Can't Find The Oak

[jdp1152]

how did I not know about this. I'm struggling on selection. Part of me wants the firs or spruces to line the front my lot since the ash are dropping like flies and they make great sound barriers. The other part me wants to line a portion of my lot with that maple mix for the fall colors (though I despise their shallow root systems). Many thanks for pointing this out. I've just forwarded to everyone I know. Absolutely win/win situation for both the donor and the organization.

 

[jdp1152]

Where did you find the length of the free trees?

When it asks for your zip code it says this:

Your 6-12" trees will arrive at the best time for planting in your area.

 

[thewoodlands]

When it asks for your zip code it says this:

Your 6-12" trees will arrive at the best time for planting in your area.

I did ours over the phone, (I never did ask) thanks. I'm thinking about some fruit trees too, I'll touch base with the boss on those.

 

[jdp1152]

Well, my excitement has been tempered. A fair amount of people had already attempted this route and pretty much said the trees you get are crap. Bare root systems and on the edge of death. I still took advantage, but will let the spruces grow in pots before making any determination to re transplant my eastern hemlocks and replace with the blue spruces.

 

[thewoodlands]

Well, my excitement has been tempered. A fair amount of people had already attempted this route and pretty much said the trees you get are crap. Bare root systems and on the edge of death. I still took advantage, but will let the spruces grow in pots before making any determination to re transplant my eastern hemlocks and replace with the blue spruces.

I'll have the planting sites ready before we get the trees then just follow the directions, time will tell. I think we'll plant two on the property around the house and the rest where I cut.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Don't worry about the bare roots. Stick those suckers in the ground and they will grow.

 

[Paulywalnut]

acorn fed deer don't taste anywhere near as well as clover or orchard feed deer. Don't listen to em.

If I were a deer... I'd eat what makes me taste the worst.

 

[wesessiah]

Well, my excitement has been tempered. A fair amount of people had already attempted this route and pretty much said the trees you get are crap. Bare root systems and on the edge of death. I still took advantage, but will let the spruces grow in pots before making any determination to re transplant my eastern hemlocks and replace with the blue spruces.

this seems to be the general consensus. i signed up to order some specific trees, and within the next couple of days all that i wanted were out of stock. i didn't see a single good review of the free trees, but almost all of the bad reviews were only about the free trees. i opted to have them planted somewhere else. the only online nursery i've found mostly good reviews for is forestfarm.com. i ordered black locust, and weeping willow from them, so i'll see how they turn out.

 

[jdp1152]

Yeah... My sis in law has a green thumb and all ten of her mix died. She said they were in rough shape on arrival. Another friend, who I make no horticultural claims about said all but one of theirs died. I suppose for ten bucks its worth the risk, but if they're sending junk then it's pretty frustrating. Guess ill find out on my own.

 

[Ashful]

Too bad you aren't closer. I could fill you up a couple 55 gallon drums with acorns and you could drive around on the rhino chucking them into the woods.

Speaking of which, if anyone wants Black Walnuts....

I use a harvester to collect them, but have no use for a pickup truck load of walnuts every year, so they get dumped in the woods.

 

[Wood Duck]

I find Scarlet Oak leaves in my yard every fall, but I don't have Scarlet Oaks in my property, and I am not aware of any very close by. Leaves can blow a long way in the fall.

A six to twelve inch tree is only a year or two old, and it will have to overcome transplant shock before it really starts growing. You can plant an acorn a lot easier, and you'll be planting locally-adapted Red Oaks (assuming you get local acorns). With the ease of planting plus no transplant shock, I think acorns are a better way to get oak trees than the arbor day foundation is.

 

[firefighterjake]

Speaking of which, if anyone wants Black Walnuts....

I use a harvester to collect them, but have no use for a pickup truck load of walnuts every year, so they get dumped in the woods.

For eating or planting?

I would be interested . . . if you want I can send some red oak acorns that I collected a couple years ago.

 

[Ashful]

Well, they certainly seem to grow well when planted. I must kill a hundred of those little saplings every spring. They should make good eating, too... if you have the patience to process them.

The primary trouble with these buggers is the husk, which makes a fantastic mess. You need to get the husk off so they can dry before they rot, but the husk has the consistency of a coconut husk, and is the source of many old-school furniture stains. Get it on you, and you'll be brown until that skin wears off. Old-school methods of removing these husks include putting the walnuts on a gravel driveway and driving over them with a car or tractor, although I think mixing them with crushed stone in a cement mixer would be neater. I'm told you can also use a corn sheller / husker for this purpose.

If you want some, I'd be happy to UPS a box of them your way for the cost of shipping. Harvest time is September.

 

[thewoodlands]

So I can have the planting areas ready when the Northern Red Oak come in I had the planting info emailed from Arborday.

