The tree may have won, some alternative ideas.

10 years ago

First, I don't know what kind of oak besides that it's big, deciduous, has no lobes on its' leaves, acorns are almost perfectly round and don't think I've seen one with its' hat on. Like walking on marbles and yes, so many fall that it's somewhat dangerous to walk around for a few weeks. Too small to rake or be crunched by mower. I love this tree, it's doing what it does which is primarily, make precious shade on the house.

I've gardened under many-a-tree before, including silver maple, cottonwood, hibiscus syriacus, ash, and have never given an area I worked hard to reclaim back to grass. Never considered it, pulling sprouts is just part of the game. But the oak tree that grandly commands the yard and extends over the one bed I have in the sun (just southwest of this tree,) drops so many acorns that all sprout... but not all at once. I can go out there and pull 100 every day and there will be 100 more tomorrow. Even if I'm doing this in the sweltering sun, mosquitoes will eat me at the rate of 2-4 bites per minute. This is a small spot along a fence, triangle shape, so a PITA to maintain the edges, as well as these sprouts. I never mind maintaining an edge, but combined with the sprouts, this bed is far too demanding for the rewards, at least the way I have it.

Love looking at it out the window, it's the view from the kitchen sink, but any closer, and it's just "look at today's sprouts" all under and around the plants. Can't enjoy them at all, just dreading the pulling of the sprouts. All of this work and miserable bites to keep clear a patch only big enough for a few shrubs. I can't let them go for months until the mosquitoes go away, won't be able to pull them then. This has been more work than the whole rest of the yard combined, this little bed.

But I've had enough.

I could move all of the smaller plants leaving only shrubs. If I pull just the spouts close to trunks/stems, the more open spots could be beheaded into submission. Mowing controls the sprouts in the lawn, but I wonder how infrequently one can weed-wack oak sprouts to cause their demise. Any thoughts on that?

Another option would be to only have stuff that gets mowed more often. Can't think of anything that would be 'wow' out the window that fits that description. Thoughts?

Another option would be to put 2 or 3 sheets over the spot while the acorns are raining. What would shrubs think of being under a white sheet for about 3 weeks while still leafed out? They're nothing special, but do keep the view stocked with butterflies and hummingbirds - Lantana, Buddleia, KO rose, Passiflora, Mirabilis jalapa, Dahlia, and some Hydrangea, Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus,) Talinum paniculatum toward the more shady end. How much light does a white sheet block? They say a white T-shirt isn't enough to prevent sunburn if at the beach all day, maybe it wouldn't bother them much at all. Nothing there would mind being made shorter for this, and all of these are easily replaceable by propagating other plants (more of something that didn't mind) around the yard, should an *occasional* plant find this too insulting. Thoughts?

Does anybody pick up the acorns? That seems easier than pulling sprouts, the weather's certainly more amenable to outdoor labor. Occurred to me this summer, but I can't remember if the leaves fall at the same time. If so, probably not so easy. But I think the acorns fell weeks in advance of the leaves. Thoughts?

Please don't suggest any chemical approaches, I'm aware, not interested.

Thanks for reading! (Ignore the Canna to the right, it was just there temporarily until a friend had a spot for it.)

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Comments (9)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
in that tiny yard.... think shop vac ..

ken
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
Original Author
10 years ago
Excellent, I love comic relief. Unless you seriously think it's possible to vacuum acorns but not leaves/mulch? I have just doubts...

I was seriously soliciting opinions. It is seriously small, about 9 feet at the wide part, to the left, tapering to a point. I seriously pull 100 sprouting acorns from this little spot at least 4-5 days a week for like 6 months, over an hour a week. That's unlike anything else out there that I've dealt with in decades of outdoor gardening, there's got to be an easier way, there usually is. There are various other beds in other areas with the same mulch regime but no problems like this one.

