The ShuWater Oak is a cross between a Shumard Oak (Quercus shumardii) and a Water Oak (Quercus nigra)
Customer feedback on the growth of their ShuWater seedlings has been nothing short of exceptional. We planted every acorn we collected this year, and ended up with too many seedlings- so we decided to offer them at a greatly discounted price to make room for next year’s crop. For a limited time take advantage of our ShuWater package SALE. Get 6 ShuWater Oak Hybrids for only $34.99 plus FREE Shipping. That’s 35% off regular price! LIMITED SUPPLY AVAILABLE!
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Spring is upon us, so it’s a great time to get out there to soak in some sun and watch our earth wake up. Bees are buzzing and trees and plants are just beginning to grow for the year. There are blooms and new growth everywhere, and many walks of wildlife are on the move and taking advantage of what the new year is bringing.
Whether you’re a weekend warrior doing some gamekeeping, or a quarantined family wanting to get out and carefully soak in some nature, spring “is springing” and now is a great time of year to plant some tree seedlings or wildflowers. It’s not likely you’ll forget some memories of the Corona Virus event of 2020 because of the abrupt lifestyle changes that are taking place, why not make them positive memories you and your family will never forget.
“Do you remember that time we planted these trees during the Corona Virus event years ago? Wow they have gotten big, and they’re covered in acorns….it sure seems like yesterday… I’ll never forget all of us doing that!!!”]]>
What species make up the Whitetail Package?
Sawtooth Oak
Sawtooth oaks drop first beginning as early as September in most areas, and can continue into early or mid-October. This is a time of year when it’s hot and dry, and most food sources are either not available or of poor quality. Sawtooth can fill that gap as a food source, but it’s also a super draw for getting game camera photos. If you are in a state whose hunting season begins in September or early October, sawtooth is the ticket! Just make sure and plant them in well drained soils because they won’t tolerate wet ground.
Willow Oak
Willow oak is next. They begin dropping not long after the sawtooths are done for the season. The smallish red oak acorns always begin their descent prior to the more preferred white oaks, and because they are the only game in town at the time, wildlife gobble them up. When the white oaks begin dropping next, deer seem to pass them up- but those remaining willow oak acorns are good at waiting under the leaf litter for the turkeys to gobble them up late winter and early the next spring. Willow oak are also a great choice for waterfowl and can take some intermittent flooding.
White Oak
White oak is the next to drop after willow oak, and they’ll likely overlap a bit. White oak is a favorite tree for wildlife, timber value, and aesthetics- and it needs no explanation. White oak is considered an upland oak, but can also thrive on well drained bottomlands. By the time they are finished unloading their bounty for the year, swamp chestnut oak will have begun dropping their huge acorns.
Swamp Chestnut Oak
Swamp chestnut oak also produces preferred acorns being a member of the white oak section. They thrive in well drained bottomlands and further down the hill, but can also handle some poorer drainage. Their acorns are huge and are literally sought out by whitetail deer for consumption. The trees themselves are beautiful too, with scaly white bark and large chestnut type leaves. In most parts of its range, swamp chestnut oaks shed their acorns towards the end of the more common mid-season oak species- usually into early to mid- November.
Shumard Oak
Shumard is likely the most variable dropper of this bunch. A few may drop in October, most in November, and other individual trees are super late droppers that shed December-February. Shumard is usually not a very common tree to find compared to other oaks, but when you do find them it’s likely a gold mine because they are the only game in town dropping so late in the season. They also produce high quality red oak lumber, and often provide a bit of fall color. Shumard is a popular landscape tree for good reason in that it transplants well and can handle a wide range of soil types.
Nuttall Oak
Last but definitely not least is the Nuttall oak. Nuttalls grow very fast, can handle poorly drained soils and flooding, but grow even faster on well drained bottomlands and also tolerate high site index uplands. The coolest aspect of Nuttall oak is the incredibly late maturity and drop time of their acorns. Nuttalls usually don’t even consider dropping until December, and routinely drop throughout January, February, and even into March. So when your wildlife food plots are eaten down to looking like a putting green, they are just beginning to throw their nuts- and at a time when they are needed most!
So the whitetail package is a superb choice for folks who just aren’t sure what to plant, but even experienced oak enthusiasts should take advantage of the savings on this package deal. Provided full sunlight, good soils, and you protect and properly maintain your trees, all of these species should thrive and produce by their 10th-12th birthday- some as early as six years of age.]]>
Hands down, the best way to protect young trees is with tree tubes (also called tree protectors). They not only ensure your seedlings get past the vulnerable seedling and sapling stages, it also enhances growth rates. Deer seem to key in on tender seedlings and saplings as both a food source and a target to rub their antlers on. Tubes protect the young trees from both, as well as from rodents that might chew on the bases potentially girdling and killing them. Meanwhile, tubes enhance growth by acting like a tiny greenhouse, increasing photosynthetic and transpiration rates. They also trap and direct precious moisture to the root system.
Tree Tubes are efficiently designed to protect young trees. Rather than wood, we use a schedule 40 PVC pipe/stake that can be reused. They come pre-threaded with zip ties so once you plant your tree you drive your stake, slide the tube over and cinch it tight. The upper part of the tube is vented to allow circulation and prevent the interior from becoming too hot. The bottom is not vented so you can still spray competing vegetation with herbicide if need be without damaging your young tree.
Tree tubes have been around a while, and they used to be not as necessary before deer populations skyrocketed. Now days if you don’t tube (or at least cage) your trees, don’t expect them to make it more than a year or two. Tree tubes definitely add to the overall cost, but it’s a small price to pay knowing that using them will provide a mature tree in the near future instead of having to replant.
