Beginning in late August and continuing through December - right now - various species of oak acorns are maturing and ripening for collection. Ripening dates vary from year to year and from state to state by as much as three to four weeks, making it difficult to use actual dates to determine maturity.
The best time to collect acorns, either off the tree or from the ground, is when they begin falling - just that simple. This can start as early as late September or as late as the first week in November, depending on oak tree species and location within the United States. The acorn is perfectly ripe when you can easily remove the cap.
Read this report on how to select, prepare and plant acorns for growing oaks.
Acorn Sprouting an Oak Tree - Getty Images/Don Ferrall
Comments
I collected Burr Oak & Chinkapin Oak this fall. It’s very important to add that is the acorn dries out, it will not sprout. To check if the acorn is too dry & dead, drop it into a bucket of water. If it floats, it’s dead. If it sinks, it’s still viable! My acorns sprouted in a large leaky horse water trough I’ll dig the seedlings in the spring & transplant to coffee cans & plant them in the fall.
Dear Steve,
We would like to request your permission to use the picture of the budding acorn tree in your article, “Collect and plant an acorn today…” dated 12/15/08, for a book chapter on cancer. Thank you!
Shi-Ming
Shi-Ming Tu, MD
Associate Professor
Department of GU Medical Oncology
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, TX 77030
tel# 713-563-7268
Hi Shi-Ming. I am afraid the image belongs to Getty Images and About.com purchased the rights to use it from them. They would need to be contacted for permission to use.
I doubt whether the picture of the sprouting oak is authentic.
Any sprouting nut I have ever observed first puts down a tap root. This picture/drawing shows lots of stem and leaf, but there is nothing to support that amount of growth.
This summer was very hot and dry and I noticed that even my well-established clematis had smaller and fewer flowers this year. Why does this happen?