White Oak Trees in Victoria for acorn collection?

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by petal, Apr 15, 2012.

  1. petal

    petal Junior Member

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    Does any one know any White Oaks trees growing around Melbourne or Central Victoria where I could collect the acorns? Particularly specimens with edible acorns.

    Also which month(s) is it likely the acorns will be ready for collection?

    I am planing to plant them in the centre of small gorse patches. I will first cut the gorse and and use the prunings to keep browsers away from the seedings. Eventually they may shade out the gorse regrowth. If all goes well, several decades on there should provide summer paddock shade, and carbohydrates from the acorns for animals and humans.
     
  2. abear

    abear New Member

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    acorns

    No, not yet, but i have found this link:

    https://www.oaktree.com.au/index.php

    I'm on a mission myself to find oak leaves and am scouting in gutters allover Melbourne for them.:)
     
  3. cottager

    cottager Junior Member

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    I'm not so very certain of oak varieties, but I can tell you that the acorns left over from the critters are just beginning to sprout now, in the region you are looking for them.

    So what you will find is acorns ready to go, and some with sprouts, this time of year (they are a bit early, but it's been a funny season too).
     
  4. abear

    abear New Member

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    Oaks in Melbourne park

    If anyone knows Melbourne well, I would love their sharing on this:
    Years ago, a fuzzy memory I have is that I was somewhere around Brighton/ bayside,( i thought end of North road but google maps says I am misled) it was only a very small park, but home to several massive, venerable old oak trees. They were some of the biggest I have seen in Australia. Does anyone know such a location? I have always meant to go back and just soak up in awe.
     
  5. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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  6. cottager

    cottager Junior Member

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    Hey abear,

    There's a gold-rush garden (with a mansion :) ), located just before the end of North Road, on the corner of Cochrane Street, called Kamesburgh Gardens ... the avenue of oaks that stretch from this garden to the bay are indicative of them being planted after that garden (and are potentially the babies, but of course, I don't know that).

    The garden dates back to the 1850's, so it sure qualifies for venerable, with oaks.

    I hope you find your memory oaks :nod:
     
  7. andrew curr

    andrew curr Moderator

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    melbourne bot gardens and shrine anzac
    your about 3months too late
    the latest fruiting oaks that i know of are cork oaks in walcha (july)
    whats with the white oaks?
     
  8. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Via one of David Suzuki's books
    "At new college in Oxford, England, the huge oak beams of the university's main hall are some twelve metres long and 0.5 metre thick.
    In 1985, dry rot had finally weakened them so much that they needed to be replaced. If oak trees of such size could have been found, in England, they would have COST ABOUT u.s.$250,000 per log for a total replacement cost of around U.S.$50 million.
    Then the university forester informed the administrators that when
    the main hall had been built 350 years earlier, the architects had
    instructed that a grove of oak trees be planted and maintained so that when dry rot set in, about three and a half centuries later, the beams could be replaced.

    Now that is long term planning . . ."
    >
     
  9. andrew curr

    andrew curr Moderator

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    Thats why i put mine in the fridge
     
  10. andrew_k

    andrew_k Junior Member

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    If you're after a low tanin acorn for easier processing, just wait until next year and taste every acorn you can find. When you find the most palletable ones, collect a bag and stick them in
    the fridge for a couple months to simulate cold winter dormancy. Sorted :)

    As for compiling a list of locations, Kyneton botanic garden has a very well established area of large oaks maintained by the local Rotary club. I'll definitely be there sampling the fruit next season.
     
  11. petal

    petal Junior Member

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    Thanks for the comments and links, (love Martin Farm). I am in search of deciduous oaks with low tannin acorns. White oaks seem to fit the bill, including white swamp oak (Quercus bicolor). Holm and holy oaks can have very sweet acorns, but are evergreen.

