Regal Prince Oak Acorns And Chinese Chestnuts Planted - Tree Nursery - April 2024

Last Fall, I collected a few dozen acorns off off a small stand of upright, columnar Oak trees that are planted in a parkway near our downtown.  On many of my early morning walks, I'd stop by, see if the acorns were 'loose' and then grab a few before they fell to the ground.  Our Oaks in our yard last year threw off A HUGE amount of acorns - a mast year.  These columnar oaks were simliar.

I identified these as Regal Prince Oak trees and here's a look at some of the acorns as I collected them in September 2023.  

In November, I water-tested them (if they floated, I tossed them), then buried them in wet sand for a long Winter's nap via cold stratification.  I also grabbed three large Chinese Chestnuts and did the same - tested, then tucked-in the fridge for four+ months.  

In 2022, I collected a wide variety of acorns, but didn't label them.  This year, I went with JUST ONE species - the Regal Prince Oak.

Earlier this month, I took the container out of the fridge and left it in the dark, in my garage.  Then, this past week, I opened it up and discovered that a number of the seeds had germinated.  Below is what the container looked like from the top - lots of growth.

The LARGEST of the stems (and roots) that had sprouted were from the Chestnuts.  Here, below is one of them - all curved up.

Not all of the acorns had germinated, but plenty of them had BOTH roots and a stem that had formed - see below for an example:

I started with 14 small (pint) containers, two quarts and a unique container: a Pringles can.  I tucked in two acorns in each of the 14 pints.  And a chestnut in each of the three larger containers.  The idea with the Pringles can is to let the roots stretch out.  See below for the containers all topped with a sandy potting mix:

I poked a couple holes in the bottom of the Pringles can to allow for drainage.  Then, I watered these in well and left them on this raised bed on the patio.

Since this is a 'full sun' location, I've opted to cover them (completely) with a shade cloth (50%) - see below:

I'm planning on moving this raised bed off the patio to a more-shade location, so these won't need so much cover.  I also need to dig out the rest of the nursery stock and get them going for the year.  

Once I buy my annuals, I'll have more pots to use to try to plant up the rest of the acorns.