Age/Size of Oak Varieties

[WTNBowHunter]

Question for the group since I'm not a dendrologist/arborist/botanist...
At what age do oak varieties begin to produce acorns? Most helpful answer would be based on DBH or height of the tree but it may be a more "it depends" type answer from those that know.

 

[BSK]

For true White and Red Oaks (and the "reds" include both southern/northern Reds as well as Black Oaks), they will start producing acorns at 20-30 years of age, and that is usually in the 10-12" DBH range.

 

[Snake]

Abundant rainfall and the type soil they are in could be a varable .

 

[BSK]

Abundant rainfall and the type soil they are in could be a varable .

Without question. In my area, our nasty soil appears to be perfect for growing White Oaks, as about 80% of the standing timber on my place is White Oak, and many exceed 100 feet tall. Interestingly, I'm in the area that at one time was dominated by American Chestnut. When we first bought our place (1980s), you could still find the huge stump rings left after all the mature Chestnuts were clear-cut in the 1920s (as the blight approached).

 

[WTNBowHunter]

Soil & rainfall, check. Those two definitely are important and I should have given that context in my original question.
We are in a bottomland hardwood area that has been select cut, what I would call a true high-grade. All that's left from what I can tell are trees that are under 12-14" dbh. The whites & reds that are left appear to not have any scarring or root damage also which is great. Majority of those in that range are ~40' tall. Good news is that their canopy will now have the opportunity to increase and hopefully produce more acorns that what was there in years past due to the canopy competition. I'm going to measure the trees to get an accurate dbh for yall in the upcoming weeks.

 

[BSK]

Soil & rainfall, check. Those two definitely are important and I should have given that context in my original question.
We are in a bottomland hardwood area that has been select cut, what I would call a true high-grade. All that's left from what I can tell are trees that are under 12-14" dbh. The whites & reds that are left appear to not have any scarring or root damage also which is great. Majority of those in that range are ~40' tall. Good news is that their canopy will now have the opportunity to increase and hopefully produce more acorns that what was there in years past due to the canopy competition. I'm going to measure the trees to get an accurate dbh for yall in the upcoming weeks.

Trees of that age should be producing. Four years ago, we had 100 acres heavily thinned down to 10" DBH. The remaining oaks have acorns this year.

 

[MickThompson]

You can push young trees to produce sooner and better by managing the competition around them. It's a good practice in general for timber production as well.

Tree size doesn't necessarily indicate high grading. High graded stands will usually have 2 age classes at a minimum- the large "left behinds" of undesirable species or poor form, and the young, vigorous trees fighting for the gaps made by the last stand entry.

I'd get a forester or biologist onsite and walk the woods with them if management is up for discussion.

 

[Ski]

Soil & rainfall, check. Those two definitely are important and I should have given that context in my original question.
We are in a bottomland hardwood area that has been select cut, what I would call a true high-grade. All that's left from what I can tell are trees that are under 12-14" dbh. The whites & reds that are left appear to not have any scarring or root damage also which is great. Majority of those in that range are ~40' tall. Good news is that their canopy will now have the opportunity to increase and hopefully produce more acorns that what was there in years past due to the canopy competition. I'm going to measure the trees to get an accurate dbh for yall in the upcoming weeks.

Depending on how long ago it was cut and how cluttered the remaining trees are, it could be very fast or very slow. Regrowth reaching that size is still very cluttered and will take time for nut bearing. But if it's a recent cut and those trees are standing somewhat alone then you'll be seeing nuts very soon. In my experience it takes an understory tree a couple years after a heavy cut to "mature". They must first fill out to create infrastructure required to produce a lot of fruit, and that takes a growing season or two. But it'll happen.

 

[BSK]

Depending on how long ago it was cut and how cluttered the remaining trees are, it could be very fast or very slow. Regrowth reaching that size is still very cluttered and will take time for nut bearing. But if it's a recent cut and those trees are standing somewhat alone then you'll be seeing nuts very soon. In my experience it takes an understory tree a couple years after a heavy cut to "mature". They must first fill out to create infrastructure required to produce a lot of fruit, and that takes a growing season or two. But it'll happen.

After timber removal, although the remaining oaks were old enough to produce, they did not for a couple of years. Because they had been younger, crowded trees before timber thinning, it took a few years for them to produce a canopy capable of producing acorns.

