Tag: acorn
Up in Oak 2 – one week, four inches
I could use a photo here to show things off but that oak sappling I told everyone about in August? Well it’s got it’s spring growth spurt going and has gained four inches with it’s (still growing) new growth. It should reach 3 feet tall in the coming days, maybe taller in the coming weeks. We’lll see.
Laurel (oak) and Hardy
The acorn planting experment has been a big success. Basically all you need to do with Laurel Oak acorns is pick them / harvest them, make sure they are clean and good (drop them in water and if they sink – they are good) and refridgerate them to keep them fresh. The acorns won’t last forever int he ‘fridge but they will last much longer and remain potent.
So now I have several Laurel Oak sapplings in pots and don’t know what to do with them or where to plant them. I’d be more than willing to sell them off — but they are still very young (all less than 8 months) and very small.
To plant them on public property is to suscept them to being mowed over. To keep them is to simply put off their dying. I’d like to move some of these (the tallest ones i have are 18 inches or so) but where and how – I am not sure.
Arbor Day
April 29th is National Arbor Day and wouldn’t you know it? I have at least oen tree ready to be planted. SInce I started harvesting the Laurel Acorns last fall, I’ve had 5 of them take and start growing, while my sixth Laurel sapling is 18″ and over 2 years old.
Now if only I had a safe place to plant the damn things… Somewhere they wouldn’t be mowed over and yet someplace that isn’t in the middle of nowhere which cna use a tree.
I always thought that somewhere along the Lake Tarpon Outfall Canal woudl be a good spot but I’m not sure aobut that any more.
Laurel Oak germination
It finally happened a few days ago…
One thing I love to try to do is get a tree seed to germinate. I tried and failed with Slash Pine seeds. It’s tough enough to GET them and even tougher to get them while they are mature.
I tried and failed with Laurel Oak acorns for two years as well. I was getting them when they were dried out — had fallen tot he ground. Some of them were still good but most had lost their moisture and were basically dead.
So, during October after I came back from Los Angeles, I happened upon this little guide to colleciton and storage of Acorns. I had no clue that I needed to keep acorns I collected cool and moist. I also had no clue that I could indeed take them off trees while they were still there (which I had, orignally, but then allowed Acorns to dry out and blah).
So I planted an Acorn for shits and giggles in a pot a couple of weeks ago – oen that I had been storing — and lo and behold there was a little bundle of joy that had come into being just last week… Well, that is… Until the cats found it sitting in the sun… 🙁
The fact is I got something big to grow — big for me that is — that I usually can only find out in the wild. Now if only I knew someplace to PLANT these things where they won’t be mowed down while young…. :p
