Sawtooth Oaks

Fish

Well-Known Member
When I first set out to plant my Home 10 acres I picked up a pack of 100 sawtooth oaks from the Indiana State Nursery. They stopped selling them shortly after. When I asked them why, I was told the state foresters were not in favor of their widespread planting. I can understand that, but they absolutely make great wildlife trees.

This is a row of sawtooths originally planted 8 feet apart behind my house. No digital pics of those trees in their infancy, but they did produce in years 6-7. They all produce now some 13 years after planting.

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I thinned these trees last winter, spacing them to approximately 16 feet apart. Without a doubt, sunshine is needed for the trees to spread and bushels of nuts to fall. Here you can see logs cut for firewood and the resulting stump sprouts.

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These stump sprouts are a great bonus. They will hold leaves throughout the winter and provide valuable screening, along with browse.

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The trees have grown strong and now given more room, will spread out their upper canopies. Something about sawtooths that I have always thought a real positive is their winter screening abilities. These trees will absolutely hold leaves until new leaves begin to form in the spring.

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This tree is planted along my yard and produces a tremendous amount of large nuts every October.

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I have a row of pines along the driveway, then a row of sawtooths to the right of them. I've thinned every other pine trying to open things up without destroying the beauty of the planting at the same time. I rarely see deer in my driveway, but in October when the sawtooths are falling, it is not uncommon to see deer standing along the drive and only occasionally glancing at the house checking on us.

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I'm a fan of them too. Beautiful tree, and like you said; holding leafs until spring bud makes for a good screen.

I understand the worry of being invasive but I've seen no sign or indication of it with our trees. They produce plenty of seed, it seems to get eaten before they can germinate.

You have a great looking place!
 
The nuts are produced in burs, similar to a bur oak. They fall free of them completely though.

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My sawtooth acorns will begin falling late September and remain a strong draw through October. By November, however, they've pretty much been cleaned up. I'm monitoring this branch growing inside my back yard. It has started to bend to the ground!

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They absolutely will seed themselves. I find them often on the property.

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Sawtooth oaks are a major food draw on my property in the month of October. and I can say absolutely that deer highly prefer them as food. I wouldn't want to be without them and each year now I set about planting them on the Little Blue property. As mentioned, sawtooths provide great winter cover until they grow tall enough to lose lower branches. I have some ten year old trees growing in full sun that have kept those lower branches and continue to provide invaluable screening on my property.

As fall goes on, I will continue to update on the sawtooths and hope to show the many benefits of these trees when it comes to managing for whitetails. Hopefully some of you will decide to plant them on your property in the future.
 
I'm a fan of them too. Beautiful tree, and like you said; holding leafs until spring bud makes for a good screen.

I understand the worry of being invasive but I've seen no sign or indication of it with our trees. They produce plenty of seed, it seems to get eaten before they can germinate.

You have a great looking place!
Thanks catscratch. My last post showed them germinating on my property. So I have no doubt they will spread. But ultimately, they will be overshadowed by taller trees and shaded out. they just don't grow that tall.
 
My Dad showed me an article about Sawtooth in Progressive Farmer in the mid 90s. I planted some then but my brother has sold that land so I don't know how they are doing. Planted second crop of bare root in 2006, and true to form, they were producing acorns in six or seven years. Great producers, and like you say, the deer love them. A good early draw to my land. It is interesting how trees planted that were planted at the same time can vary in size and production over the years.
My second major planting was in 2013, seedlings that I had grown in greenhouse. Had a good survival rate and they are looking good.
I need to do some serious pruning, however.
 
wow I'm impressed with them - I have to look into it- I wish I'd planted some 10 years ago!!
Well, the next best time to plant is today. :) and the screening ability of the trees make them nearly like conifers. By year 3 on good soil, you should get benefit of some screening.
 
Fish,is it possible to get some acorns from your trees this year?Ill gladly pay postage what there may be.

Sure, just send me a message with your address. I collect from my favorite trees each year and always grow some for planting out. Postage shouldnt be much. I focus on those dropping late, which is a little into October. Nut size varies from small to large. But i go after larger sizes with a few smaller for variety.
And one tree which the nut actually never falls from the bur. Deer dont mind.
 
