Selecting and planting acorns
1.Collect acorns early autumn. Acorns are best harvested before mid-autumn before they fall off the trees. Select acorns without worm holes and mold. Suitable acorns should be brownish with a small green tint, although the appearance of acorns varies depending on the type of oak in which they grew up. As a rule, for the collection of best fit those that are easily removed from the cap.
Note that the hat is not part of an acorn, a (separate) the protection of some sort. Taking off with acorn caps, you will not hurt, unless he broke down the acorn.
If possible, find suitable trees in the summer. You need to acorns mature tree which is easily accessible via stairs or a long stick.
Some species of oaks, for example, in red oak acorns mature in two years rather than one. If you pick the right tree in the summer, remember this - on some acorns mature oaks in the autumn, while the other will not be ready until next year.
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2.Conduct "floating" test. Put gathered acorns in a bucket of water. Wait a couple of minutes. Throw away all the acorns that are left to swim - they are spoiled.
If at any time you notice that the acorn is soft to the touch, throw it away too. Soft, shapeless acorns rotten inside.
3. Enter the remaining acorns into a state of hibernation. Take the "good" acorns from the water and dry them. Put them in a large resealable bag with dry wood shavings, vermiculite mixture of moss or nutrient medium that can retain moisture. In a particularly big package should fit up to 250 acorns. Place the package on a half months in the refrigerator or longer - as much as necessary, to a new oak sprouted.
This process is known as stratification, which in simple terms means the impact on the cold seeds, simulating the natural conditions in which the seed falls when falling to the ground. This starts the germination of the seed in the spring.
Periodically check the acorns. The nutrient medium should be only slightly damp. If it is too wet - acorns can rot if too dry - they can not grow.
4. Watch the growth of your acorns. Even when they were stored in a refrigerator, most acorns will germinate in a humid environment. Root tip can begin to break through the shell around the beginning of December (late fall, early winter). Regardless of whether or not sprouted root, acorns ready for planting after 40-45 days of storage.
Treat your seedlings carefully - the protruding roots are easily damaged.
5.Plant each acorn in a pot or container. Find a small diameter (5 cm) garden pots (or if you prefer, large plastic cups or milk cartons) for your plants. Fill them with quality garden soil (some sources advise add shredded peat moss. For watering leave empty top about 2 centimeters. Put your acorn deep under the surface of the spine down.
If you use plastic cups or milk cartons, pierce holes on the sides of the bottom of the cup to allow water to come out.
If you want, you can also try simply to bury an acorn in the garden. Prikopalis spine, and gently press down one acorn into a suitable strontium rich, soft ground. This will work only if the root is already well developed, long and well departs from the acorn. Note - so seedlings will be vulnerable to mice, squirrels, etc.
6.Pour your seedlings. Watering your plant until such time until the water flow out of the hole at the bottom of the container. In the following weeks watering often, not allowing the ground to dry. In this period of life keep your seedlings indoors. Put it on a window sill at the southern window, so that it can absorb the winter sun. You do not immediately notice the rapid growth. This is because at this stage of their life in plants below the soil surface is developed taproot.
If you live in the southern hemisphere put your seedlings on the windowsill in the north window.
Transplant seedlings
1 Watch the growth of plants. Gardeners differently advise what to do next - Some Tips to transplant seedlings immediately in the open ground after a few weeks of growth in the pot , while others are advised to gradually increase the time spent outside the plant before it landed in open ground. It is also advised to transplant seedling in a pot of larger size that it further grew and only then planted in the soil. Though there is no one right way to determine when the seedlings can be planted in open ground, there are signs that indicate to you that it is ready for transplant. Suitable candidates for transplantation:
height of about 10-15 cm with small leaves.
him looking healthy, white roots.
clearly outgrown its pot.
the main root of well grown.
its age from several weeks to several months.
2. Select a place to land. Location means a lot - choose for your place of oak, which is enough space to grow and not have discomfort when the tree will grow big. When choosing a location for your oak should consider a few things:
The availability of sunlight. Like all living plant photosynthesis, oak need sunlight to live, so it did not land in dark places.
