OP has delivered!!!!! Here are the pics I promised. I didn't read through all the comments again to see if I ever explained what I had done so I'll just do a quick shake down. I bought seedlings from the Idaho extension acorns from a website called acorno.com. I planted the seedlings in 1 gallon rootmaker pots, 3 gallon rootmaker bags, and some in my garden boxes. I planted the acorns in the little 2.5"x 2.5" rootmaker pots and a few in my raised beds. I planted bur, n. red oak, and a couple pin oak acorns. The seedlings were all bur oak. I build a little potting bench from scrap wood I had lying around and put all of my pots on top of that on the east side of my house. They get good sun until about 1300 hours then shade. The ones I planted in the garden boxes get full sun and there isn't great drainage so the box soil is basically always wet. (Its my first year with those so I have some work to do this fall/spring getting the drainage issues figured out.) We have had the hottest summer on record and have been in the mid 90's basically since the beginning of June. I have tried to water the potted plants every afternoon when I get home from work and have only missed a few days. As you can see, the small potted acorns have all died. I think that the pots were just too small to store moisture during the day heat and dried out before I could get to watering them after work. The 1 and 3 gallon potted oaks look great other than a bit of leaf scorch. The oaks planted in the raised beds seem to be doing just as well. They have some scorch but the little guys are green and have good leaves. I haven't gotten any real growth out of any of them. I'm not sure if its the heat, lack of water/ too much water, or anything else. I am not sure where to go from here. This was totally just an experiment but I need to decide what to do with them before winter. I have a spot in the back south west corner of my yard that is just dirt. I haven't gotten around to doing flowers there yet and have considered planting my oaks in tidy rows there to have them mature a bit and bare root them when they get 4-5 feet tall. I still haven't decided on that though. Here is a link that might be useful: Oak Seedling Album

Forgive me for chiming in again: In general, I think it is best to let trees grow they way they want to grow until it is obvious a problem has developed. I have not seen sprouts from the base of one or two year oak seedlings from acorns planted just one or two years before. If they have been transplanted, yes. So admitting that lack of experience with exactly this kind of situation, I have transplanted lots of oaks and have had quite a number sprout from the base. In something like half of the cases, the sprout has grown more vigorously than the original stalk and has made a fine tree. In a number of these cases, the original trunk died after one to three years. In some other cases the sprout or sprouts at the base--sometimes two, more commonly one--has seemed much more vigorous than the original sprout, but after three or four years, the original sprout regained its vigor and grew better than the newer sprouts. In those cases at that point I cut off the newer sprouts. I think cutting out the sprouts from the base so soon includes some danger--if something causes the original sprout to die, and you have pinched off the new sprouts, the tree will suffer and maybe die. I see no reason why any new sprouts from the base of an oak seedling need to be removed so early. I would agree with Lucky--you can leave them until they are about one inch caliper, and at that point leave the sprout that is best--the straightest and most vigorous. If you handle them this way you will end up with a stronger and more vigorous tree. --Spruce

I wished you would've sown the seed directly in the ground, or in a slightly protected area outdoors. They are likely in the White oak family right? Red oaks need dormancy to sprout in spring. Are they Burr oak? They look like Burr to me. Maybe if you do as Huggorm says and aclimate them to outdoors and all that they will be fine. In spring do this. Heck, I never tried them how you will be trying, I don't know, maybe they'll be fine. But I would (say these fail) next time put them shallowly in the soil, (the acorns) and put a few in each area, then in spring they will come up, then pick the most vigorous shoot for your tree. Well, I hope you can salvage your seedlings, of course they need to stay indoors now til spring, and after all frost is possible. I wish you well with em. Poaky1

I agree Rhizo, but an oak in an area where there will be drought, ( those california Live oaks) will need those taproots. I have NEVER BEEN TO CALIFORNIA, but, I hear about the droughts in Cali, so i am thinking that the oaks there will need there taproot. I have a couple trees grown from acorn, 2 from Dax sending me acorns, 1 Q. Libani and 1 Q, Macrocarpa. They are doing fine, my area gets regular rain usually. But, if we have a droughty growing season this year, I have at least 4 acorn grown trees that I don't have to water. I also have 2 Q. Robur from acorns. So 4 altogether from seed. But anyway, all my trees are pretty settled in. I have bought them all fairly small and young. I don't know how our growing season will be, plenty of rain or droughty conditions.