I would like to answer your questions about Hybrid Oaks. Let's get this new forum going again.

which cultivars of hybrid oaks would work best for zone 8? Thanks.

I see your hybrid oaks come in two basic sizes, jiffy pots and rootmakers. I intend to permanently plant hybrid oaks at about a 5-7' height, maybe 1-2 inch diameter, 5 to 7 gallon pot size. How many intermediary "rootmaker" container configurations and pot changes/sizes should I expect to go through to get the oaks from the size I receive in the mail to the size I want to plant? Thanks.

Actually all my hybrid oaks will grow in zone 8. What soils do you have?

I would use a knitted root constrictor container maybe 15 to 18" and let the oaks stay in that until the desired size.

So if I order seedlings and I want to keep my containers above ground, I should first plant them in 3 or 5 gallon rootmaker for about a year,(or until full), and then move up to 15 gallon above ground roottrappers until ready for final planting. Does this sounds right?

I am trying to raise a forest of 100-200 trees in my backyard and then transplant them at 5-10' onto my hunting property in 2-3 years. Since I am doing 100+ trees, I would rather not dig 100+ holes in my yard. If above ground containers (either softsided or oversized plastic rootmakers) work just as well as knitted bags, I would rather do it like that. What do you think? Thanks.

Middle Georgia has a range of sandy loamy to light clay, to hard red clay. My property is mostly sandy loamy and light clay. Are any of your cultivars specifically for low, wet areas and others just for higher dry areas?

jackdalyhhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So if I order seedlings and I want to keep my
> containers above ground, I should first plant them
> in 3 or 5 gallon rootmaker for about a year,(or
> until full), and then move up to 15 gallon above
> ground roottrappers until ready for final
> planting. Does this sounds right?
>
> I am trying to raise a forest of 100-200 trees in
> my backyard and then transplant them at 5-10' onto
> my hunting property in 2-3 years. Since I am doing
> 100+ trees, I would rather not dig 100+ holes in
> my yard. If above ground containers (either
> softsided or oversized plastic rootmakers) work
> just as well as knitted bags, I would rather do it
> like that. What do you think? Thanks.
Yes, that would be OK but above ground containers are hard to manage. I would put the bag inside a concrete block as they will blow over in the wind as they get bigger.

Wet planting sites requirer an oak that can hold it's breath like Schuettes, Swamp white or Pin oaks. These can be planted in upland soils also, all other oaks need upland soils only, with sand and clay being fine.

Hi, new here.
I'm planning on planting hybrid oaks in northern WI next spring (Zone 3-4). The soil is predominantly clay but won't be overly wet (was a corn field). Naturally I'm looking for fast growing deer magnets. What would you recommend for about a 60 tree planting (types and #'s)? Also, I didn't see planting instructions. Should I make a hole just big enough for the jiffy or dig a larger hole and amend the soil a bit?
Thanks! I'm looking forward to this.

LarryM,
Any of my hybrid oaks with English in it will do the best in clay soil. First of all plants arrive in a box with the planting instructions printed on the box plus we sent a new catalog with every order and the planting instructions are in the brochure. Clay soil can be tricky to plant in. It's easy to glaze the sides of the hole when using an auger and if this happens it's important to scratch up the sides with something so the roots won't be deflected and start growing in a circle. Roughing up the sides give the roots something to catch on and then they will bust through the sides of the hole and grow properly. Trying to amend clay is risky as potting soils will hydrate much differently than clay creating underground water holding holes that rot the roots of your new plants. When working with clay soils I always dig a little large hole and break up the soil as good as I can and then back fill the hole with only the soil that came from the hole I dug using lots of water to settle the planting site. There you have it all I know about clay and thanks for the questions.

I have a 5 acre woodlot full of trash trees (used to be cultivated, but grew up over the years). This year I started hinge cutting many of the trees to return this spot to bedding/security cover. What I'd eventually like to do is transform this area into partial bedding/security cover, and provide good mast trees in another part.

For the bedding cover and browse, I'm looking at nannyberry, serviceberry, elderberry, hazelnut, and silky dogwood.

