Planting acorns

[Amylou]

Is it ok to plant acorns from oak trees around your area? I know you need a lot of space for the tree once it is mature. Is it better to get the acorn from the ground or the tree?

[Poirot]

Hi Amylou

In my experience collect them from the ground, as if they are still on the tree they may not be fully matured (just be careful they have not been crushed). Look for ones which may have started to sprout, ignore thin ones as they don't tend to sprout. Also look for the shells to be hard not soft, (but not dryed out). They should not yield to the pressure of your thumb.

whereas planting is concerned, I usually throw them all into a pot of soil on the surface, maybe a little sprinkling of soil over the top and leave them over winter to weather. keep an eye out for them sprouting and when the shells break and start to sprout bury them just under the surface (not too deep or they might rot!). If you collect sprouting ones you may want to bury them a little deeper to avoid the frost.

In terms of where to plant, anywhere providing you get permission from people, (I keep giving mine away to people who make hedges out of them) try to keep them a reasonable distance from buildings if you intend them to grow into a full tree not a bush.

As they are slow growing make sure that they are not going to get overgrown by other plants as they are VERY SLOW. (a hazel sapling grows in one year the size of a 4 year oak sapling).
Hope that helps

Poirot

[Kayleigh]

I don't think you should go around your local area just planting trees..

[Amylou]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

I don't think you should go around your local area just planting trees..

Im not going to just plant them anywhere! I do have some sort of a brain. I live way in the countryside and there is a lot of free space that belongs to noone at all.

Thanks for your info Poirot.