propagating red and white Oak from seed?

[locustoak]

This year I thought I'd try to start some northern red oak, and white oak from seed.  I've been busy collecting the seeds lately, so now to the planting part...

For the Red oak, is it ok for me to go ahead and stick the seeds in the refrigerator now?  Or should I wait a couple months when the weather cools off?  I thought maybe you can "stratify" them too long?

For the White oak, they are suppose to germinate in the fall, but will it actually send up a green shoot now, or will only the roots develop now then send up a shoot in the spring?  I was going to put the seeds into some 2-liter bottles that have the tops cut off, water them, and let them set in the sun for a couple months to see if they sprout or not.

Any other tips or help is appreciated.  I'm new at this!  I plan on starting all the seeds in containers (the white oak now, then red oak in the spring.) because we have a severe squirrel problem.

[Banjo picker]

Put them in a bucket of water, the ones that float ...throw them away, as they won't come up....You may be picken them a little early, but you are several hundred miles north of me....The white oak acorns will almost sprout when they hit the ground, but that don't happen till Oct here....I have not worked with any reds....Tim

[Magicman]

I plant them when I pick them up.  That's what nature does.  Plant them about 2" deep, just like squirrels do.  I've had very good success with Cherrybark Red as well as White Oak.

[locustoak]

After extensive research, I found a good source for information on planting trees from seed:
http://www.rngr.net/publications/wpsm
I took some pictures of what I did with my white oak acorns.  I'll post them with more info in a few days.
In the meantime I found a local source for some Burr oak and Chinquapin oak acorns, so I will try to start some of those while I'm at it.

[locustoak]

Here's a picture of some of the White oak acorns I used.  These in this picture actually failed the float-test, so I didn't plant them, but the ones I planted looked just like them.  They were large - one was almost 1 1/2" long.  I got them from a large, 40" DBH straight-bole tree, so hopefully they will have good genetics.




I planted them in 2-liter bottles that I have been saving up.  Each bottle has a white oak acorn in it.  Since I took this picture I added a few more bottles that have Burr oak and Chinquapin oak acorns in them.  

[SwampDonkey]

Depending on how far north the white oak is, it may also need stratifying. Bur oak is all we have for white oak here in NB and that could never germinate and survive that late in the year.

[locustoak]

Burr oak is my favorite oak tree, and I plan on transplanting those into my parents woodlands which are located on a floodplane.  I've heard conflicting data on Burr oak stratification.  Some sources claim Burr oak needs to be stratified at cold temperatures, while others claim Burr oak will germanate immediately just like white oak.  This will be a good experiment I think.

The Chinquapin oaks I think are really cool trees, and I will plan them in the yard for shade.  They don't get very tall from what I understand.  They are suppose to germinate immediate just like white oak.

The white oaks I will transplant into some "upland" woods that already has some white oak standing.  It is a stately tree in my opinion, and I expect white oak values to increase in comparison to other hardwoods in the decades ahead.

[SwampDonkey]

locustoak, as I said depends on how far north. Our bur up here have smaller acorns than the southern strain. I have tried with no success to germinate bur oak. I only got one to germinate the last 3 or 4 years and it died in the pot within a week or two. I've read it's difficult because there are so many of the seed that gets under developed for some reason. I did see lots of roadside bur oak up around Lake Superior on the way to the Sault.

[locustoak]

Ok, thanks for the help.  I should say, the Burr oak acorns I picked up were the large variety.