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Post by sd51555 on Aug 10, 2017 6:42:15 GMT -6
Time for a sandbur theory..... when at the edge of the natural range, or on marginal soils(like light or droughty for that particular species), seed production becomes limited and may only occur on occasional basis. You need ideal growing condition for seed production and then to germinate the next year. Now more theories, a drought year or late frost might prime an oak (or apple) for a better year of seed production in the following year or two. Ever hear of taking a wooden bat to an apple tree to make it produce the next year or two? Stress and then good growing conditions the next year might do it. I think that's the boat I'm in. Once a dry year hits my land, I think I may have the acorn crop I've always dreamed of.
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Post by Sandbur on Aug 23, 2017 6:26:59 GMT -6
Time for a sandbur theory..... when at the edge of the natural range, or on marginal soils(like light or droughty for that particular species), seed production becomes limited and may only occur on occasional basis. You need ideal growing condition for seed production and then to germinate the next year. Now more theories, a drought year or late frost might prime an oak (or apple) for a better year of seed production in the following year or two. Ever hear of taking a wooden bat to an apple tree to make it produce the next year or two? Stress and then good growing conditions the next year might do it. I think that's the boat I'm in. Once a dry year hits my land, I think I may have the acorn crop I've always dreamed of. I just read an article in ON on bear hunting. In the Grand Rapids area they can get an acorn crop, but not as often further north. I had a buddy who worked on the bear projects in the late '70's under Lynn Rogers. They had transmitters on bears and somewhere off of the North Shore there is an oak ridge. Many of their bears would move there during good acorn crop years. An occasional bear would move long distances to the south or west for crop land, acorns, or even dumps. One year they lost a bear that denned in the boundary waters. Everything was monitored by plane and not satellites in those days. They found the bear on a dump near McGregor. By fall, he was back in his den in the BWCA.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Aug 23, 2017 7:57:21 GMT -6
Bur oak acorns look pretty good around my area in 17.
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Post by wildfire123 on Aug 23, 2017 14:11:38 GMT -6
Both burr and red oak are dropping now.
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Post by Freeborn on Aug 23, 2017 14:23:00 GMT -6
Time for a sandbur theory..... when at the edge of the natural range, or on marginal soils(like light or droughty for that particular species), seed production becomes limited and may only occur on occasional basis. You need ideal growing condition for seed production and then to germinate the next year. Now more theories, a drought year or late frost might prime an oak (or apple) for a better year of seed production in the following year or two. Ever hear of taking a wooden bat to an apple tree to make it produce the next year or two? Stress and then good growing conditions the next year might do it. I think there is something to trees producing based on their environment. On our families lake property near Cross Lake the soil is beach sand but there are allot of oaks. Those trees are 100+ years old and are nothing to look at but they crank out acorns each year like they were trying to keep the species alive. Each year our decks are full of acorns.
I came to the theory that these lake Oaks suffered all the time therefore they kept producing.
It could just be genetics, like apple trees, not all of them produce each year or at the same quantity.
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Post by coop on Aug 27, 2017 7:09:09 GMT -6
Time for a sandbur theory..... when at the edge of the natural range, or on marginal soils(like light or droughty for that particular species), seed production becomes limited and may only occur on occasional basis. You need ideal growing condition for seed production and then to germinate the next year. Now more theories, a drought year or late frost might prime an oak (or apple) for a better year of seed production in the following year or two. Ever hear of taking a wooden bat to an apple tree to make it produce the next year or two? Stress and then good growing conditions the next year might do it. I think there is something to trees producing based on their environment. On our families lake property near Cross Lake the soil is beach sand but there are allot of oaks. Those trees are 100+ years old and are nothing to look at but they crank out acorns each year like they were trying to keep the species alive. Each year our decks are full of acorns.
I came to the theory that these lake Oaks suffered all the time therefore they kept producing.
It could just be genetics, like apple trees, not all of them produce each year or at the same quantity.
I'm always on the lookout for Oaks that produce large acorn crops. The last couple years my kids and I have picked up a bucket or two of acorns from local trees that seem like genetically superior producers. I did a 7 acre direct tree seed at my place three years ago. I plant the previously mentioned acorns in it every year. I'll let you know how it worked out in 20 years. 😉
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Post by nhmountains on Aug 27, 2017 9:05:23 GMT -6
Here's one of the larger bur oaks on my property. It's not going to produce any time soon. It was grown from seed from Brushpile. The seed was golf ball size. The bear pulled a beaked hazelnut down over it.
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Post by smsmith on Aug 27, 2017 10:17:59 GMT -6
How old is that bur NH?
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Post by nhmountains on Aug 27, 2017 11:20:45 GMT -6
I think it was started from seed in 2013 or 2014. I think 2014. I should open it up more. Most are 3-4' but, haven't grown much this year. The largest one I had got cut off ground level by a rabbit last year. It was pushing 6'.
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Post by Sandbur on Aug 28, 2017 6:10:05 GMT -6
I have Morse hybrids that have been in the ground for about 15 years. I have not checked them for acorns, but the two that survived are almost waist high.
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Post by Foggy on Aug 28, 2017 7:17:29 GMT -6
I seldom see any acorns on my burr oak trees......but I got volunteer Burr Oaks that are everywhere so they must produce some acorns at some point. Now....after logging....... those small Oaks are literally Jumping out of the ground. Thousands of small oaks here. Putting on lots of growth this year.Still....I have not seen the acorns.
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Post by smsmith on Aug 28, 2017 10:08:02 GMT -6
I looked closely at a few red oaks this morning. They aren't loaded, but they certainly have some acorns on them. Should be a lot of food in the woods this fall.
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Post by badbrad on Aug 28, 2017 10:21:38 GMT -6
I looked closely at a few red oaks this morning. They aren't loaded, but they certainly have some acorns on them. Should be a lot of food in the woods this fall. I looked at the oaks and once again no acorns. I need to get some swamp hyrbrid oaks in the ground. Ugh.
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Post by nhmountains on Aug 28, 2017 11:02:21 GMT -6
I looked closely at a few red oaks this morning. They aren't loaded, but they certainly have some acorns on them. Should be a lot of food in the woods this fall. I looked at the oaks and once again no acorns. I need to get some swamp hyrbrid oaks in the ground. Ugh. Brad, Are the oaks crowns getting plenty of sun? Will your logging help the oaks get more light?
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Post by badbrad on Aug 28, 2017 11:03:56 GMT -6
I looked at the oaks and once again no acorns. I need to get some swamp hyrbrid oaks in the ground. Ugh. Brad, Are the oaks crowns getting plenty of sun? Will your logging help the oaks get more light? They appear to be the tallest oldest trees in the woods. There are some young ones too. I just think the soils are not good for white oak acorns. I'm sure the logging will not hurt them. Maybe will help?
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