Buy acorns internationally. Buy oaks. Special oaks, acorns and other seeds for collectors and plant enthusiasts. Many species resistant to climate warming. Lots of climate trees.
Buy acorns internationally. Buy oaks. Special oaks, acorns and other seeds for collectors and plant enthusiasts. Many species resistant to climate warming. Lots of climate trees.
The first species for this year have been selected. In winter 2024, oak species come from California (in the form of acorns). E.g. Quercus lobata (Californian white oak), Quercus x jolonensis and Quercus douglasii (blue oak). This year also: Quercus kellogii (California black oak), Quercus wislizeni and Quercus chrysolepis (canyon oak). After a long, long search I finally managed to find someone who sends acorns of Quercus tomentella from California, but only a very limited number (100 pieces). Oak species from California are special because they are very well adapted to a warming climate. Quercus tomentella is a rarity that is difficult to obtain (see https://en.wikipe dia.org/wiki/Quercus_tomentella). This species originally only occurs on the Channel Islands off California and on “Guadelaupe Island”. This species is highly endangered. It forms hybrids with Querrcus chrysolepis. Quercus tomentella is also known as the island oak. The acorns will probably arrive here at the end of February/March 2025. Quercus kellogii can reach heights of up to 35 meters.
It can be found as far as the border with Mexico.
It grows on slopes at altitudes between 300 and 2400 meters.
It prefers drier soils.
Many oak species are grown here using sheep’s wool. Oak growth through sheep’s wool is impressive. Even Quercus dentata and Quercus suber grow excellently due to the phosphates in the wool. We currently have 32 sheep and goats living on the farm. They provide peace and quiet in hectic everyday life, graze on wildflower meadows and enjoy the summer. More of the four-legged friends were clipped today so that they can get through the year well, it can still be scorching hot.
Soil substrates for growing oak trees
Several repotted oaks, Quercus pyrenaica, Quercus suber, Quercus frainetto, Quercus macrocarpa, Quercus acerifolia, Quercus dentata, all benefit from oak growth through sheep wool. If they are large, they should help to cool the planet. There is a lot of experimentation with soil substrates here. Sandy soil, loamy soil, lime substrate, sheep’s wool (retains moisture) and provides phosphates, coffee powder (makes the soil acidic) and well-seasoned horse manure. Sometimes also chicken and duck manure, pig manure, etc. It is so interesting how you can influence the growth of rare oak species. A science in itself. I’ll write a book about it one day. It is grounding (in the truest sense of the word) to have this hobby. You deal with the essential things of existence. How can life thrive, how do trees grow, what can be done to promote rare oak species? I’m always delighted when seedlings have grown a bit bigger again after a year. And people peer curiously out of the poke baskets. These are now bursting at the seams 🙂
The work at the oak nursery is wonderful. It is grounding (in the truest sense of the word), it decelerates, and it is an absolute privilege to “work” with oak species, some of which have become very rare, and which sometimes only exist in small corners of the world. Fortunately, there are many, many collectors all over the world, and we use the proceeds to finance part of our animal and species protection measures. In the pictures you can see many Mexican oak species. The leaves look very different from those of oaks, but they are still Quercus specimens. Here you can see, for example: Quercus depressa, Quercus jolonensis (USA), Quercus hypoxantha, Quercus douglasii (USA), Quercus hypoleucoides, Quercus aff. miqhuihuanensis, Quercus sinuata var breviloba.
Animal company
You always have a lot of company when working at the oak breeding station. The storks rattle and rumble, it won’t be long before the two young storks fly out. Right next to the oak station is our infirmary for our poultry. We currently have some ducks and chickens (along with their husbands/wives) here due to various fox attacks. Some were seriously injured and are treated 2 to 3 times a day. They are slowly recovering and will fortunately survive the fox attacks. Ducks in particular are very social animals (similar to geese), that their partners need in everyday life, which is why they are treated here as a group. Two young ducks hatched by a wild duck are very funny (and fortunately unharmed). One of the ducks appears to be a hybrid between a dwarf duck and a wild duck. The two tiny creatures do everything together and entertained me very well during the oak treatment today 🙂
Unfortunately, the foxes have taken various animals from the forest (the place is teeming with fox dens). Unfortunately, that’s part of it. It is impossible to completely fence off the 4 hectares of grace farm land from foxes and the puppies are also hungry. Next to the infirmary (hermetically fenced) and the oak ward are some flowering meadows that we have planted. The meadow daisy is currently in bloom, as are St. John’s wort, meadow knapweed and meadow bedstraw. Sheep and goats graze there on separate areas in the sense of staggered mowing. After mowing, they move on to other areas. On the claws and in the fur: seeds. In this way, they played cab for biodiversity. And this is also wonderfully relaxing and alleviates the everyday hassle of “normal work” in the office.
