White Oak Acorns

[Pete and Jesse]

I had a large, 5 feet in diameter, white oak blow down in a storm this last week.  I would like to plant some of the acorns.  Unfortunately they are still green. 
Will they ripen if I pick them or leave them on the tree?  Some are beginning to turn brown.
I am in Central New York State.

[WDH]

This late in the year they may be viable.  Worth a shot, anyway.  White oak acorns sprout in the Fall, so they need to be planted shallowly an inch or two deep and as soon as they turn brown.  Don't wait till spring.  You could plant some in pots to see if they will sprout then transplant them after a year in the pot.  Or you could just plant a bunch of them where you want them and hope for the best. 

[Al_Smith]

I've several large 100 foot white oaks .I would think I should have zillion sprouts but not so .I think the squirrels chipmonks and ground hogs eat them before they can grow .

[Old Greenhorn]

I've several large 100 foot white oaks .I would think I should have zillion sprouts but not so .I think the squirrels chipmonks and ground hogs eat them before they can grow .

Every year in June and July each morning my front lawn looks like a breakfast buffet our there as the little critters snip off all the volunteer oaks coming up. Thousands of them. I planted some last year in a starter pot and they lasted less that a week before they were 'harvested'. 

[Al_Smith]

Funny part of that is the fact I have a zillion hickory tree saplings but only a few small oaks .Plus walnut trees sprout up 200 feet away from the closest tree .Squirrels  are excellent  tree planters but I wish they wouldn't plant them in my flower and vegetable gardens .Dang things are much more difficult to pull out by the roots than a weed .Some so tough I have to snip them off .

[saskatchewanman]

I would think the acorns turning brown are mature enough to sprout. Just a guess.

The remaining acorns on the blown down tree will likely continue to mature using moisture and carbohydrates already in the tree. Again just a guess. But if nothing is eating them I would just let them be. The acorns dropping naturally from the cups should indicate maturity. 

Agricultural crops are often cut slightly before maturity but the seeds continue to ripen on the cut plants. Maybe oaks are the same.

[Al_Smith]

Squirrels are creative little rascals .It's far too early for the hickories to shed nuts but the wind blows them and the squirrels cut them loose .They still have the husks but the squirrels just chew them loose and eat the nut meats .My back yard is full of shells and husks .
I saw one the other day carry a nut,husk and all up into a pine tree evidently to hid it from the other squirrels that  know full well a hickory nut does not come from a blue spruce tree .I thought it was very creative .

[doc henderson]

a bit off the subject (not that unusual for me), but more my area of expertise,  a fetal human can sense stress in the host and lungs and other functions will speed up development.  so a mom with pregnancy having difficulty  a week before delivery will do better than one that abruptly has difficulty at the same age.  The body secretes hormones in stress such as adrenaline and steroids.  so if we know a baby has to come early, we can fool it by giving mom steroids for a week prior to delivery, and that child will have better lung function.  I bet nature has a plan for those seeds in the setting of a catastrophic event for the momma tree.   ;)

[WV Sawmiller]

   On the issue of squirrels planting nuts and grapes and such when we first got married my brother sent us a grocery sack full of Chinese chestnuts. Before we finished half of them they got wormy so I put them out behind our house on Base Housing on Quantico Marine Base where we were stationed at the time. We could watch the squirrels out the back picture window burying them. I always thought each squirrel had a particular area he would bury his food in but after watching that one i realized they had no rhyme or reason to what they did. He would grab a chestnut and run 200 yards across the back yard to the woodline on the back and frantically dig a hole and bury the nut then come bounding back for the next one, hop twice and bury it right there within 5' of where he had gotten it. He was frantic to get them all buried and I never saw him take a break to actually eat one.

[Al_Smith]

In spring time my yard looks like a mini mine field with so many holes .They get out there under the snow if we have any .Actually although I'm sure they do it I've never seen a squirrel bury an acorn .Although on the end of my 500 foot driveway I have a pin oak and the squirrels stuff the clumps of pampas grass full of acorns .

[Pete and Jesse]

Thank you for all the replies.
I will plant as many of these as I have time to.
We do have squirrels.  I have always considered them free labor for planting oak trees.

[ID4ster]

The acorns are mature enough at this time to plant successfully but as mentioned they do sprout in the fall so don't put them more than an inch or so into mineral soil. (Duff or leaf litter doesn't count as soil) Mark them with a wire flag (Red or Yellow Non-florescent) so that when they start coming up next spring you'll be able to cage them against the small critters. If they make it up to a foot or better the problem will be the deer that will want to feed on them. 

[doc henderson]

the squirrels are eating our acorns off the tree, so we do not get many.  would like to find a bunch on the ground to store and feed the squirrels.  hard to find  a wholesale/bulk seller.  we always have about a dozen little oaks come up under the tree, frow all summer, but none transplanted so far.

[Al_Smith]

White oaks from my perspective seem to have an over abundance every two years .I've got red,white, pin and burr oaks .Big ones .They claim some you can eat although I never have .I think Thoreau mentioned grinding acorns into a flour like meal in Walden .However it's been around 60 years since I've read it.Might be wrong .

[doc henderson]

If you read it again (Thoreau), do you think you will try it Al?    just a big seed.

[WDH]

I believe white oak acorn flour has to be leached with water a number of times to get the bitterness out. 

[Ianab]

I believe white oak acorn flour has to be leached with water a number of times to get the bitterness out.

Got my interest so I did a quick search, we have various English oaks around town, and no squirrels. 
It appears they are all edible, but the level of tannin varies, and that determines how much soaking they need to get rid of the bitterness. 
You Can Eat Acorns - How to Collect, Process and Eat Acorns 

[Banjo picker]

I have ate a few.  Rates right up there with possum. >:(   >:( > :embarassed: Tim

[Al_Smith]

I did a little Google on eating them .They say you about need to boil them to leach the tannic acid from them before you do much more .
One of the guys I know who is heavy into this stuff I think roasted them like a chestnut .He's the nephew of my lady friends deceased husband who was one of my best friends .I'll have to ask him the next I see him
This I do know this area is getting established flocks of wild turkeys and they dine on the acorns .At the same time they are fond of soy beans and we have plenty of both .In a month or so they will be in droves after the beans come off because those 200 thousand dollar combines don't get them all .They are comical because they don't really fear people . 

[WDH]

I have only had then raw . 

[KEC]

I always heard that Red Oak acorns were the ones that are bitter due to the tannic acid. If I remember correctly, I sampled some White Oak acorns a long time ago and, though bland, they were not too bad. (?)

[Ianab]

Yes, different species and even individual trees vary in the amount of tannin. That then relates to the number of times they need to be soaked/boiled to get rid of it. 

The acorns dont have any great flavour, they are more flour (or grits). Just handy to know you can eat them us you have nothing else.