Acorn to Oak Tree Contest Rules Discussion

Proposed contest rules:
  • The spirit of the contest is to gather (or purchase) acorns this fall and plant them.
  • To that end, you must begin the contest with one or more acorns. You may not begin with a seedling that germinated earlier this year or any prior year.
  • For those in the southern hemisphere, you might get a head start if you're able to plant some acorns right now and germinate them in the next few months. Otherwise, you'll need to wait until early 2024 to gather your acorns.
  • In case it wasn't clear by my use of the word "acorn," your entries must be plants from the genus Quercus.
  • You may begin the contest with any number of acorns. By the end of the year 2028, you must designate no more than three trees as contenders. By the end of the year 2033, you must choose a single final contest entry.
  • To document your progress, you should create a progression thread. I would request that @Bonsai Nut please create a sub-forum to contain those threads.
  • You should post at least one picture of each tree each year of the contest. In the first five years of the contest, a single group picture each year will suffice. In the latter five years of the contest, post at least one picture of each of your three contenders each year.
  • In December of 2033, I will create a thread to show everyone's trees, so forum members can vote on a winner. I believe the site allows up to ten photos per post, so you should create ONE post with your ten photos. Seven of those photos should show your progression from acorn to tree, one should show your tree in leaf, one should be a bare silhouette, and the tenth photo can show off anything else about the tree.
 
Wulfskaar said:
I'm curious what soil you grow your oaks from acorns in. 🤔
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I basically just used a what I had on hand, which was probably like 50% pumice, 20% perlite, and 30% cactus mix (which seems to be heavy on pine bark). Just popped them in there and was surprised how many sprouted. I'd say my success rate was like 90%? (which is a testament to the robust nature of oak trees, not my abilities as a grower).
 
LuZiKui said:
I basically just used a what I had on hand, which was probably like 50% pumice, 20% perlite, and 30% cactus mix (which seems to be heavy on pine bark). Just popped them in there and was surprised how many sprouted. I'd say my success rate was like 90%? (which is a testament to the robust nature of oak trees, not my abilities as a grower).
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I have planted in garden soil and bonsai soil. They seem to get bigger the first year in bonsai soil but the garden soil ones have caught up, so at this point, I'm not seeing much difference.

I thought yours might be perlite and peat. I'd like to use a very cheap mix. I used that mix for a couple seeds this spring and the trees like it as much or better than other mixes I've tried. Also, I've seen JBP grown in that mix, so was wondering about putting acorns in it. I'll probably try a few for the heck of it.
 
I don’t have any experience with growing oaks, or having done a contest before, but I’m in! I have a southern live oak in the front yard I meant to collect acorns from last year, but forgot before it was too late. I’ll be collecting some of those and see what I can source online. I really want to try blue oak, but they seem to be hard to find online.
 
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thatdirtykid said:
Limited to single plantings or would a forest be accepted?
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We'll all hopefully have a bunch of leftover oaks after selecting our best material at year five, so maybe we can have a little side competition going to arrange the best forest with leftover seedlings.
 
That sounds fun. I have been wanting to mess with some oak and a deciduous forest from seed.
 
thatdirtykid said:
That sounds fun. I have been wanting to mess with some oak and a deciduous forest from seed.
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Maples are nice, but to me, the oak is the quintessential deciduous tree, and I'd love to see them grow even more in popularity to become as ubiquitous in bonsai as shimpaku junipers, Japanese black pines, and Japanese maples. I want to get to the point that I complain there's too many oaks and too little variety.
 
Maiden69 said:
Not all oaks are deciduous, but all maples are... 😬

Same here @namnhi I've been looking for a few weeks as well. Out of all the oaks, Suber and Virginiana are the ones I would consider.
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I know live oaks hang onto their leaves through winter, but they also shed them in spring as soon as they push a new crop of leaves. To the extent they drop all their leaves at the same time every year, I consider them deciduous trees. Maybe botanists use a different technical definition for deciduous, but in my mind, that counts.
 
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