 

[Snake]

I'm in no way near qualified to give an answer but aren't there fertilizer sticks you can buy for trees ?? This may give the trees a jump start on producing earlier than they should . Analyzing soil samples may could be another way to see what is lacking if anything is . Trees can basically grow where other trees were before I'm just thinking on making the soil betrer .

 

[Ski]

I'm in no way near qualified to give an answer but aren't there fertilizer sticks you can buy for trees ?? This may give the trees a jump start on producing earlier than they should . Analyzing soil samples may could be another way to see what is lacking if anything is . Trees can basically grow where other trees were before I'm just thinking on making the soil betrer .

With fruit trees yes. But with oaks It's been shown fertilizer doesn't help at all. What makes the difference with oaks is clearing away competition so their canopies can expand to absorb more sun, which then is converted into nuts. Until that happens they just won't produce no matter how good the soil is.

 

[Snake]

With fruit trees yes. But with oaks It's been shown fertilizer doesn't help at all. What makes the difference with oaks is clearing away competition so their canopies can expand to absorb more sun, which then is converted into nuts. Until that happens they just won't produce no matter how good the soil is.

Even using certain chemicals ( lime or etc ) to balance out the soil for a better growing environment won't help. ??

 

[Ski]

Even using certain chemicals ( lime or etc ) to balance out the soil for a better growing environment won't help. ??

As I understand the research that is correct. Oak naturally thrives in acidic, poor soil. And soil amendments & fertilizing proves zero net gain. Clearing away competing trees from the perimeter of an oak exponentially enhances growth rate and nut production.

 

[WTNBowHunter]

Even using certain chemicals ( lime or etc ) to balance out the soil for a better growing environment won't help. ??

As I understand the research that is correct. Oak naturally thrives in acidic, poor soil. And soil amendments & fertilizing proves zero net gain. Clearing away competing trees from the perimeter of an oak exponentially enhances growth rate and nut production.

The study was performed by Dr. Craig Harper. Increasing canopy size was the only variable that impacted mast production.

 

[MickThompson]

I'm in no way near qualified to give an answer but aren't there fertilizer sticks you can buy for trees ?? This may give the trees a jump start on producing earlier than they should . Analyzing soil samples may could be another way to see what is lacking if anything is . Trees can basically grow where other trees were before I'm just thinking on making the soil betrer .

Younger trees should be more able to respond to fertilizer but think about the amount of applied and the relative size of an oak tree to corn- that ear is a pretty sizable piece of the plant relative to acorns. And corn has to make an ear or it ceases to exist. If the tree fails, it can try again next year. Or it can resprout from the stump or roots. Or an oak can pass its genes through pollen and barely make an acorn.

2 very different survival strategies. Crops have to sprint, so fertilizing makes sense. Trees, not so much.

 

[BSK]

I'm in no way near qualified to give an answer but aren't there fertilizer sticks you can buy for trees ?? This may give the trees a jump start on producing earlier than they should . Analyzing soil samples may could be another way to see what is lacking if anything is . Trees can basically grow where other trees were before I'm just thinking on making the soil betrer .

If you fertilize trees, it often makes them stop producing nuts/fruits and just grow more. Fruit tree growers actually stress their trees so they produce more fruit. Fruit production is about creating new trees in case the parent tree dies. Make the parent tree think it's going to die, and it will produce more fruits/nuts to reproduce itself. Give it exceptional growing conditions (fertilization) and it will grow instead of reproduce itself.

 

[Speedwell-Hunter]

For true White and Red Oaks (and the "reds" include both southern/northern Reds as well as Black Oaks), they will start producing acorns at 20-30 years of age, and that is usually in the 10-12" DBH range.

That is crazy, 20 years

 

[UPSman]

This white oak on Cathole may be 10 inches thru and it's absolutely loaded with acorns. Most every white oak on our place is this size after the property was logged 5 years ago. They all have acorns too.

 

[BSK]

This white oak on Cathole may be 10 inches thru and it's absolutely loaded with acorns. Most every white oak on our place is this size after the property was logged 5 years ago. They all have acorns too.View attachment 293012View attachment 293013

The same logger did our property, and I had them cut down to 10" DBH in the designated harvest areas. Younger 8-10" oaks hadn't been producing acorns until the logging released them and gave them sunlight. Within a year or two they started producing acorns, simply by giving them access to all the sunlight they could want.