Expert: Jim Hyland - 1/12/2008

Question
QUESTION: i have a 40 acre parcel of ground in Campbell county Virginia i want to leave to my grandkids to hunt on.   deer turkey and hopefully quail. i am going to have 10 acres of Virginia pine and popular harvested.  what is the quickest acorn producing oak tree i can plant.  i would like to see results before i die.

ANSWER: Sawtooth oak is the fastest acorn producer for wildlife. They do not make good timber trees so I would not plant the entire 10 acres in sawtooth. Folks in Alabama plant them along the edges of food plots That way there are acorns early and the green grain grasses later in the winter for the deer. Here is a web site for sawtooth.
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0851/
If you want the area planted in oaks I would use a mixture of sawtooth and shumard oak --the saw tooth will have acorns early and the shumard will be the timber tree down the road. You may want to contact the Va Forestry department and ask them to look at the site and advise you what species they would recommend. Their number should be in your local phone book--this service is free.

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QUESTION: Virginia dept of forestry lists sawtooth oak as invasive.  does alabama?  your opinion on problems with sawtooth as invasive if any?

Answer
No Alabama does not list sawtooth as invasive. here is a web link to a publication from the USDA on sawtooth where they say there is not enough data to list it as invasive.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/Publications.htm?seq_no_115=143169

It still remains as a fast grower and early producer of acorns for wildlife.