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Oak Tree Planting

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  • BookertooBookertoo Posts: 1,306

    Yes, any newly planted young trees around here at present would need an anchor to keep them in place!!  If each has a well placed, low stake, and a cleared of grass area to grow in they should do fine - do deer eat oaks?  I know there are some trees they don't, but as that is a problem we don't have here I know little about it.  Tree guards are a good idea, or if the deer don't get them the rabbits might - all protection you can give - though nature does her job prettyd well anyway, she probably appreciates a helping hand now and again.  Good luck. 

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,069

    Not sure if deer eat them but I wouldn't take any chances-not after spending hundreds of pounds on 'supposedly' rabbit proof plants only to see them become bunny supper..image

    Lewis - any help you can give 'em will be worthwhile!

    As Bookertoo says-the low stake is best as it allows the top to flex and bend with the wind and thereby strengthens it, while keeping the bottom well anchored.

    Good luck with it image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Thanks again for the help and guidance, will let you both know how things go as the client is keen to get them on their way. In regards to a low stake, I understand exactly what you are saying, should this be a specific size to the specimen, say half or a third of the size out of the ground possibly to encourage the healthy tapour we are after.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,102

    I have seen this sort of thing used very successfully http://www.acorn-planting-products.com/pages/product-range/shelterguard-tree-shelters/tree-shelters---tubes.php 

    also some good guidance re stakes etc here http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/eng-treecare-guide.pdf/$file/eng-treecare-guide.pdf

    Good luck - sounds a lovely project image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,069

    That's a good site for the tree guards Dove.

    I should have said that Lewis-of course if you have the taller guards on your saplings the stake can't go on at an angle!image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • I've just found and dug up an oak seedling and brought it home it stands about 6 inches tall and is in a pot now could anyone tell me how old it might be I'm guessing 3 to 4 months, Lewis Mitchell has stated his have grown 3 to 5 feet in a year Is this an accurate growth rate??

  • Steve 309Steve 309 Posts: 2,753

    If it's just a few inches tall it germinated this year.  One appeared this year in the grass at one of 'my' gardens (jays bury the seeds) and we've marked it with a stake and been careful to mow round it.  We'll probably move it in a few weeks.

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,441

    If it's woody at the bottom or you can see a distinct difference  between top and bottom it could be last year's. Here they don't do much more that germinate and make a couple of leaves in the first year but it's hard going so yours might do better.

    I think 3-5 feet a year is a typing errorimage  An oak won't be 60-100 feet tall on 20 years. They're slow growers, that's why the wood is so dense.



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • Thanks I thought as much I'm hoping for 12 inches a year. It's a grey/green stalk with 3 leaves at the top same level, the tap root is nearly the length of the whole thing.
  • 3 to 5 inches a year, in a good year maybe 8 inches is a decent growth rate for a oak tree in this country.

    Saying that I do bonsai trees and have an oak tree that's 9 inches tall which is 12 years old! image

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