We are doing a harvest here in July which includes some Red Oak. The tops of some harvested trees are full of immature acorns. Are they viable?(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/48525/immature_acorns.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1626862829)
welcome timber. I am not the foremost expert on this but I happen to be working nights. as long as they have been pollenated they should have seed. the size of the nut is the stored energy that will be used to sustain the emerging plant/tree. so I think they should be ok, especially if you plan to plant them. in nature they may not have as much advantage as a nut with more stored energy/food. throw some in a pot a see what happens. if nothing else, can save then for winter squirrel feed if you are so inclined. have fun.
I have experimented with red oak regeneration for year,s Number one is I test any acorns I plan to plant to see if they float in a bucket of water. If they float they are no good. Mimic how nature does it. If you just pick them up and store them in a dry place, they will need to go through a cold period before sprouting. The best germination rates are from acorns the squirrels have gathered and buried under the snow, they have selected the most viable ones and stored them to go through the cold period. When the snow is melting they stick out like minature volcanoes and many will already be sprouting. A good activity to combine with shed antler hunting or any other reason to be out in the woods. I have also found new seedlings need to be protected from the deer. Even the saplings are subject to anler rubs. It has been 30 plus years and I am just now seeing some of my first plantings produce acorns. I wish now I had recoded dates o f planting and transplantings I have done. voles and mice strip the bark off under the snow and kill more than the deer do. I was out in my woods one day and met two forest service people wandering around. there was federal land adjacent to mine and no marked boundaries an d this was before gps. they remarked they couldn't believe the oak regeneration they were seeing, said they had been trying for years to do that. I didnt tell them it wasn't all natural and I was the oak tree farmer/
Grew some from acorns 25 yrs ago.
Did the float test, stratified over the winter and planted in my "nursery".
They did exreemely well and after 2 years I planted about a hundred protected by tree tubes and weed mats.
most are now 30 to 35 ft. tall.
A few have had acorns.
I would like to add this has just been a hobby and the float test will indicate which acorns have a larvae of some kind of inscect in them. Near as I can tell the egg is laid on the flower and the larvae are inside the acorn as it develops. When the acorn falls to the ground the larvae bores through the shell and burrows into the soil to continue the cycle.. If you examine the acorn closely you will see a dark stain which is where the larvae comes out and leaves a very small hole. If you store them in a container you will find the bottom covered with little white grub appearing larvae. The shortest amount of time that I have read about is twenty years from seedling to producing acorn and that is probably under ideal growing conditions. None off mine have ideal condition but are competing just like any other tree in the forest. I have discovered once established just leave them alone. I f I clear to much around them it just draws the deer's attention to them. and once they browse the terminal buds it really sets them back. Interesting enough when I go to where there are numerous oaks, the deer leave them alone but will severely browse any maple there.
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I'm just starting my acorn planting hobby. I collected about 10000 acorns last fall, about 1000 passed the float test.
I potted about 400, mostly red oak, but some burr oak and swamp oak as well. I lost many potted acorns to both squirrels and racoons until I made a fenced in area and covered the pots with wire mesh.
I direct ground planted many of the acorns with a small auger for a cordless drill as well as broadcast planted a bunch.
From what I can tell the cordless drill auger yielded much better results than the broadcasting.