Even this bed between the hanging pot thing and the not-mowed-in-years back yard on the other side of the fence, full of 3rd year mature weeds. No big problems with sprouts, even though the wind usually blows from there to here, a few each time I go over there, takes 1-3 minutes to pull those, about once a week, a very mosquito-y spot.
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You can't add enough gravel or soil to flatten the slope enough to make a suitable badminton court without killing trees. If there are small holes, you can fill them to even out the ground a bit to make for easier mowing, but I wouldn't do more than that. It's clear that the ground is getting enough sun for a light layer of shade tolerant grass, but even if the ground was level, this type of grass isn't dense enough IME to stand up to the foot traffic that a sports area gets. If you want a badminton court, I would put it in a spot that is level and has enough sun to grow dense grass. This might require a low retaining wall with proper footings and the removal of more trees or siting elsewhere. The area you showed in the photos will be most easily maintained for now with mowing I think, though as the trees fill in branches to take advantage of the new light and space created by tree removal, it will not continue to support grass, so you may want to plant a groundcover - depending on the type of trees, you may have issues growing many plants since shallow-rooted trees compete for moisture and nutrients with herbaceous plants and shrubs. In my area there are some energetically spreading ferns that make a lovely ground cover in this type of area. At least if you are in the eastern half of North America, you will have weeds, particularly woody weeds (maples, honeysuckle, buckthorn, oaks, etc.) since this area always moves towards forest if left to its own. So to my mind, the woody plants seeding in is a far greater issue than removing leaves from gravel in the fall. Mowing will discourage woody plants from seeding in - that's how we returned our brushy fields back to fields and how we keep the woody plants from becoming reestablished both in the fields and along the sometimes shaded road verges. And you can't mow gravel, so weeds (woody and herbaceous) would need to be removed by hand if you spread gravel since even a weed whacker can throw gravel to a point of being dangerous. Gravel is a fine mulch if you live in a very dry area, but not good in areas with a respectable amount of rain IME.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
i would mock up a sucker upper.. just bigger than an acorn ...

grab a 12 pack.. a lawn chair..

and suck those nuts up ...

seriously...

you asked for a brain storm.. and dismiss it.. w/o even trying ...

ken
edlincoln
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Options:
1.) Shop Vac Might actually work. The fact it would suck up leaves would be a feature, not a bug. Or you could soak the leaves with a hose so they stick together. Sucking up mulch would be a problem.
2.) You could put down a hard surface that would make it easier to sweep up the acorns. Asphalt would probably be a bad idea. There is a kind of bluestone gravel paving where the gravel sticks to a layer of oil and forms a hard surface that resembles concrete. Not really good for the oak, but not as bad as asphalt.
3.) You could plant something that grows so dense and vigorously it smothers the oak seedlings. Might also not be good for the oak. A sufficiently tall shrub would be too tall to let the saplings reach the sun before they used up their stored energy. Virginia Rose?
4.) You could plant grass and just mow it.
5.) You could plant all Spring ephemeral and perennial herbs that die back in the winter, so they wouldn't care as much if they were weed-wacked or covered with a tarp in the Fall.

This post was edited by edlincoln on Wed, Aug 21, 13 at 18:37
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Just curious, do pre emergent chemicals work on acorns?

You could get the thinnest sun screen canvas they make and try it. Folks in the conifer forums use the stuff to help their yellow conifers during the heat of summer.

Not sure of the environmental impact. I guess if you find organic cotton cloth instead of pesticide aided cloth it is better than pre emergent for the planet. Either cloth may be a gain for your yard.
arktrees
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
toronado,
Pre-emergents work by forming a layer right at the soil surface. When root hairs/tips try to grow into that surface the active chemical compound stops cell division so that the root does not properly penetrate the soil and the seedling eventually dies. So if the acorns are below the soil line, preemergents won't help. That's why you can put them on an existing bed to help control weeds.

Arktrees
shillanorth Z4 AB
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
What about that netting the Greeks use under their olive trees when it`s harvest time - acorns fall on the netting - pull it up, dispose of acorns, reset the net!!!!
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I second olive tree netting idea.

Ark, thanks for the info on the preemergents.
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
Original Author
10 years ago
Ken, I didn't know you were serious. These are the same acorns I was trying to find an 'art' project for last fall. Do you remember that? There was some hilarious stuff said in that little discussion.

Are you saying to fashion something to make the suction hose opening smaller on the shop vac? I think that's not a terrible idea, actually, pinpoint the suction for better acorn accuracy. If we had a shop vac, it would be under consideration.

A 12-pack... DH would LOVE to drink beer while watching me do that. Unfortunately, I can't drink anything carbonated. I never turn down a nice glass of wine though. Sucking acorns does sound more fun with alcohol in general.

The netting idea sounds very promising. I didn't know about that stuff. Similar to the sheet idea but I wouldn't be worried about blocking the light. Probably not as heavy either, for the plants to hold up. Something to prevent the acorns from landing in that spot would be preferred.

Thanks for the inputs! I appreciate them all, every perspective is very helpful.

The tree may have won, some alternative ideas.

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
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The tree may have won, some alternative ideas.

Comments (9)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, ALOriginal Author

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, ALOriginal Author

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Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
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