Beadles Oak Acorns

currently unavailable Beadles oak represents the southern range of swamp chestnut oak and white oak where natural hybrids of this cross are found. Sometimes called the 'bottomland' oak, beadles oak can be found in wetland conditions where few oaks grow. I was not aware of this cross until a seed collector I was buying seeds from mentioned a tree that was found by a timber harvester in the middle of a large swamp surrounded by water. It had excellent form which produced some great saw logs from this swarm of hybrids.  Some of the smaller trees were saved and moved to the owners front yard. I was fortunate to get about 10 pounds of acorns and grew out many seedlings from this tree.  After a couple of winters, I discovered this Georgia seed source was not quite adaptable to Michigan and there was quite a bit of loss due to winter damage as well as being slow growing. Luckily a few of the seedlings showed excellent vigor and health and these I moved out to the top of a ridge at my farm when they were 2 years old. That was almost 30 years ago. Today you can see the differences in the seedlings in terms of their growth rate. I removed the weaker trees and now have a small grove of five trees with excellent form and leaf health. The trees are completely adapted to their new location. Moving the trees from swamp to hill top over 1500 miles northward, shows the adaptability of this oak hybrid as well as highlighting physiological characteristics found in all plants as a means to increase their ranges. Local does not mean better in this case. 

Beadles oak produced a low tannin acorn. The flavor was very good when I got them. I was a little surprised at that. My trees as of 2021 have not fruited in Michigan yet so they need to be evaluated further. The strong apical and fast growth as well as an easy tree to prune makes it desirable for timber. This would be a good tree to develop further for wood quality. The faster growth rate equates to high quality wood. Much larger grow outs need to be done with this cross as well as evaluating it for acorn production.  Rooting them might be a possibility in creating a very strong second generation seed orchard developing even faster growing trees hardy  into zone 4-5. It is surprising in some ways only the deer feed industry has taken an interest in hybrid oaks. This is one of them you will see for sale to some extent.