Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
16 inch bar on the saw
14 inch oak in 15 years
- Thread starter Native Hunter
- Start date
What kind of oak is it?16 inch bar on the saw
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
It's an Overcup, which is in the White Oak family. The regular White Oaks look nice but not nearly as big as the Overcups.
Below is what some of my Red Oak look like after 15 years:
Chipdasqrrl
Active Member
Amazing... do you baby your oaks when they’re young? Water, weed control etc?
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Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
No watering and no weed control on these. They were set in rows, and I mowed between the rows once a year with a bushhog until it got to where I couldn't go through without breaking limbs. For a few years I would go through after mowing and cut back volunteer stuff that came up close to the trees. Then they were just on their own for several years.
Now I'm going through one last time and knocking back volunteer sweetgums that have come up. There is one small area on the west side (maybe 2 acres) that I will have to probably do again someday, because the trees are a little smaller on that end due to poorer soil. But for the most part, this project is nearing completion.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
Impressive. I'm sure the roots go down 21.4 ft! Are those similar or same to what I call a water oak? This one sitting on your upland section or more down in one of the drainage? Cool pic.16 inch bar on the saw
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
dogghr, they are different than what I know as water oak. Overcup acorns are easy to ID, because the cup covers nearly the entire acorn. I've read that they are less preferred than regular White Oak acorns - much like Red Oak acorns. They will be eaten but not the first ones.
This is in the upland section back behind the area where we walked through the fruit trees. It's high ground but has good moisture back in that area.
Chainsaw
Well-Known Member
I had no clue that oak trees could be grown so quickly. Here that would be impressive growth for even a swamp maple let a lone oak trees. It wouldn't be surprising if having some of those less desirable nuts and fruit trees contributes to your deer growing larger than the area norm since they get to eat nutritious foods for a longer period than properties without so much diversification- Great habitat work there as always Steve!
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Thanks Dave. We all know that nutrition and diversity are important, so I have always just tried to contribute to that as much as possible. There is one thing I wonder about down the road with these oaks - I have planted several types that don't grow naturally anywhere around me. An example is Pin Oak. I've never seen a Pin Oak growing wild in my area. I'm curious if this could be a very positive thing down the road when the trees start dropping a significant amount of acorns. With more varieties it seems that the chances of a mast failure due to weather would be less likely.
deer patch
Well-Known Member
Pin oak is a very slow growing tree here with very small acorns and are the last acorn to be eaten here. I have some big sized trees and the acorns are always small. Turkeys love them and you like turkeys so that's the only critter I would plant them for but to be honest I wouldn't waste the space to plant them. JMO
snowracerh
Active Member
I have some pin oaks and deer seem uninterested in them too...
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