to larger Roottrapper bags or RM containers and growing them for one or more years at home. With water and fertilizer the trees will develop amazing and massive root systems that will give the trees a tremendous growth advantage once transferred to it's final destination.
Jess ordered some Paw Paws from Red Fern Farm and may grow some of those in RT bags this year. Fun stuff and it allows us to grow a couple or hundreds of our own seedlings at a fraction of the cost of purchasing seedlings :way:
Unlike 2012, this has been a cold wet spring and wanting to spare my wife the mess in our living room, we waited til it warmed up a bit before starting an assortment of chestnuts and acorns in RootMaker 18 cell trays. No sign of life yet but hopefully some 70 degree weather will help!
We raised a nice batch of chestnuts and oaks all last summer but were so incredibly busy with our habitat business that before we knew it...November was here and who wants to monkey with tree planting then! In a hurry one day I (foolishly) took the trays to the garden and heaped dirt over them leaving only part of the seedlings exposed....just enough for deer and rabbits to enjoy a tender feast!
The good news is that the trees are already budding out and will quickly recover
Never put the cells with nuts/seeds/acorns in them on the ground as mice and ground squirrels will chew thru them and lay waste to the seeds, likewise rabbits and deer will happily eat the seedlings if they can so cover with wire fencing to protect them.
Jesse dug up my "mess" and once they recover sufficiently he'll get them planted and tubed
The massive root systems that develop thanks to the RM cells are of course still intact and both oaks and chestnuts will generally recover quickly.
Big Rock Trees is a great source for RM products and I highly recommend the Express 18 cell system versus the tray form for ease of handling/planting...those were not available when we bought ours. You also have option of transferring seedlings to larger Roottrapper bags or RM containers and growing them for one or more years at home. With water and fertilizer the trees will develop amazing and massive root systems that will give the trees a tremendous growth advantage once transferred to it's final destination.
Jess ordered some Paw Paws from Red Fern Farm and may grow some of those in RT bags this year. Fun stuff and it allows us to grow a couple or hundreds of our own seedlings at a fraction of the cost of purchasing seedlings :way:
AIRASSAULT
PMA Member
Do you think it would work better to use solid bottom trays and water from the bottom rather than the top to encourage downward root growth? I pulled an acorn out of one of the cells the other day and it was curling upward.
dbltree
Super Moderator
The roots will all grow downward once the seedling starts to grow
letemgrow
PMA Member
Roots will naturally grow down, gravity causes that whether they are watered from the bottom or top. Was the "root" growing up actually the start of the seedling? Where the taproot comes out of the acorn, is the exact same spot the seedling emerges from as well....
AIRASSAULT
PMA Member
Couple questions.. Some kind of bug is eating the heck out of the leaves on my regular white oak seedlings. Is there a good pesticide recommended for these young trees that I could maybe find in walmart or farm&fleet? Some of my chestnuts are producing up to 7 stems. Should I save the biggest stem and cut the others off?
JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
The Japanese beetle were attacking a young white oak in my yard last year and I sprinkled rotenone garden vegetable powder on it. Might work depending on how many trees you have to treat. If you want to spray, look for a rotenone/pyrethrin mix. While maybe not being the best (depending on what is eating the leaves), it's readily available and somewhat cheap.
I have my permathrin for my clothes sitting on my deck. I use it for all the leaves of trees & veggies that bugs eat.... They used to hammer my raspberries, cucumber, etc - works to keep em off anything. Obviously I ain't spraying right on stuff I'm eating but be great on trees I'm sure
AIRASSAULT
PMA Member
Thanks fellas
OHIOshedder
New Member
Paul - if the willow oaks in your RM cells are from the batch I sent you I just wanted to let you know that a few of mine just started to germinate....by far the slowest of any nut that I collected. I was beginning to think they weren't viable...I still think some may have been laying on dry ground too long but at least a few seem to be good.
dbltree
Super Moderator
Ok thanks!
Deer&Ducks
PMA Member
It may have been addressed already in this thread but there's more info in here than I can digest in a day or two. My question is can Allegheny chinkapins survive and thrive in Iowa? My property is about 30 miles west of Des Moines if that gives a better idea of the climate. I have quite a few red & white oaks but am looking for some diversity. Thanks in advance for any info/advice.
I'm growing some now and don't know answer to that. But- I would add some chestnuts and dwarf chinkapin oaks for some diversity. As well as some swamp oaks.
letemgrow
PMA Member
Some nurseries have them growing in MN and WI for their seed sources....
Try Reeseville Ridge or True Nature Farms Nurseries for AC's.
Champdog21
New Member
I'm pretty sure these are sawtooth oaks. Just looking for someone to confirm it.
OHIOshedder
New Member
Looks like it to me.