Wanting to create your own whitetail "honey hole"? Take a look at our Nativ Whitetail Oak Tree Package.
]]>As you may know, the American chestnut that ruled over most Eastern US forests for ages has been reduced to being virtually extinct over the course of the last hundred years or so. In 1904, Cryphonectra parasitica was discovered in the Northeastern US, and has all the way spread to the Rockies. This “blight” die-off was one of the bigger tragedies in recent human history. The American chestnut grew very tall and fast, and the rot resistant wood was utilized for just about everything. The nuts dropping in the fall sustained all walks of wildlife, and it really threw the wildlife and ourselves for a loop when they literally disappeared.
With help from various groups such as the American Chestnut Foundation, the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation, and the Ozark Chinkapin Foundation, the chestnut species that succumb to the blight will hopefully be back with a vengeance in their natural ranges within our lifetimes. Please support these organizations if you wish. Until the effects of the blight are back under control, many folks are choosing to plant blight resistant hybrids instead of the American chestnut. Blight resistant hybrid chestnuts (like ours) produce nuts that are usually about 3 times larger than the American version, but don’t have the timber type form or the rot resistant lumber of the Americans…they are strictly high-end nut producers.
For more information on our blight resistant chestnuts visit our product page HERE or email us at nursery@mossyoak.com
Start growing your own wildlife magnets with Nativ Nurseries Blight Resistant Chestnut Orchard Bundle. For a limited time receive 12 rapid mast chestnut seedlings for 50% off regular price. Visit our Chestnut Bundle page to learn more.
]]>We are happy to announce our new "Back in Stock" feature on nativnurseries.com. No more back and forth waiting on the species you want to be available. You can now receive instant notifications when specific species are available! The process is easy:
Whichever method you choose, keeping unwanted weeds and grasses away from your crop trees will reward you with greatly increased first and second year survival, and exponentially faster growth rates. Better growth and survival leads to more mast crops and production at an earlier age. Weed control and/or mulch is a no-brainer. Use it!
For more on tree care read "The Best Time to Prune Trees". Mast trees need care from time to time if they’re going to remain productive. If left unmaintained fruit trees can grow out of control and productivity will suffer.
]]>This is our most popular hybrid oak for folks in Northern climates, whether it be feeding whitetails or as a great looking shade tree in a yard. Schuettes oak is a hybrid cross between two well rounded oaks in the white oak group- swamp white oak (Q. bicolor) and bur oak (Q. macrocarpa). Both species are known for their cold hardiness, tasty acorns that drop in September and October, and the ability to tolerate and thrive on both bottomland and upland sites of varying pH levels. This hybrid will thrive even up in zone 3, the coldest hardiness zone in the lower 48, but also performs like a champ in warmer climates. While it won’t win any speed growth records compared to some of the red oaks and hybrids from the south, it maintains a good growth rate and can begin producing a few acorns by its sixth birthday. While this hybrid is an obvious boon for wildlife with its heavy crops of low-tannin acorns, it’s also the perfect yard or landscape tree because of its good looks and site plastic nature. Don’t think twice about whether or not you need Schuettes oak (rhymes with foots) or not…it’s a real winner everyone needs to incorporate on their property, especially our more northern customers.
For more details on the Schuettes Oak visit the product page HERE
]]>Protection
First and foremost, put tree protectors, A.K.A tree tubes, around each and every seedling on planting day. They accelerate growth and protect your plants from deer and other plant destroying critters. Don’t plant a tree without them.
Weed control
Aggressive weeds, including grasses, will rob your seedlings of necessary moisture and nutrients. You can provide mechanical control with a hoe or weedeater, or chemical control with a contact herbicide such as glyphosate. No matter your choice, keep at least a 3 foot radius weed free around your prized plants during the growing season.
Mulch
Mulch shades the ground around your precious seedling, keeping the soil cool. It also suppresses thirsty weeds and traps moisture that would otherwise evaporate. Natural mulches such as bark, straw, or leaves work well and break down into soil-building organic matter are a great choice. In extremely droughty areas, fabric and plastic weed mats work exceptionally well to trap and hold moisture around the roots.
Supplement
Like humans, plants need a quality food source to stay healthy and reach their full potential. Proper fertilization encourages a strong root system that is much more capable of utilizing available soil moisture than a stressed out, underfed root system. Consider using manure based organic, or low-salt chemical fertilizers instead of traditional chemical fertilizers. Follow the instructions on the bag- and yes, it’s ok to fertilize a tree its first year.
Flowering and mast producing trees are an integral part of quality habitat, but getting them established can be a daunting task for the beginning grower. Following the prior steps to success with save you a ton of heartache and make you look like an old pro.
For questions or comments contact us at nursery@mossyoak.com
]]>For more questions give us a call at 662-494-4326 or email us at nursery@mossyoak.com
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Seedling heights will vary depending on the species, and will average between 12” and 36.” All seedlings except a couple of offerings are grown in 4” x 2.5” air pruning containers aimed towards providing a fibrous root system that is simple to transplant and achieve great survival rates. First year growth can reach upwards of 5-6’ or more with adequate preparation and maintenance.
For more check out our Tree Knowledge page!
]]>Dudley Phelps explains the history of Nativ Nurseries:
Mossy Oak Nativ Nurseries is dedicated to providing the most naturally beneficial plants to landowners and land managers, whether its White Oaks for whitetails, American Beautyberry for songbirds, native flowers for the butterflies and hummingbirds, landscaping the cabin, or our incredible collection of rare oak hybrids, it’s all about taking care of things for the future and benefiting nature.
Find out what trees work best for your property HERE
]]>This is more important for fruit trees than hard mast trees like oaks because of their growth style, but all trees will benefit from a proper pruning when necessary.
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