Quercus Robur (English Oak)

[Jarad]

Around June/July 2015 I bought some acorns from Shibui, some of you might remember the "Fresh Seed" thread. A couple of months after sticking them in some dirt, I had some shoots:

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Which started to grow:

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And grow:

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And (after some time, fertiliser and neglect) grew even more:

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I think I started with 20 or so acorns, 10 rotted in the seed tray I was using, of the remaining 10, 6 or 7 germinated and then I've lost one somewhere...

[Greg F]

Hi Jarad acorns produce fast growing trees huh. Ive had some fun growing them with my yojng daughter.

Greg

[Jarad]

Hi Jarad acorns produce fast growing trees huh. Ive had some fun growing them with my yojng daughter.

Greg

You're not wrong there! I just wish more of them were successful.

[kcpoole]

They are good fun tree to have,
Easy to collect as well if you have mature ones around you

Ken

[Miikeboyle]

When is the best time to collect acorns and will they be on the ground or still up in the tree?

[Greg F]

Im not sure of the best time but we collected ours off the ground not long after falling off and out of around 8 only one didnt grow.
I think the one that didnt take may have been in a pot that was a little small.

Greg

[Jarad]

When is the best time to collect acorns and will they be on the ground or still up in the tree?

Shibui mentioned in a separate thread that the end of autumn is when you start collecting seed and acorns.

[shibui]

Acorns are ripe when they start to fall from the trees. March? down here but it may vary a little with location and species.
Pick them up from the ground is easier than climbing a tree but if some are falling and look good and you can reach some on the tree then go for it.
You can usually still collect fallen acorns right through winter but that depends how hungry the parrots have been. you may need to dig around in the fallen leaves to find them later in winter but there are usually a few hiding somewhere under the branches. By late winter many acorns will have started to germinate. Some will just have a root and can be picked up and take home to plant (keep roots a bit damp until you plant in pots) If some roots have already grown into the ground just lift them out or even just break off the root. New roots will grow where the root has been cut if you plant it.
Extremely easy to germinate. Not so easy to grow good bonsai from.

[Brekel]

I did a lap of a park with my 8yo son at easter and we picked up 5 acorns. We threw them in some tall narrow tube pots a few days later to see if they'd germinate. Even just for germination the pots are probably too small
After 4 weeks, 3 out of 5 have a thick root coming through the bottom. Will they be ok in these pots until the seedlings break through the soil surface?

Thanks,
Brett.

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[Alex_B]

Thats a nice oak Jarad they look like very beautiful trees to grow as bonsai. I just bought my first oak seeds from Neil so I'm looking forward to going through the same journey with them. Good to know that I shouldn't plant the seeds in small pots though.

[KIRKY]

They will be fine in their current pots Brett, no need to stress.
Cheers
Kirky