I had considered planting pin oak for some much-needed shade, but I spoke with a family member about their pin oak, planted when I was a kid. He had to have it removed a few years ago. He got about 20 mostly trouble-free years out of it in zone 8. I enjoy reading Steve Nix's Forestry Blog at about.com, and here's what he has to say about Pin Oaks http://forestry.about.com/od/treeplanting/p/bad_pin.htm If I lived in zone 9 and had a more "coastal south" soil, I'd be rushing to plant a live oak, but that's just me. I recently went to New Orleans and so many of them were left standing after the storm, I was shocked. Also, as far as your temperature zone goes, Red Maple would probably do batter in zone 9 than Pin Oak, but do what you like. I hope it grows well. Not much can beat a good shade tree! Here is a link that might be useful: Reconsider Pin Oak

I have several acorns on my Chestnut oaks, I have 2 Chestnut oak trees, they have put out acorns after just about 3 years in ground, maybe even 2 years, they grow hella fast, and NOW I am getting acorns on my Swamp White oaks, they may be about 7-8 years in ground from whips about 2 years old, SO Swamp white oaks will give you acorns in POSSIBLY about 8 years from planting til fruiting. and I also am getting small acorns from my Pin oaks and my Nutall's oaks and 1 Shumard oak tree. I am still waiting to see my Compton;s oak trees acorns, I do KNOW they will be rather big acorns, at least compared to most of the acorns from the PIn oaks, Nuttall's oaks and Shumard oaks, it seems like most white oak acorns are larger than the white oak acorns. Anyway, I hope that the original poster could come here and respond to all of these answers, it would help to see if my reply and all of these other replies have helped to answer the OP's question.

fifthzim...try: Sheffield's Lawyers Schumacher Conservation seeds, Ohio Jim Harrington Acorno Acorns Mossy Oak Sierra Seed Supply That's just a start....a quick search will give you more suppliers of seed. Also, check Superior Trees Florida, and Against-The-Wind liners for small seedlings. Also Reeseville Ridge Nursery...seedlings. Hope this will help. Frank

In Gainesville, Florida, the best acorns to eat are probably from the live oak (Quercus virginiana). They are not the largest by far, but some of them are quite delicious. I know of one tree in particular that we eat roasted with no leaching. We dump a few handfulls of acorns into a thing of water and scoop off the floaters. The floaters are often parasitized or bad for some other reason. The sinkers, we tossed into a wok and roasted them over a fire, stirring, until they started to steam. Some of the kernels were very hard, but they were delicious. I've tried some from other trees that were not very good. The swamp chestnut oak has the largest fruit by far, and area supposedly edible raw. Other white oak types you can find around here are white oak (Quercus alba), and b_a_s_t_a_r_d white oak (Quercus austrina). Chapman oak (Q. chapmanii) grows in scrublands, sand live oak (Q. geminata) grows in scrubs, sandhills, scrubby flatwoods, beaches, and other dry areas. Overcup oak Q. lyrata, which grows prinicpally along the Suwanee River around here. Myrtle oak, Q. myrtifolia is another shrubby scrub oak. A friend of mine is growing burr oak for food, but they're still small. The live oak will grow in Atlanta, so that's my recommendation. They are fast growers and have some of the strongest wood of any tree. Their growth form in the open is often wide and spreading, with massive horizontal branches that can dip down to the ground and grow back up, on very old trees. Most of the nursery-grown ones I've seen around here have mostly upward pointing branches, which makes the joints weak, so the tree is susceptible to splitting. The really good one here only produces once every few years, so that's a drawback. I wish someone would have put some work into developing some good varieties for food. I tried cooking some swamp chestnut oak acorns the same way as the live oak, but they were too bitter to eat. I only tried one tree though, and no pre-soaking. Those are pretty slow, but they grow into a magnificent tall tree. In the open, their crowns will be more rounded. The American Chestnut Federation has a 15/16 American Chinese hybrid that has no Chinese characteristics except for blight resistance. That might be a neat one to grow, if they can do that as far south as you are. I have no idea how long they take to fruit. Good luck, and please let me know how your project is working out.