Do you like really big deciduous trees? Well you should know that he quercus rubra is one of the most. It is a slow-growing plant, which you can keep in a pot for many years, but over time you will realize that it needs to be in the ground.
And it will be then when problems can arise, because to grow and have a good development it is essential that the garden is wide. You do not believe me? Take a look at the photos below while I tell you a few things about him..
What is its origin and its characteristics?
Quercus rubra in autumn.
Image sourced from Wikimedia/sludgegulper
This It is a deciduous tree native to Central and Eastern North America., although they are also found in northeastern and central Mexico. It is known as American red oak, American red boreal oak or Northern red oak, and was described by Carlos Linnaeus and published in Species Plantarum 1753 the year.
Reaches a maximum height of 43 meters, being the usual 35m, with a trunk of up to 2m in diameter. Its crown is very wide, 6-8 meters, formed by branches from which leaves sprout whose size is 12 to 22cm in diameter. These are lobed, green for much of the year except in autumn when they will be red before falling.
Blooms in spring. Its female flowers measure 2mm, are ovoid and red, and the male ones are fasciculate catkins. The fruit is a red-brown acorn of about 2cm, and it finishes its maturation in about two years. Its taste is very bitter, so its consumption is not recommended.
What care do you need to live?
Image sourced from Wikimedia/matthieu sontag
Do you want to have this jewel in your garden? So keep in mind that you must place it outside, in the sun or in semi-shade. Due to the size that it reaches as an adult, put it at a minimum distance -if they are more, better- of 8 meters from walls, walls, pipes and others.
The soil must be fertile, deep, and neutral or slightly acidic. It doesn't like limestone too much, where it often has chlorosis due to lack of iron, nor does it like compact ones. Therefore, if your soil is not suitable for it, I advise you to make a planting hole of at least 1m x 1m, cover its sides with shading mesh, put a first layer of 6mm grain pumice, and finish filling it with substrate for acid plants.
If we talk about irrigation, it should be moderate. It does not resist drought or flooding. The ideal is to keep the soil always slightly moist, watering about 4 times a week in summer and 1-2 a week the rest of the year. Always use rain water, or without lime.
To finish, tell you that it multiplies by seeds in winter, since it needs to be cold before germinating, and resists up to -18ºC.
Hello Monica.
A great article, as always!
We have one, and the truth is that I have been a little worried, we have it 5 or 6 meters from a large wall, will it be enough?
Another question, the color of our leaves in autumn is reddish, but it is not as beautiful as the one you show in the photo, can we do something to make the red stand out more?
Finally, we have a Lagestroemia, but we bought it in the nursery and it is very tall and has few branches up to a high height. Can we do something to make it take on a more arboreal appearance? Any indications about this beautiful tree?
Thank you very much!
GALANTE NACHO
Hello Nacho.
Five or six meters is little. But nothing that cannot be fixed by trimming, if necessary, some branches 🙂 .
Regarding the color of the leaf, it depends on the type of soil it has, the water it has had in the previous months, as well as the climate. If the climate is mild and cool, and receives just the right amount of water - or even little, enough to live on - and the land is very fertile, the red is likely to be more intense. But if the climate is rather warm, and the soil is not too good, the color will tend to be more yellowish/brown, which is what happens, for example, to the trees here where I live (Mallorca), as the soil is limestone. and dry environment.
And finally, about your Lagerstroemia. You can trim the highest branch a bit, that will make it take out lower branches. Then, with the passage of time, you will be able to give your crown a more tree-like shape. Anyway, if you have any doubts, let me know.
Greetings.
Thank you very much Monica.
In reference to the oak and the color of its leaves, the climate is mild and cool, but it is possible that we go a little too much with the water in the autumn and it does not need as much. I believe that the land is good and we fertilize it several times a year. We will control the excess water.
The Lagestroemia we will cut a little the highest branch, to see if it makes a cup.
Once again, thank you so much!
GALANTE NACHO
Hello good afternoon, I live on the coast, will it be appropriate to plant these types of trees?
I hope you can guide me.
Thank you
Hello Gabriela.
No, I do not recommend it, since these trees cannot withstand the sea wind.
It would be better Acacia, Albizia, or others, but the Quercus would not stand it 🙁
Greetings.
Hello, good, I have a question because some of these trees have more pointed leaves and other more rounded leaves. I saw it in some already large ones of 15 meters or so.
