Acorn Collecting
Collected Acorns
810
Acorn Collections
Acorns were collected by many volunteers from over 800 parent trees throughout the geographic range of white oak. More collections were made in areas where white oak has a higher ecological role in the natural forest (darker colors in the FIA map).
Importance of White Oak
Ecological Importance of white oak in the forest (darker color = greater importance of white oak to the forest) USDA FIA database.
Acorn collections were hand-planted in the fall at the Kentucky Division of Forestry’s Morgan County tree nursery located near West Liberty, KY and over 330,000 seedlings were grown using standard nursery practices. After one growing season, seedlings were lifted from the nursery and sent to many different progeny testing sites. Seedlings not needed for progeny testing were donated to research and reforestation projects, and to the US Forest Service Genetics Resources Management Program.
Many volunteers used the TreeSnap app to document where the mother tree they collected acorns from was located and to provide a description of the mother tree.
Immature acorns
Immature white oak acorns in late July.
Nearly mature acorns
Nearly mature acorns in mid-Sept.
Mature acorns
Mature white oak acorns ready for planting.
Germinating acorn
Mature acorn with root emerging.