    Hi Abear,
    I have also been collecting leaves from the gutters around Melbourne. Near me the suburbs of East Ivanhoe, Eaglemont and Heidelberg. Today I got another hatch back full from the streets around Maple St, Blackburn, after a tip off from a friend. Unfortunately I have left it a bit late this year, and mostly find neatly swept streets.

    A bonus of collecting the leaves is the seedlings that grow from the acorns amongst the leaves. I have about a dozen potted up from last year, and have a spot in mind to plant them this winter. I think they are English Oak (Quercus robur). I might even graft on to these if I find a more tasty variety. A few month ago I was collecting leaves and acorns for identification purposes, and giving the odd acorn a nibble, trying to find a nice edible specimen. Thanks Andrew K, for the tip on Kyneton botanic garden. I did find that their website that says they have a Quercus bicolor, but my oak identification skills aren't that good yet. The cork oaks are easy because of the bark, and the bur oak's leaves are distinctive, but I still haven't found any that are obviously bicolor.
    The main identification info I am using is:

    https://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/pages/compare-oaks.htm
    https://www.gardenaction.co.uk/trees/quercus/oak-identify.asp

    A couple of years ago I collected a heap of acorns from a Quercus ilex with very sweet acorns, thanks to Darren Doherty, (https://plus.google.com/photos/1159...99732299570225/5470499940116807250?banner=pwa). Unfortunately I let them dry before I put them in the fridge, as I was worried they would go mouldy, thinking the large seeds would store well. By the time I go around to reading up on propagation it was too late, they were no longer viable, (I planted them just in case).

    Thanks Andrew Curr. I have been meaning to get to the Melbourne Bot. Gardens. By 'shrine anzac', do you mean Melbourne's shrine of remembrance?

    I will keep on the search, and next year should find a few good candidates ready at the right time of year.
     
  12. andrew_k

    andrew_k Junior Member

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  13. andrew curr

    andrew curr Moderator

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    there is an avenue of them in khancoben planted for the queen when she opened the snowey river
    they should be approaching max yield
     
  14. Mirrabooka

    Mirrabooka Junior Member

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    Hi Guys,

    Steve La Valley is The Botanical Ark in Warragul in Victoria is the Victoria 'locate a species' expert.

    He is a regular at the Red Hill Market (and a regular site visit for Southern Cross Permaculture at Leongatha).

    Speak to Steve about Bunja Nuts (which his trees produce) which are a prized local eating nut.

    He will also supply chestnuts and black walnuts for planting (which I am now putting in, with the followup step in years to come of grafting with English walnut- walnuts and chestnuts have a taproot system, thus planting multiple seeds is an advantage, not only in letting the seed determine which genes work for your local conditions, but also letting the taproot grow from teh start )after their time in the fridge to break dormancy

    I do know that Algerian Oaks are well established in the Saint Vincent Gardens in the suburb of Albert Park.

    Perhaps we need a "Tree Location" interest group.

    Good planting
    Mirrabooka
     
  15. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Plenty of massive Bunja nut trees along the road to Palmdale cemetery on the Central Coast of NSW
    ( Along with a sign, warning that if one nut drops on you, you may end up as a paying customer in the cemetery. :) )

    Good suggestion on Tree Location. I have often thought I would like to do a map for my local area Not sure how we do it with (Google?) Earth

    PS Quercus infectoria extracts have been shown to kill methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) also effective against all strains of E. coli. Not sure how or which, part is used, maybe nut galls
     
  16. Lesley W

    Lesley W Junior Member

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    Hiya.

    Here's a link to growlocal - a site is designed for sharing produce between individuals. As it incorporates a google map finder/gps locator and at least one person in Sydney has used it to highlight the location of some rosemary growing in a public place, perhaps it meets your "Tree Location finder" needs and can help us share our various discoveries.

    From a naming convention perspective, if we could list available plants or yields with the word (free) alongside the description that would make it easier to distinguish them from private homes and produce. https://growlocal.org/au/

    Hope this helps.
     

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