Place away from the tracks, plumbing, piping in the ground, etc. You do not want to kill your tree if you have to do any work in the garden.
Shadow that will cast a mature tree. If you want the tree to give shade for your home, put him on the west or south-west side of your home to increase shading in summer and winter to reduce it.
Note - in the southern hemisphere should plant a tree on the west or north-west side of your home to get the shading.
Vegetation nearby. Plants compete with each other for the sun, moisture and other resources. Do not set down in either oak where many already growing other plants, or it can not grow up to adulthood.
3.Preparing place to land. Once you have chosen the right place for your tree, remove the sod in a circle with a diameter of about 1 meter. Shovel digging up the soil to a depth of about 25 inches, breaking large lumps. If the ground is dry, moisten it yourself or wait until after the rain, before plant your tree.
4. Dig a hole. In the middle of your meter circle dig a hole depth of 6-90 centimeters and 30 centimeters wide. The exact depth of your pit depends on the length of the main root of your seedling - it must be large enough to fit.
5. Transplant your oak. Root down and leaves up gently place your oak tree in the prepared hole. Make sure that the depth enough to fit oak root. Fill the earth and gently tap. Pour after transplantation.
Tamp the soil around the seedling oak, making the slope in the direction of the seedlings to water does not stay near the tree trunk - this can damage it.
Put a circle or pieces of bark mulch about 30 inches from the tree to the ground remained moist and weeds do not germinate. Make sure it does not touch the stem of the tree.
To increase the chances of a successful transplant, you should plant a few acorns in one place. In this case your plant acorn sprouts directly in the ground, clearing an area measuring 60 by 60 inches and place it on this site two acorn, covered with a layer of soil 2-5 inches thick.
Care oaks
1.Protect your oaks. Oaks - especially the young and tender - a source of food for many herbivores. Acorns like a snack and mouse proteins, which can easily dig them. Small seedlings are vulnerable to rabbit, deer and other animals that feed on leaves. To make sure that your trees have been destroyed, take steps to protect them. Put around trees lattice of mesh netting or strong plastic fence around the trunk to them before they reached the animals.
If you live in an area where there are deer, you should also protect the crown of the tree grid.
You may need to use pesticides to protect your tree from a variety of insects, including aphids and beetles. Be careful when choosing pesticides - use only those that do not harm your tree and your family.
2. Irrigated trees in dry weather. Long root oak allows him to extract moisture from a depth even when the soil surface is completely dry. Winter and rainy months of your oaks usually do not need to be watered. However, when the oaks are still young, they may suffer from hot and dry weather. Install a drip irrigation - a good way to deliver water to the young trees, especially when they need it. Take for irrigation drip about 30 liters of water for one to two weeks. Irrigation during the hottest and driest months required in the first two years, with the growth of the tree can reduce the intensity of irrigation.
Remember that water should not be given to gather around the tree trunk. Set your irrigation system so that water dripping around the tree, but not directly on the trunk, where it can cause rotting.
3.Po the growth of the tree will be less in need of care. As your oak grows, and its roots go deeper, you will need to take care of it less and less. In the end, it will be a great and high, and the animals will not be able to destroy it, and the roots will be deep enough to survive the summer without watering. Gradually, over several years, reduces the degree of caring for your tree (which apart from watering during dry months and protection from animals more than anything is not included). Over time, your tree will thrive on their own without any signs of exhaustion. Enjoy the gift of yourself and your family that will stay with you for life!
After 20 years of oak can start your own fruit acorns, but it depends on the type of wood. Optimal growth of acorns may not happen in 50 years.
Tips
Even small oak trees shed their leaves in the fall, so do not worry if your tree, the leaves turned yellow and fell off. Just wait until spring.
Plug into the ground with a stick protective netting around the seedlings to avoid being eaten by animals.
Inspect the tree from which you collect acorns - it should be beautiful and healthy. If the parent tree has a problem - choose a different, better.
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