Promoting diversity
Ok, Mexican oak species are not necessarily a benefit for the native fauna, but it still makes sense to preserve, nurture and care for these species too. Just like many other oak species from all over the world.
The seed remaining after the winter was grown in our small breeding station (oak nursery) under completely different soil conditions. Sometimes lime gravel is used, sometimes one-year-old worm humus, horse manure that has been stored for a very long time and coffee residues (for an acidic soil).
The result is pretty good, even if not everything worked (we learn something new every year). Small quantities of seedlings can also be sold on request at info@umweltschutz-und-lebenshilfe.de. However, growth is not guaranteed, as summer is considered a sub-optimal season. Time for transplanting oak seedlings (unless: The transplanter constantly takes good care of the tree (watering, shading, optimal soil and living conditions). However, it is not always easy in the first 2-3 years. For oak species, spring (until mid-April) or fall (until the beginning of November) are the best times for repotting. The situation is of course different for permanent green species from (almost) tropical regions.
Some of the saplings in the oak nursery (including some very rare species, especially from Mexico) are currently just 2-3 centimeters high. An insider tip: After the seedlings arrive by post, shorten the tiny fine roots by a few millimeters using a scalpel or very sharp scissors. We have had good experiences with this trick here.
On request, photos of individual species will of course be sent separately in advance. Small quantities of substrates are also sent free of charge for the first 2 years during transportation. Small quantities are currently distributed by: Quercus douglasii, Quercus dentata, ….crassipes, hypoxantha, depressa, greggi, hypoleucoides, aff. miqhuihuanensis, sinuata var breviloba, hirtifolia, saltillensis, heterophilla, ellipsoidalis, faginea, ithaburensis, cerris, jolonensis, wutaishanica, lobata, dentata, cerris, suber….
The small sprouts are sold at prices ranging from 2 to 8 euros per seedling (depending on species, severity of cultivation, severity of finding, import, etc.).
It is also currently time to organize new seeds. A Herculean task, but also a lot of fun. We are currently working hard to organize rare oak species from Armenia, for example, as well as a species from Mallorca that only occurs regionally and various species from Asia. The customs regulations in particular are sometimes a horror. A lot of time is currently being invested in organizing clean, good seed of Quercus tomentella and Quercus pontica. Sometimes private collectors can be found on Facebook & Co. who go on the hunt in the fall for a fee.
Below are many many pictures. Some oak leaves have traces of stork dung. 2 stork chicks in the eyrie above the small tree nursery have made it and will hopefully fly off to a long life in the next few days 🙂
See also:
Buying acorns internationally
Buying acorns internationally. Special oaks, acorns and other seeds for collectors and plant enthusiasts. Many species resistant to global warming. Many climate trees. E.g. seeds of plane trees, pines, cypresses and more… https://quercus.guru/
Lots of whirling in the “climate protection garden”. Trees are grown from seeds here. Buying acorns internationally. Special oaks, acorns and other seeds for collectors and plant enthusiasts. Many species resistant to global warming. Many climate trees. E.g. seeds of plane trees, pines, cypresses and more..https://quercus.guru/.
It is currently mid-season and sales will not start again until the fall. Today, for example, Castanea Sativa (sweet chestnut), cork oaks (Quercus suber) and sessile oaks are planted. It’s a lot of fun, and the species will survive even 1.5 degrees.
Quercus palustris (swamp oak) is a deciduous tree. In rare cases, it can grow up to 35 meters high. It is relatively short-lived and “only” lives to around 200 years (maximum).
It is originally native to eastern North America. As the name suggests, it can easily withstand several weeks of flooding. Its wood is often used for railroad tracks. Outside North America, the wood is rarely processed industrially due to its limited availability and very low distribution in the forestry industry. In Europe it is sometimes found in parks.
Quercus lobata (California white oak) is a deciduous tree that grows to a height of up to 35 meters. The leaves grow up to 10 cm in size. The acorns are elongated and light brown.
Finally, Monday evening is the day. 🙂 Osnabrück customs have released acorns from the south of the USA thanks to the phytosanitary certificate. Specifically: Blue oak (Quercus douglasii). An endemic species from California. Valley oak (Quercus lobata). Jolon oak (Quercus x jolonensis)
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Please note: Some of the acorns sold/sown here originally come from arboretums (distributed worldwide). Arboretum acorns have a higher probability of hybridization occurring.
However, we do not carry out any genetic analyses. 100% species safety cannot be guaranteed in this shop. Dismiss
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