Schuettes Oak Acorns

currently unavailable Swamp White Oak with Low Tannin Acorns

A natural hybrid of swamp white oak and bur oak, Schuettes oaks represent a wide range of ornamental as well as wild 'swarms' found throughout North America. This species hybrid often shows precocity from seed and can grow in environments very few other oaks can survive. It also can be a mixed group crossing with chestnut oak too. 

My Schuettes oak introduction began from a seedling grown from a swamp white oak stand that contained many large 3 ft. plus diameter trees. This seedling was selected from over 3,000 trees that had nearly three times the growth rate of other nearby seedlings. When the tree reached 4 ft tall it began producing acorns. This tree was then planted out in my oak plantings and I soon began growing out its seedlings. As they began to fruit, I repeated the process a few more times. I found quite an array of seedlings some of which were almost fastigiate and others more pyramidal in shape. The acorns were generally lower tannin and produced seedlings that they too were precocious fruiting when the trees were only 4 to 5 ft. tall.  Over the course of 30 years the yields have been very good on some trees and low on others. Selection is being done now to make available the best acorn producers. One thing that stands out with this cross is that is has no weevils within the acorns which compared to bur oak can be quite high. Our orchard trees of this cross are most like swamp white oak with a furry bur oak cap. 

Adaptable to a wide range of soil types, Schuettes oaks can grow in rock to sand to wetland. It is one of the reasons it is used as a street tree. It also provides a solid upright crown with clean bright green leaves with downy undersides. 

Varietal Selections:   After photographing and measuring our schuettes oaks this next season in 2022 and 2023, three new varieties will be added here. All selections are based on good acorn production, solid canopy and low tannin acorns. One is a spur type and others are different crosses. There should be a number of other types with the swamp white that will be put into the website as well and they will be listed under their individual names.