Valley Oak Acorns

[yenling83]

Just collected some Acorns and i'm wondering what members have done to create a good success rate for sprouting? Anyone scarify using very hot water? Should I put them in the fridge until late winter/early spring? I imagine these arn't too hard anyways, but i'm just curious. Thanks!

 

[bougie nights]

I've never worked with California oaks, but I imagine the practice may be the same as with those in the east.
You can put them in a bucket of water. The ones that float are generally not viable and can be discarded. Our acorns are frequently eaten by weevils and if you look carefully, you will see little holes drilled into the nut. chances are that those will have a grub inside munching on the seed. I've read that they can be killed by placing the infested acorns in a pan of boiling water for 2-3 minutes.
All of the above may be unneccesary if you just have a small collection of seed. In that case, just strafify them in the fridge and keep them moist by packing them with some damp sand or sphagnum. After a few months, you may see the radicle (root) emerge. That would be the surest indicator of viability.

 

[gergwebber]

I have access to many park trees that will be dropping for the next month or so. One way I have had a good deal of success is to actually look for germinated acorns just after a rain or in an irrigated patch of leaf mold. They will push out that apical root stem like a clam's foot.

I think the water/floating theory is a good one. but other than that, just plant them out!

I go for more than I need so I can cull the weak, and you really never know what you will get anyway. My hort. professor likes to say that oaks are very promiscuous. Many of the oaks in our arboretum are un-named hybrids and with out genetic testing or a breeding program, you can only guess to lineage. This could make a big difference for leaf size and will mainly be a problem for acorns collected in an urban environment that is full of many oaks, not really in rural, or wild collections.

 

[bonsai barry]

The California Oak Foundation has a lot of information. Here's an example:

http://www.californiaoaks.org/ExtAssets/HowToAcorns'07.pdf

 

[timhanson81]

My favorite method of propagating acorns (including valley oak) the past few years has been as follows:
-After collection, mix the acorns with some peat moss and put them in the refrigerator
-They will start to put out their initial root relatively quickly
-Let the roots extend for an inch or so while they are still in the refrigerator
-Take the acorns out and cut the tip (1/4 inch) of the roots off with a sharp blade
-Sometimes I dip the cut end into rooting hormone, sometimes I don't. I've had success both ways and have read that rooting hormone only stimulates roots when used on a plant's stem tissue. My strategy is just to collect enough acorns that I always have plenty that succeed.
-After cutting them, plant the acorns in a mesh bottom nursery flat in a soil mix that you would use for cuttings. I use a mix of perlite and peat moss, about half and half.
-Keep the flats off the ground so the new roots get continually air pruned.

This method is good for oaks because the energy reserves in their acorns are so large that they easily put out more roots when pruned at this early stage. I've probably had success rates as high as 95%. Sometimes you only get one or two roots coming out of the cut end but often you get a nice radial root system emerging from the cut. I figure if you are going to grow oaks from seed, you might as well deal with their challenging tap-roots at this early stage.

Oh, one more thing.....GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!

 

[Smoke]

Oh, one more thing.....GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!

Moot point now.....yea!

Romo is the man!

 

[gergwebber]

Moot point now.....yea!

Romo is the man!

really? you want it over that quick?

I thought they should have let the tigers do something and at least make it interesting...


GO SAN JOSE........ ULTRAS UNITE!!!!


wondo is sooo cool...