1. Plant 50-55 feet apart
2.Dig hole 2 feet deep.
3. The diameter of the whole should be 3 feet.
4. Mulch can be peat moss or a hardwood mulch/they must be phosphorus & nitrogen free.
5. I'll use chicken wire with stakes for protection/ 4 feet high

We plan on planting 4 on the property I cut on, the other two on the property around the house.

 

[TimJ]

Don't plant them too close to the house or the people that live there next may have issues.
On a different note, I have a tremendous dead white oak about 75 feet from the house. I need it taken down and I will be dealing with this late summer. It is scary just looking up at it.

 

[firefighterjake]

Well, they certainly seem to grow well when planted. I must kill a hundred of those little saplings every spring. They should make good eating, too... if you have the patience to process them.

The primary trouble with these buggers is the husk, which makes a fantastic mess. You need to get the husk off so they can dry before they rot, but the husk has the consistency of a coconut husk, and is the source of many old-school furniture stains. Get it on you, and you'll be brown until that skin wears off. Old-school methods of removing these husks include putting the walnuts on a gravel driveway and driving over them with a car or tractor, although I think mixing them with crushed stone in a cement mixer would be neater. I'm told you can also use a corn sheller / husker for this purpose.

If you want some, I'd be happy to UPS a box of them your way for the cost of shipping. Harvest time is September.

I'll take you up on that offer . . . wouldn't mind trying to grow some . . . eat some. I'm kinda pasty white anyways . . . maybe processing them would give me a nice fake looking tan.

 

[Ashful]

Cool. We'll talk when fall harvest time comes around! It would be nice to see someone do something with these. Maybe you'll even inspire me to do something with some of them, as well. The last two years, I used them for filling some storm wash-out holes in the entrance to the woods.

 

[Shane N]

I'll take you up on that offer . . . wouldn't mind trying to grow some . . . eat some. I'm kinda pasty white anyways . . . maybe processing them would give me a nice fake looking tan.

New business idea.

1. Get walnuts
2. Plant 'em
3. ????
4. PROFIT

 

[jdp1152]

We had black walnuts all around the home I grew up in. Always a joy to mow the lawn stepping on those ankle breakers. Pick em up and toss em the woods and your hand stinks. I never wept when the natural springs would pop up in April and the occasional heavy wind storm would tip one over.

 

[jdp1152]

New business idea.

1. Get walnuts
2. Plant 'em
3. ????
4. PROFIT

Excellent Southpark reference. One of my favorites.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Black walnuts husks can make excellent dye. I've also heard some trappers use them rubbing on the traps to get rid of human smells.

Definitely one must use rubber gloves when handling or else an old pair of gloves that are about ready to be thrown away. We used to get the husk off and then put the nuts in onion bags. We'd hang them in the grainary or wood shed or some other place then crack them in the winter months to get the meat.

One old saying still holds true for walnuts and hickory nuts. In the fall, before you gather a bunch of them, make sure you open some up to see if there is any meat inside. It can be disturbing later on when you start cracking them and find no meat inside. So if you find some in the fall with no meat, throw the rest of them away and move to a different tree.

 

[Ashful]

Interesting. Several of my walnuts are planted in groves of 5 - 6 trees, though... so all the nuts are mingled together. I do seem to lose a few big'uns in each major storm... always uprooted, never broken. Lost four walnuts (three of them fairly large) in Sandy.

Based on my experience, and freshly planted walnut tree takes about 15 years to start producing nuts.

 

[raybonz]

Interesting. Several of my walnuts are planted in groves of 5 - 6 trees, though... so all the nuts are mingled together. I do seem to lose a few big'uns in each major storm... always uprooted, never broken. Lost four walnuts (three of them fairly large) in Sandy.

Based on my experience, and freshly planted walnut tree takes about 15 years to start producing nuts.

Much like puberty in males lol

Ray

 

[thewoodlands]

Well, my excitement has been tempered. A fair amount of people had already attempted this route and pretty much said the trees you get are crap. Bare root systems and on the edge of death. I still took advantage, but will let the spruces grow in pots before making any determination to re transplant my eastern hemlocks and replace with the blue spruces.

"Trees are crap" I did some checking on the two trees on the property around the house, finally with some sun they will be budding out, I'll check the other Oak trees I planted on the property I scrounge on.

I planted them on or around June 8th.

 

[Ashful]

I'll take you up on that offer . . . wouldn't mind trying to grow some . . . eat some. I'm kinda pasty white anyways . . . maybe processing them would give me a nice fake looking tan.

Well, with this hot and wet weather, it looks like we're shaping up to have a bumper crop of walnuts this year! Found at least a dozen preemies on the ground today. Another six weeks, and they'll be raining down like a hail storm on the first windy day.