Hi carlos.
When that happens, it is usually due to genetics. For example, to Brachychiton populneus the same thing happens to them: some have entire leaves, others a little lobed, and other specimens have both. Why? Well, perhaps nature is still 'experimenting', seeing which of the two types is more useful to it.
Evolution began millions of years ago, but that is something that never ends.
As long as the tree is healthy, I wouldn't worry.
If you have any further questions, ask.
Regards!
The gardener planted a red ash tree for me on the edge of the ditch, through which almost no water passes, I remember I watered it three or four times a week, as I read, it also hurt to put a foliage strengthener in the water. How happy I was when I shot three twigs and their little leaves came out. After two weeks they began to dry up completely. I keep watering but I don't see him still vital. I really don't know what else to put because I tried to follow the directions and I don't see results. Thanks, I would like to know what I can do.
Hi carmen.
Are you in the northern or southern hemisphere? I ask you this because if you are in the north it is normal for it to lose all its leaves as it is winter.
If, on the other hand, you are in the south, I recommend you water it about 2 times a week, and one of them with rooting hormones (they are sold in any nursery). You take two small tablespoons or a soup and mix it with 5 liters of water.
And to wait.
Regards!
Good day. I tell you to germinate acorns from this oak or red oak. and the plant already have some of them 30 cm. High. Q= How long can I keep them in a jar with water? I am in northwestern Mexico.?
In addition, the place where we will plant it is high in saltpeter. What do you recommend to get the most out of this tree?
Thank you very much.
Hello Jorge.
I recommend that you put them in a pot with soil as soon as possible. Excess moisture rots them quickly.
Red oak does not grow in soils rich in saltpeter. To do well, you should make a planting hole as large as possible, 1m x 1m, and fill it with acid potting soil.
Good luck!
Hello, good day, I have one of these trees that is approximately 3 meters high, but it has few branches and they are very thin, this means that it has very little foliage, I am from Mexico and I am a month away from spring, any advice to improve its foliage and make its trunk thicker.
Thank you for your feedback.
Regards…
Hi Javier.
Give it water (but without overdoing it, which would not be good either), and fertilize it from time to time with guano, earthworm humus, mulch or another type of organic fertilizer.
Little by little you will see that it is gaining strength and engoprsando its trunk 🙂
regards
Hello, I have read that it does not withstand heat well. I live in Aranjuez and in summer there are days of 40 degrees, in winter nights of -12. Does it make sense to try to put a red oak?
thanks greetings
Enrique
Hello, Enrique.
It's a bit borderline 🙁
If you want to try it, buy a young seedling and keep it in semi-shade to see.
Do not neglect the irrigation or the subscriber, so you can have possibilities to move forward.
Regards!
Hello, I have seen that they develop better in a temperate climate here where I live, it is 28 to 31 degrees and it is rainy here, so the temperature drops more, but I have a few 30cm seedlings and once I take them out to the full sun, it was there all day and when I looked in the afternoon there were some leaves below and the leaves were wrinkling and it wasn't hot, fortunately it's still alive but I don't know what to do to get more light
Hi Abraham.
You have to get used to them little by little; that is, put them in the sun for a little while each day (1 or 2 hours), and always first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon. That time must be progressively increased as the days and weeks go by.
Greetings.
Hey.
A year ago I bought 2 American oaks, but they were planted a short distance apart (approximately 2 meters).
Is it possible to transplant one of them? And if so, how far should I do it and what is the best time of year for it?
Thank you.
Hello Maria.
Since it's only been a year, there shouldn't be any problems. But you have to make trenches about 40cm deep and at a distance of about 30cm (minimum) from the trunk of the tree to be able to remove it with roots.
This is done in late winter, before the leaves come out.
Regards!
Hello Monica. I have some small red oak trees about 25 cm tall in a bag with black soil. What do you recommend, change them to larger pots and continue to take care of them very closely until they are bigger or plant them on land that I want to reforest? The bad thing about planting it is that it could be watered once a week at most. how many cm grow per year?
Thank you!
Hi, Pablo.
My advice is to move them to larger pots at the end of winter, and keep them there for at least one more year. They are too young yet for them to have a high chance of survival.
As for their growth rate, if the conditions are right they grow about 20-30cm per season.
Greetings and thank you!
