Choose a place with enough space for your oak to grow. When your oak seedling is at least 200mm (8 inches) tall, it is ready to be planted into its permanent home. Feed with a liquid fertiliser during the summer to encourage maximum growth, but do not over feed! This can scorch the roots. Your oak seedling will grow quite happily in a 1-litre pot or root trainer for the next two summers. It could be May before the seedlings appear. From then on, water from below by placing the container in a tray of water and let the compost soak it up through the drainage holes. Never let your pots dry out! Stand them in a shady, sheltered spot, out of doors and water, from the top, until the seedlings emerge. ![]() Aim for a density of about 100 plants in a square metre. If you are sowing outside, sow them in good soil to a depth of 5cm and firm. Protect the acorns from predation! Mice and jays love them, so cover them over with fine wire mesh to keep them out. Make sure there are drainage holes in the bottom, and just cover the acorn with compost (about 2cm deep). Any container will do – a yoghurt pot or root trainer. Plant two acorns in a pot filled almost to the top with peat-free compost. In fact, our main difficulty is stopping them from germinating until we want them to! If they are kept in damp conditions, they will grow very quickly, even without soil. Storing acorns PretreatmentĪcorns are not dormant, so they need no pretreatment for them to grow. They can be separated from any twigs or leaves if you have the time, but it is not essential. There is normally no further extraction needed with acorns after collection. They must be kept cool and out of direct sunlight. In the short-term, acorns can be stored in bread baskets for a week or two. You could cut some in half to see what they look like inside – watch your fingers! Any signs of insect damage, bruising or rot will probably cause them to fail. If they are firm and look healthy, plant them anyway. Try squishing a few that float between your fingers. If they float, they may not grow, but this isn’t foolproof! Many that float may still grow. ![]() ![]() If you have quite a lot, you can put them into a bucket (or buckets) of water. Any visibly damaged or with holes in are unlikely to grow. You can do this by simply looking at them and feeling them if you don’t have many. Acorns that have fallen onto grass are less likely to have been damaged than those that fall onto hard surfaces.Ĭheck that the acorns are healthy. How to identify Pedunculate oak Download your free seed harvest handbook PickingĬollect the acorns from the ground in the autumn, often following the first strong wind.
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