For mast production, bebbs, bimundor, sargents 7, burgambel, burenglish, shumard, red oak, and american/chinese chestnut.

This is a riverbottom area with silt loam soils that stays fairly moist, and can get very moist in the winter/spring. The field this spot borders will go under water every 3 years or so, but where I plan to plant should be high enough to stay dry.

Questions:
Do you recommend spring or fall planting for the bushes and trees? I will be unable to water regularly, so I was thinking fall planting and letting them settle in over winter would be better....would it?

What bushes/shrubs would you recommend for this area. Middle Tennessee, zone 6b. Gets HOT in summer and can be dry, cool and wet in winter.

I plan to cage the trees to protect from browsing. How large an area should I clear around each planting for sunlight penetration through the canopy?

Hardiness is important. I live 3 hours from this property, so the plants need to be able to care for themselves.

Also, I noticed on several plants on your website it said I had to call if I was ordering fewer than 10. Would it be possible to order just one or two of these if I was putting in a bigger order?

Thanks,
Nathan

Nathan,
Fall is the best time to plant in my opinion but Spring is very good as well. Our Apache blackberry gets about 8' tall and is an excellent plant usually not considered when planting shrubs. Arrowwood, Ninebark, Highbush Cranberry and Silky dogwood are good plant needing less than full sun. Most of these plants will grow with complete neglect. Many plants that discuss quantities of 10 need to be shipped in boxes that hold 10. We can fill these boxes with many different plants to make up a full box of 10 for shipment. I would suggest calling as when we get ready to ship we can get pretty creative in getting the plants you want boxed up and shipped.

I'll be planting bebbs and sargent 7 oaks this spring in zone 4 with silt loam soil. I can't get to the land as often as I would like so I'm woundering if it would be all right to combine a couple of steps. My plan is to plant the trees,put tree tubes around them then very carefully round-up around the tree tubes. After a day or two I'll then heavily multch around the trees. Does this sound like it will work?

Florence,
Yes, this will work. You might have to pull a few weeds that will start growing inside the tubes later but that's easy to do. The tubes don't have holes at the bottom so spraying roundup in subsequent years is a piece of cake (not drift).

Planted some Sergeants, Bebbs and Fastigate oaks in the spring of 09 in predominantly clay soil. They didn't grow much (all in tree tubes) and made me kind of grumpy (then). However, they all survived the winter and spent a lot of this year wet - including standing water for awhile - as my part of northern WI seemed to get rain all summer.
They are all still alive and I now have several growing out the top of their 5 foot tree tubes with the rest of varying heights. These are really great trees! Thank you Charlie!

Larry,
I am very happy your trees are doing well and thanks for the feedback. Many times newly planted oaks will not grow above ground the first year. It seems some choose to not send the hormonal message to the tree that's above ground to grow and instead spends it's time getting happy underground. Stress or genetics can cause this. Thanks Larry as this information’s is helpful to others I am sure.

Hello, I am new here. I see a lot of these hybrid oaks are being grown in Northern climates. I am in Zone 9 in Eastern Texas. I was wondering if any of these hybrids would do well here. I would be plantin in clay/sand soil. It has shown to grow sawtooths and white oaks, along with pin oaks and chinquipin oaks. I was wondering if burgambel, bepps, or shuettes would grow here or not?

We have had great results from customers planting in zone 8. We don't have that many customers in Zone 9 to give you a good history. We have had a few customers from Texas in zone 9 purchase hybrid oaks and I haven't had any negative feedback. Sorry, I wish I was more help to you. With the type of oaks that you have growing in your area I would think you would be alright. Best maybe to test plant a few before you make a big investment. Thank you for the question.

Quick update: As stated before, I am growing hybrid oaks in zone 9, edge of zone 8. I ordered a variety of hybrid oaks because I wasn't sure what would do well. A month into growing season, all trees have sprouted and putting on growth. However, the BurGamble and BurEnglish varieties are showing tremendous growth so far. Each have put on at least 6" of growth from 6" seedlings. I am amazed how well they have done so far.