Buying Red Oaks

theweasel

I live in Dallas and have been wanting to plant a few more trees on my property. I have been looking at Red Oaks. Home Depot has the best prices ($88.00 for a 20 gallon) and two of their trees look awesome. They are both about ten feet tall and they have big, full canopies. One problem, the leaves are already brown. Not red, but brown. I broke a small twig off each and they are still green inside. The manager said they got these trees last week. Home Depot also offers a 1 year warranty. The tree gets sick or dies and I get my money back. Are these trees stressed or have they gone into dormancy already? Should I buy or stay away? Sorry but no pics.

Paul

osb_mail

Try to buy from a local nursery that grows tree on site or near by . Lowes and home depot do offer a one year warranty but it not hard to get a tree for a year . I guessing you want this tree for more than year ,your local nursery might not warranty more than a but they should a more knowledge staff and if it is a good nursery they will grow there own trees or at least only buy from local nurseries . Also check I.S.A website for planting directions , It is usually best to plant in the fall but some oaks differ . Good luck and happy tree planting .

newguy18

Be picky and get your moneys worth when buying a tree.Check for defects such as weak branch unions,girdiling roots,rot,cracks in the trunk,tears in the bark,multiple stems or codominants.Lowes now hates me for being so picky when buying an orange tree for some clients,i went through 13 trees before i found one i liked.

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old schooler

Tilia

in my expereince the littler trees do better. buy small

Levi Parkin

As a former employee of the Home Depot I do not recommend that you buy those trees. Their nursery standards are pretty terrible and chances are those trees haven't been watered regularly. Almost every tree I've ever seen come into or go out of the Home Depot has already exhibited strong decurrent growth, which is likely to lead to structure issues later.
Also, as Tilia stated before me, smaller trees typically do better. When trees are transplanted, one can expect 1 year of transplant shock for every caliper inch of tree. If you plant a smaller tree, it's going to overcome transplant shock sooner, will return to healthy, regular growth sooner, and will actually eventually out grow the larger tree (usually). Find a local nursery, they almost always have much higher nursery stock standards and a wider variety of sizes and shapes.

TreeSpecialist

Home Depot is where trees go to die. Strong statement, but consider this.

1) The local nurseries know the local growers and visit their nurseries. They look through dozens and sometimes hundreds of trees and choose the very best ones to sell in their stores. Once they buy the trees, it's up to them to keep them healthy until they are sold. They OWN the trees they are selling and are invested in maintaining a good reputation.

After everyone has picked over the whole salers' selections, the left-overs are shipped off to the Box Stores (Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes, etc.)

2) In the Box Store, the trees are stressed by lack of care or inexperienced personnel. AND the trees are there on consignment - this means the grower is not paid for the tree until it is sold.

The Box Stores have no incentive to keep the stock healthy - their main goal is to push quantity - not necessarily quality.

3) Red oaks are easily "hyrbidized" - or bastardized - as a wind pollinated plant. The DFW location is tough. Most of the area is alkaline. Yet 80 miles east is acid soil country. This means that the "red oak" sold as a Shumard?(Quercus shumardii) may very well be more pin oak than Shumard. As such it won't do well in most of the DFW area.

Red oaks are trees I usually advise against because they are susceptible to a great many diseases and problems. People with red oaks frequently have arborists on their speed dial.

Having said that, if you're determined to get a red oak, buy from a local nursery man. Have them obtain your red oak from a grower who uses an alkaline seed source. (The best in Texas is Glen Flora Farms.)

Plant your tree in a hole that costs more than the tree. ( A $50.00 tree in a $100.00 hole will do better than the reverse.)

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