whiteoaks

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

when is the best time to fertilize whiteoak trees.i bought a piece of property loaded with some good whiteoaks,and i want to fertilize them.anyone done this

 

[BSK]

I never fertilize mine. I've seen no indication it really does any good in the short term.

 

[Bucket]

An article in the most recent Quality Whitetails goes into great detail about the benefits of "daylighting" oak trees rather than fertilizing. Cutting neighboring trees to free up canopy is probably the best thing you can do for existing oaks.

 

[BSK]

Yes, but that is LONG-TERM benefits, not one season to the next.

 

[DOC1187]

definetly long term

 

[Football Hunter]

Been thinking of doing some daylighting

 

[WalkerWildlife]

White oaks do not drop acorns every year so therefore I would recommend clearing out the underbrush around them...thus reducing the competition.

 

[BSK]

White oaks do not drop acorns every year so therefore I would recommend clearing out the underbrush around them...thus reducing the competition.

Some individual white oak trees produce almost every year, some don't.

The competition that is most critical to remove is competition for sunlight--anything blocking sunlight to the crown of the tree.

 

[Quailman]

Some of the latest research coming from U.T. has shown that about 25% of the oaks in any given stand will produce about 80-90% of the acorns in any given year. Find out which are your best producers and promote those individual trees first by removing the surrounding competition.

 

[BSK]

Some of the latest research coming from U.T. has shown that about 25% of the oaks in any given stand will produce about 80-90% of the acorns in any given year. Find out which are your best producers and promote those individual trees first by removing the surrounding competition.

Very interesting. But it would take a couple of years of record-keeping to find which oaks are the big producers.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

White oaks do not drop acorns every year so therefore I would recommend clearing out the underbrush around them...thus reducing the competition.

Thats the red oak side that tends to be biennial. White Oak can be annual.

 

[WalkerWildlife]

here is a link to average white oak production...

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_ma ... s/alba.htm

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

my dad said something to me that makes alot of sense.he told me to look at the whiteoaks in our pasture,we thinned our posture a few years back,the trees have flourished,and covered with acorns every summer

 

[buckaroo]

I spend a month every year just cutting down trees around my oaks, my motto if it's over 6 ft tall and not an oak I cut it down, obviously not all trees, but pretty close!!

 

[7mm08]

Sorry for the stupid question....but has research shown that deer prefer red over white or vice versa, and why? Taste? Minerals? What?

I understand about clearing out competition, but do you also fertilize a mature tree? When and how much, and with 10/10/10?

Thanks

 

[BSK]

Deer generally prefer white oak acorns over red oak because of tannin content. Red oaks acorns have a higher tannin content which makes them taste bitter. However, the tannin also helps the red oak acorns last longer (through the winter).

Of course, there are different varieties of white and red oaks. Some of each type are more preferred than others. For example, true White Oak and the Swamp Chestnut Oak acorns are much more preferred than the Mountain Chestnut Oak acorns, even though all of them are in the "white oak" family.

 

[MickThompson]

Some of the latest research coming from U.T. has shown that about 25% of the oaks in any given stand will produce about 80-90% of the acorns in any given year. Find out which are your best producers and promote those individual trees first by removing the surrounding competition.

Very interesting. But it would take a couple of years of record-keeping to find which oaks are the big producers.

I am the student at UT that worked on this project for the first few years. We have observed that in a good acorn year, the best trees really shine, but in a poor mast year, all the trees produce relatively little, so any management directed towards improving mast crops will only be of benefit during good acorn years. That being said, from our 5 years of data (2 good years), the trees that were good producers in one good year were generally good producers in the second good acorn year. The ultimate goal of this study is to determine what, if any, effect that releasing and fertilizing oaks has on acorn production, and how the treatments interact with the tree's inherent masting potential. They are planning on putting in treatments this fall and collecting data for another 5 years. Stay tuned!

 

[Quailman]

Some of the latest research coming from U.T. has shown that about 25% of the oaks in any given stand will produce about 80-90% of the acorns in any given year. Find out which are your best producers and promote those individual trees first by removing the surrounding competition.

Very interesting. But it would take a couple of years of record-keeping to find which oaks are the big producers.

I am the student at UT that worked on this project for the first few years. We have observed that in a good acorn year, the best trees really shine, but in a poor mast year, all the trees produce relatively little, so any management directed towards improving mast crops will only be of benefit during good acorn years. That being said, from our 5 years of data (2 good years), the trees that were good producers in one good year were generally good producers in the second good acorn year. The ultimate goal of this study is to determine what, if any, effect that releasing and fertilizing oaks has on acorn production, and how the treatments interact with the tree's inherent masting potential. They are planning on putting in treatments this fall and collecting data for another 5 years. Stay tuned!

Thanks for in the info Mick! I hope I quoted your numbers fairly close. I saw your presentation a while back (it may have been at a TWS meeting?) and was trying to remember as best as possible.

 

[MickThompson]

White oaks do not drop acorns every year so therefore I would recommend clearing out the underbrush around them...thus reducing the competition.

Thats the red oak side that tends to be biennial. White Oak can be annual.

Both white oaks and red oaks can, and do, bear acorns every year. White oaks mature in about 6 months and then drop. Red oaks mature in a year and a half, but flower each year. During the summer, red oaks will have 2 cohorts of acorns on them-the ones that were just fertilized that spring, and the ones fertilized the spring before and that will drop that fall.

 

[MickThompson]

Quailman, that was the state TWS at Fall Creek Falls, I believe. Those numbers a little inflated. Here is what we found through 3 years at Chuck Swan. I don't have access to the other 2 years right now.

This graph shows the % of trees that we categorized as excellent, good, etc.

This one shows each class's relative contribution to the acorn crop over 3 years.

This is based on 120 white oaks selected at random. They are not overtopped by other trees, and range from 14"-34" in diameter. Diameter IS NOT related to mast production in mature trees. Excellent and good trees accounted for 31% of the trees and produced 67% of the acorns. Half of the trees were poor producers, and accounted for 15% of the crop. This is ine of the reasons I dislike a diameter-limit cut from a wildlife perspective. Most of the trees you cut are dominant or codominant (the ones that have the potential to produce acorns), and you have a 50/50 chance of leaving poor producers.