Here in Minnesota the acorns are starting to fall, I usually clean up acorns around the yard save them and put them out later for the deer to eat. I have found a simple and easy way to gather acorns. You can get them on e-bay but I am sure you could get them other places. The Nut Weasel makes picking nuts fast and easy and you don't get the other debris that you do from raking up a pile and scooping them up with a shovel.
Never tried replanting, then again I have a thousand oaks on my property so no need yet. If you do decide to plant oaks from acorns float the acorns you gather in a bucket of water, the floaters are bad discard them, the acorns that sink are viable seed candidates.
Gotcha. I have little to none on my property and the oak tree right outside my office window is loaded. Thought about trying it if it is possible. I'm guessing they need to be vernalized but maybe they can be planted in fall? Anyone ever try it? Specifically northern states?
Yes plant them in the fall, or the spring but fall is a great time. I know that the acorns that fall around my patio sprout if they find any dirt at all. You do not need to freeze them typically, but it doesn't hurt to try.
I bought a Nut Weasel last year and that thing is Awesome! I picked up close to 150 lbs of acorns with it last year and I plan on picking up more than that this year. A Shop Vac is a great idea, but where I am gathering my acorns, I couldn't get to them and stay plugged into my AC adapter in the truck.
If I was trying to grow Oaks I would stick with trying to replant White Oaks. At least around my parts that is what the deer seem to prefer.
I went for a run through the cemetery last week as i'm trying to get my legs in shape this fall. I was in shock the amount of giant white and red oak trees. If I gathered up 5-6 five gallon bucket fulls and spread them through out an acre on the ground do you think really would draw in deer after a day or two? I'm guessing it depends on other food sources
Would of been nice to have something like that when I was a kid! The DNR was paying people that collected and bring in acorns to your local DNR office. I just remember my cousin and I thought it was a grand way to make some money after collecting two 5 gal. buckets full, by hand...literally picking them out of the grass by hand, we didn't think it was easy money any more!
Never had any luck starting an Oak or Maple from seed. Just letting them fall and nature take its course and transplanting saplings has worked best. Have a few every year that pop up in the rock or flower gardens around the house.
Still would be baiting here in Indiana during the season though...for those that it isn't man this would be awesome way to encourage oak flat intensity!
I dumped a 50 pound bag of acorns by the food plot when we had a good base of snow, the entire pile was gone the next morning.
Does the area have oaks naturally? The land I hunt and the surrounding area doesn't have Oaks, but I can get plenty from my yard, my parents and brothers yards. But I had been told that acorns won't work if there are not oak trees to naturally produce them so the deer are used to eating them.
Midwest Whitetail did an episode on this a few years back. Here's a link to the video, but I can't get it to play. Anyways, he disked up the area pretty heavy and seeded it by broadcasting the acorns by hand. Lots and lots of acorns. I believe the next season or two, he came back in and thinned out the stand, then put up fencing around the ones he wanted keep. http://www.midwestwhitetail.com/gallery/11/media/280/direct-nut-seeding.html
The area that i'm thinking has all oaks around but the soil quality is poor so we usually have small acorns every 3-4 years it seems. I figured If I could get a few buckets of acorns I could hand throw them around and then hunt it a day or two later after they have a chance to find them. LOL. Its almost like cheating
