Last fall
I had a bumper crop of acorns from my largest oak. My intention was to mail them out, and I did a few test mailings, but that didn’t work out so well. They either arrived desiccated or wormy, so I don’t think mailing was a good idea.
What I did do was to hand carry them everywhere I went, and I probably spread twenty pounds of them around north America.
I looked for places where there were grassy clearings in wooded areas that were unlikely to get mowed. I looked for good deep soil and remote areas. I dug holes with my pocketknife or a little trowel I carried in the truck or I simply stomped them into the ground wherever I could.
I have planed oaks in Kansas, iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, damned near every rest stop in Indiana, a piece of property I’m privileged to be allowed to hunt in Indiana, a similar piece of property in Illinois, several Illinois forest preserves, lots of abandoned property.
if even one tree grows as a result I will be well pleased. And the tree looks to be making a bumper crop already again this year, and knowing what I know now, I will be able to properly store the acorns before they get buggy this year. Sorry for anyone who was hoping for some, but as I learn and figure out what to do, I will be sending them your way.
I have a couple HUGE red oaks in my yard, I’ve tried to find something to do with all the (expletive deleted) acorns. Had a small batch last year, which means this year I probably get hammered. The year we moved into the house we had a company in to install a new fence, the guy said he wished he had a hard hat because the acorns hurt when they bonked him on the head.
Every year my wife and I exchange Christmas tree ornaments, we try to find something that represents something significant in the previous year. That first year in the house she gave me an acorn ornament.
They can be used to get deer into a kill zone. Not that I would do that.
Planting acorns does more good than any of the great society programs, I’m convinced.
I’ll take a few, when you’ve got them.
Excess acorns make pretty good slingshot ammo. They’re faster than .390″ lead balls for cat acceleration and stop bouncing around the neighborhood busting windows a lot sooner.
They’re also a lot cheaper than Malted Milk Balls.
Gerry N.