Planting oak acorns

Anybody got experience with this?

Found a tree dropping real heavy and scooped up about 20 or so acorns. Hoping to successfully grow a few. From what I’ve read, some things say keep them in the fridge til April, then plant. Other things say to soak them in water for a day or so and then plant them now.

You can plant them now. Refrigerator simulates winter. If they were in the ground now they would be soaked in water.

Thanks. I was planning on growing these in pots at the house so that i can keep them watered good this first year, and then transplanting them next year. If I plant them now and keep them watered, what should I expect? And what else should I be doing?

If I were you, id plant them in pots. If you stick em in the ground a squirrel might dig them up and eat them. If youll go back to where you got the acorns in the spring, youll likely find a bunch of sprouts coming up. It might be easier to let mother nature get them through the first year. No need to wait a year, theres already plenty of year old saplings in the woods right now.

Do a float test with them before planting. A good acorn will sink. A bad hollow wormy acorn will float throw them out. Plant them on there side the root and stem will come out of the pointy end.

Thanks for the advice guys. Almost all of the acorns passed the float test, so I’m gonna go ahead and plant them in some pots and keep them in the garage.

There's no need to put them in a refrigerator. They don't get that treatment in nature. Just put the in pots with potting or regular soil. You can just lay them on top of it or gently push them into the soil. Leave them outside in the elements. If you're worried about squirrels, put a piece of screen or something over the pots.

When I lived in Auburn, there was a huge white oak beside the old KA house (long since torn down) that I used to propagate acorns from to give to old alumni. In my no so scientific tests, they seemed to not germinate near as well when I stratified them. Plant them and go.

Best to put them in a refrigerator until they sprout, then put them and let them get a foot or two tall and transplant

You could save some time and buy em bare root online.

I've done this numerous times with just about every oak tree we have here. Only ever had problems with blackjack oaks. You probably already have 3-4" roots now if you planted them a month ago.

How many years til they produce acorns?

Depends on the oak. Generally about 20 years. Sawtooths will have acorns in 5