My Dad showed me an article about Sawtooth in Progressive Farmer in the mid 90s. I planted some then but my brother has sold that land so I don't know how they are doing. Planted second crop of bare root in 2006, and true to form, they were producing acorns in six or seven years. Great producers, and like you say, the deer love them. A good early draw to my land. It is interesting how trees planted that were planted at the same time can vary in size and production over the years.
My second major planting was in 2013, seedlings that I had grown in greenhouse. Had a good survival rate and they are looking good.
I need to do some serious pruning, however.
The excitement over sawtooths has died down over the years. Maybe because they got so much press at the time and also because there has been a real push toward natives. A forester will cringe at them taking up white oak space. :).
But we are talking whitetails here. Many benefits. Post pics of your plantting here if you like.
 
Fish,I cant figure out how to send a message.Please send to Hancock Jewelers 328 Long Hollow Pike Goodlettsville Tennessee 37072 These from Indiana will add a good diversity to mine and WBP's properties.The latest drop varieties are what we are shooting for.Thanks so much
 
The excitement over sawtooths has died down over the years. Maybe because they got so much press at the time and also because there has been a real push toward natives. A forester will cringe at them taking up white oak space. :).
But we are talking whitetails here. Many benefits. Post pics of your plantting here if you like.

Here is a picture of my best trees of the 2013 planting. Acorns were picked up in October 2011, trees grown in greenhouse 2012, and then planted in January 2013.

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Trees from the 2006 planting are on either side of this food plot and have been dropping acorns for three or four years.

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I always like this view:

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Fish,I cant figure out how to send a message.Please send to Hancock Jewelers 328 Long Hollow Pike Goodlettsville Tennessee 37072 These from Indiana will add a good diversity to mine and WBP's properties.The latest drop varieties are what we are shooting for.Thanks so much

Got it. I always avoid the earliest droppers, but about Oct. 1, most have started to fall. Today is Sept. 19 and they are pretty green yet.
If you click on Fish under the avatar, an option to start a conversation should pop up. You can use that to send a message to folks outside the thread.
 
Here are a couple of sawtooth oaks growing on the edge. They have held lower limbs and are now nearly ten years old.
Broomsedge in front.

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I can't remember planting this sawtooth. But here it is and it's loaded with acorns.

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Started these sawtooths in the garden this season. They were planted early April and took forever to come up. They are over knee high now.

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Leaning out towards the sun a bit.........

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This tree planted at the same time as the others has hardly produced an acorn in its life. It has a few on it this year, but nothing like the others, and it's ten inches in diameter. I guess this one was the runt of the pack of trees I purchased. Even though it has been a strong growing tree.

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One of the acorns on this tree. They will be falling very soon. A bit early. The brown nut gives it away. Definitely a tree I would cull and make room for another if it was planted in a situation like that. This one is growing over my shed. So I'm not too worried about it. Still, deer will scour the ground here for acorns.

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This is the branch that was hanging low in a previous photo. It's lower now. Nuts have weighed it down even more.

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That branch is loaded with acorns.........

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Still green yet, but starting to turn. Ground is very dry here. That may hasten their falling this year. Not sure.

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Well, it has started..... Found these Sept. 24 and had checked under the trees just a couple days before with nothing on the ground then.
We are extremely dry here. Don't know if that hastened their falling, but I usually start seeing them on the ground about this time.

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These were pretty large.....

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Most are still in the tree.....

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I really like this tree. Still a week or so away from falling and the nuts are large....

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Deer will be on these heavy in a matter of days. Sightings on the home 10 should increase! If you have any open ground on your property, consider planting a few sawtooths. They provide great winter screening and a great early season draw for whitetails.
 
Thanks, LLC.
Agree on the sunlight recommendation! :). Amazing how fast things fill in when you space at 8 feet. Ive been thinning every other tree as i can. And then i will have to thin beyond that.

I really like those lower limbs on trees with full sun though. Do you remove those?
 
Fish - have you seen if those that you turned into shrubs produce acorns? I am working on getting me some acorns (from Catscratch actually) for my place for both mast trees as well as these shrubs (I like the idea of their screening abilities). My place was just logged earlier this summer so I have a fair amount of sunlight available right now so I think now would be the time for me to plant oaks with them having the greatest chance to make it. I may actually even plant some around my plots of screening or like an orchard tree as well.

You don't have any issue with the hardiness of them here in Indiana?
 
I can tell you that they make a great cover! They aren't green in the winter like a cedar or pine, but just as hard to see through them. I actually like the brown look that they have and they will absolutely not drop leafs until the new ones push them off in the spring. I wouldn't use them as property boundary screen. They will attract deer at some point so keep that in mind. They also seem to be a preferred rub tree at our place. Without protection they tend to end up shrubby.
 
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