Walnuts and Oaks

northern red oak are uncommon around manitoba, but we're going to try them from a quebec seed source in zone 4a. provenance is the location, where the seeds are from - and often for a seed lot you want them from a close by or similar climate to know the trees will grow well. there is genetic variation inside species for traits like cold hardiness, a bur oak acorn from texas would likely die in our -40 winters, yet the same species here has adapted.

bur oak acorn collect last fall, it was a mast year and every tree in our area was loaded. This one tree dropped a couple of crates. The acorns were more variable sized, often smaller than on a regular year. I have some left but will likely run out by march, screening out the largest ones and shipping bags of 100 has been fun to offer people.

brought in some more butternuts from a US source. my cat Shmaven is super interested in all things seed related, also likes to chase around stray acorns. #butternut

packing some bur oak acorns, these little seed packs of 24 are still in stock, but starting to get low. #acorns

checking in on germination testing, after a few weeks most of the bur oak are waking up. This process would be more optimal in some soil with more heat etc I have them near a window and it’s a bit chilly. I think expecting a few weeks to a month is about right. Usually I fall plant, this is the first year I’ve store them in poly bags in bulk. They’re slowly losing some weight but viability seems good after 4 months in cold storage. Will hold onto my stock until may at the latest and then anything left will get planted, acorns are recalcitrant (need to be fresh and not dried) and have some limited shelf life. One year I froze them in bags just below freezing, about -3C and germination was good, I wonder if that would let you store them for a year or more. #acorn #germination

excited to find another source of zone 3 manitoba **edited** nuts which I suspect may be butternut. they’ve been air dried since the fall, think they’re still viable seed?

germination testing our bur oak acorns after 3 months in cold storage, at about ten days the radicals are starting to emerge. We had a bumper year and I collected maybe fifty pounds for seed, it’s more than I need so these have been available is 24 and 100 packs that ship worldwide by letter mail for around $4-6 shipping. It’s cool to think that some of these little guys could go on to live for hundreds of years.