Hello Monica. I have some red oak trees about 25cm tall in a bag with black soil. What do you recommend, change them to larger bags and continue to take care of them very closely until they are older or plant them on land that I want to reforest, but I could only water them once a week. On the other hand, I would like to ask you how many cm. grow per year?
Thank you!
Hello Monica:
I have a red oak tree about 3m high, it was planted about two months ago,
but now I have seen that the leaves are falling off. they first turn a yellow-brown color and then fall off. I water it every third day and now in my city the heat is very strong. We have had a temperature of 40ºC. I don't know if this is the cause of the tree's leaves falling off. or too much water is being applied.
Hello, Elizabeth.
Yeah, from what you're saying, your tree seems to be getting hot. Unfortunately it is not a plant that likes such high temperatures.
I recommend you water it a little more often, every two days, and fertilize it with a fertilizer whose effectiveness is fast, such as liquid fertilizers or guano. Of course, follow the instructions, since this way there will be no risk of overdose.
Regards!
Hello, we want to plant a quercus rubra in our garden at home (French Cerdanya) at an altitude of 1.300m, but the final size scares us and we don't want it to shade us in the whole garden either. At what distance from the line of yours (2 to 2,5 m high) that define the garden should we plant it? Can you recommend any other reddish deciduous tree of smaller size once adult and of more or less rapid growth? Thank you. Victor.
Hello Victor.
The red oak for climate would surely do well, but if the garden is small it would end up giving a lot of shade. Likewise, if you prune it little by little, that is, trimming its branches a little each time (year), it can be kept smaller. In any case, at least it would have to be planted about 5 meters from yours.
Other trees that turn red in the fall and are somewhat smaller have the sweetgum (20 meters); the katsura tree whose scientific name is Cercidiphyllum japonicum that does not usually exceed 10 meters (the only thing, it needs some shade); or the red maple Despite measuring up to 30 meters, it has a trunk that is only 50 centimeters thick at most.
Regards!
Hello, excellent article, I have some in my garden and this fall it has turned red, but it has lasted more or less a couple of weeks, now it is brown and releasing the leaves, is it normal?
Hi John.
Yes it's normal. If the fall has been a little warmer or colder than other years, the tree may react like this, shedding leaves earlier than other seasons.
Regards!
I have a beautiful Querqus rubra of about 10 m. Planted in clay soil and with grass around. What can I do to get red leaves in the fall? They turn brown and some don't fall off until the following spring.
Hi, Pablo.
Unfortunately, nothing can be done, since the conditions of the land (that is, the soil), and the climate do not allow it.
I tell you from experience (I live in the Mediterranean, also clay soil), and I have only managed to see loose leaves of a yellow Melia azedarach, but never the whole tree.
Greetings.
Hi Monica, thank you very much for your clear answers.
My case is the following: I have an American oak that is about 5 to 7 years old. He has never finished settling in the place that places him next to a ditch or irrigation channel, with fertile soil and regular watering at least once a week. It does not finish gaining strength and giving those leaves that prompted me to buy it. And its height is not remarkable, it barely exceeds 3 meters. I think it may be a matter of climate, our winters have changed. It has direct sun 3 to 4 hours per day. Southern hemisphere 700 800 m high. Thanks
Hi carlos.
Thanks for your words.
What I think is happening to your tree is that the soil + the weather doesn't help it to fall and grow »quickly» (I put it in quotes because it is not a fast-growing plant).
I recommend you fertilize it with guano, and from time to time with a fertilizer for acid plants. The first will get it to grow at a good rate (for a red oak), while the second will provide it with the nutrients that it may be lacking at the moment, such as iron. Of course, do not use them at the same time: for example, use guano one month, and the next month the other.
So I'm sure it's getting better.
Greetings.
Hello, I'm Mariano from Argentina, today I found American oak acorns but I would tell you that they are almost twice the size of those of a normal American oak. And the leaves also look bigger. I wanted to share this with you
Hello Mariano
Interesting. If you want you can share them in our facebook group.
regards
Hello, Monica, I would like to buy an American oak tree to plant in my house… my question is, how do its roots grow?
Hi Joana.
Oaks are trees that need space to grow, not only because of the thickness of their trunk or the diameter of their crown, but also because their roots are long.
They should not be planted near the house. At least, they must be ten meters from it.
Greetings.