Acorn Season 2020

[Fishman]

I went to go look at a couple of sawtooth oaks today to see if they were getting ready to drop yet. I found that one had already started dropping about 10 days earlier than normal for south Mississippi. Some of the acorns are still green on the tree while others are on the ground. I don't have plans to plant sawtooths next year, but I picked some up anyway.

So what are you plans for acorn season 2020? How is your acorn crop this year? Did the late freeze in May mess up your white oak acorns this fall? Hopefully I will be able to pick up swamp chestnut oak, white oak, Nuttall oak, Shumard oak, and Allegheny chinquapins. I am trying to cut down the number of trees I plant each year, so I will plant a couple of hundred trees in a raised bed and then select the best 20-30 to plant in Fall 2021. Hopefully we can get the seed exchange going again this year. With all the craziness going on in the country right now, I am looking forward to social distancing and picking up acorns and seeds this fall to plant next year.

 

[OkieKubota]

White oaks on our property look to have the most acorns I have seen to date here. My sawtooth somehow started making acorns after the late freeze and if they finish will drop later than normal...probably mid October by the looks of the development...

 

[dogghr]

Wet weather has more affect on acorn production than do freezes. Acorns decent here but of smaller size seem and perhaps due to cool wet early summer Have few months to recover so shall see come Oct. last year was banner year. My producing apples are nearly breaking w weight.


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[Mitch123]

Absolutely no fruit on our trees. Very few nuts, zero up high, few here and there in between unfortunately

 

[THE LLC]

My sawtooths ain’t even THOUGHT of dropping yet. Heck they aren’t even half grown. That is amazing.

 

[TreeDaddy]

My sawtooths ain’t even THOUGHT of dropping yet. Heck they aren’t even half grown. That is amazing.

Same....

Great collection of hard mast trees,Fishman

bill

 

[Fishman]

My sawtooths ain’t even THOUGHT of dropping yet. Heck they aren’t even half grown. That is amazing.

I have heard about your late dropping sawtooths. The latest I have seen sawtooths drop in south Mississippi or south Louisiana is mid-September. I have always wondered whether late dropping sawtooths were a different phenotype or if sawtooths just dropped later the further north that you go. My parents have 10-15 around their place while their neighbor has 40-50. They are all done dropping by mid-September. The deer seem to love them, but I would rather dedicate space to other oaks that drop later in the year. Down here, everything is still growing well into October, so there isn't a big need for additional food in August and early September.

 

[cutman]

My sawtooths in coastal S.C. are dropping.

 

[THE LLC]

I have heard about your late dropping sawtooths. The latest I have seen sawtooths drop in south Mississippi or south Louisiana is mid-September. I have always wondered whether late dropping sawtooths were a different phenotype or if sawtooths just dropped later the further north that you go. .

I’ve wondered that as well but I have some that drop in mid to late September, some that drop mid-October, and then some that drop late October to early November. All on the same farm.

 

[THE LLC]

Here's a picture of my most advanced ones. I would imagine these will start dropping around second week of September.

 

[OkieKubota]

Here are mine as of yesterday...

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[Fishman]

Both of those sawtooths look like they are not even close to being ready to drop. LLC, have you noticed any other physical differences between your trees that drop early and the ones that drop late? Were the late droppers some that you sought out or did you just buy trees and some of them just dropped later than others?

I guess we had an early Spring here although I didn't really notice it. I stopped by a local persimmon tree that usually drops from late August to early November. It had already started dropping persimmons. It started dropping August 30 last year.

 

[THE LLC]

I started planting sawtooths from acorns in 1998. I selected from the ones that dropped later and just kept getting trees dropping later and later. The late droppers leaf out later in the spring and bloom later. The acorns are about half the size of the early droppers and the trees themselves are generally much smaller. Almost dwarf-like.

 

[cutman]

I started planting sawtooths from acorns in 1998. I selected from the ones that dropped later and just kept getting trees dropping later and later. The late droppers leaf out later in the spring and bloom later. The acorns are about half the size of the early droppers and the trees themselves are generally much smaller. Almost dwarf-like.

Do you think you could have a mixture of gobbler sawtooths and regular ones? Gobbler sawtooths have been selected for smaller acorns so that turkeys can eat them.

 

[THE LLC]

No sir. I have some gobblers at the farm but I know the lineage of these and can track them all the way back to the original I picked up the first acorns under in 1998. Gobbler acorns are smaller but also more elongated.

 

[cutman]

No sir. I have some gobblers at the farm but I know the lineage of these and can track them all the way back to the original I picked up the first acorns under in 1998. Gobbler acorns are smaller but also more elongated.

Very cool. I love sawtooths, and in hindsight I wish I had never messed with chestnuts. Maybe the chestnuts will eventually produce as prolifically as sawtooths, but I doubt it. If I were starting from scratch I would just plant sawtooths (sawteeth?) but focus on varying drop times like you did.

 

[THE LLC]

I agree. I like native oaks but crap, I want to hunt over them not my grandkids. LOL

 

[Fishman]

I started planting sawtooths from acorns in 1998. I selected from the ones that dropped later and just kept getting trees dropping later and later.

That is interesting that you have been able to select for drop time. How many generations of trees have you raised in the past 22 years? What was your average time from growing a tree from an acorn to having that tree produce acorns? I only started raising and planting trees in 2017, so I have not seen any acorns yet. I wish I would have started 20 years ago and been able to select for certain characteristics over time like you have. When you say that the trees are smaller, how small are they and how old are they?

I have a gobbler sawtooth that I am thinking about cutting down. I hate to cut a 20-year-old tree down, but it just isn't producing much mast each year and it is in a prime location. I have water oaks that produce small acorns so the turkeys have plenty to eat during winter.

 

[THE LLC]

I’ll take some pictures next time I’m over there to see the size difference. I think it took four generations to get to my real late ones. Unfortunately I did not keep very good records because I was just having fun. I’ll go back through pictures and see if I can figure out the time line. Can’t believe it’s been 22 years. I picked up those first acorns on Dec 5, 1998 at the cemetery the day we laid my grandma to rest. She would have sure got a kick out of what I grew.

 

[Oakseeds]

very nice story LLC