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live oak in a northern zone
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Posted by castorcrap z5 wv & z6 Md (My Page) on Sun, Oct 9, 05 at 16:52
| Hello, Does anyone know what to do w/ a live oak species in a zone where it cannot perform its natural evergreen characteristic. Im thinking of letting frost will kill off the leaves then putting the pot in my garage for the winter, keeping it a little damp. Is this bad for a tree who normally is evergreen? will it bud back? If I was able to put it in a green house, would that be bad, because maybee it needs to go through a cold spell cycle? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| I suspect that even if you store a subtropical live oak in your zone 5-6 garage it will most likely be in the compost heap in late spring. Most trees can tolerate slightly colder temperatures if they are sheltered from the wind and other elements but depending on the species you are talking about, could be just too much colder than this would be able to tolerate. If you are considering making a purchase I would advise against it but if you have already made the purchase and are considering what to do next might I suggest an unheated basement that would stay between 45-50 degrees with some floresent shop lights set close to the canopy and a small osillating fan to move air around so it doesn't suffer fungal disease. Good luck -G |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| Thankyou, so you recomend not letting frost kill the leaves, and to keep it evergreen instead by bringing it in soon and putting lots of light on it? |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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- Posted by dav4 z6 MA (My Page) on
Mon, Oct 10, 05 at 8:30
| There's a member of this forum (Mark Rockwell?) that keeps a Live oak (from Texas?) in VA., I think. I seem to recall him noting that his live oak rootball will freeze solid in his winter cold frame with no ill effect. Havn't seen him here lately so I don't know if he's still around to answer your question. Dave |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| If I'm not mistaken Mark is over on BT. It may very well be that he does have a live oak that does tolerate a good solid freeze once in a while but somethings to keep in mind are that there are more than one species of live oak and even variation in cold hardiness between the same species can be found from tree to tree depending on the location of the seed source. Another thing to add is that mark is at least zone 6 probably more like zone 7. Castorcrap knowing the particular species you have and the area where it was either collected or where the seed source is from is probably the most accurate way of detemining the cold hardiness of your tree and figuring out the best way to care for it. -G |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| Indeed it is important to know which species you intend to use. If you mean the southeastern species Quercus virginiana or it's more unusual relatives, I agree that defoliation followed by a long dark dormancy will spell its death. You may have better success with one of the semi-evergreen species such as Q. laurifolia. However, either way a cold frame or greenhouse is the ticket in my opinion. Mature trees of southeastern oaks endure temperatures well into the teens, so anything above 20F should be OK as long as the pot doesn't freeze solid. I also would avoid long cold dormancy. These trees don't go fully dormant in the winter they just slow down. PF |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| I live in Evansville, IN, and have a live oak planted in the ground. It has no problem surviving in this climate, although they may defoliate during extended periods below 32F. As with any deciduous that defoliates, it will re-bud in the spring. It is no way protected from sun, wind or climate, any more than any other tree in the neighborhood, and it does just fine. (0F low has occurred). I also have a few sabal minors (dwarf palmettos, and several windmill and european palms (one is 6ft) that grow well in this climate. Go figure, palms in S. Indiana! |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| Today I had to have a large tree removed that was struck by lightening and the gap is depressing. I would love to be able to plant a live oak and have never really accepted that it could not survive in zone 6. Your post gave me some hope that if it could make it in Evansville, Indiana, perhaps St Louis is possible. Please tell me more about your live oak - did you plant it yourself or was it there already? If you did plant it, how old is it and where did you get it (local nursery or mail order?) About how tall and wide is it? Do you know what species? I do not care if it drops leaves for the winter as long as it survives! I have looked at willow oak but they do not have the beautiful horizontal habit of the live oak. Any help or info would be much appreciated |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| To LOL - Frewworld may never see your posting - his was from last Nov., and I'm not sure he's ever come back... see if you can PM or EM him from his profile. |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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- Posted by rjj1 Norman OK Zone7 (My Page) on
Wed, Aug 16, 06 at 12:23
| I live in zone 7. The Texas Live Oak can be found naturally occurring about 80 miles southwest of here. In my area it has been planted in the landscape. During a cold winter they will defoliate, but most of the time they keep some if not all of their foliage. Part of what gives them that look is their environment and great age. I seriously doubt either of us will see that type of growth in our zones. Even Live Oak planted here in the 70's doesn't look like the beautiful specimens you see in the south Texas scrub country. randy I'm unsure why Freeworld would call them deciduous. Makes me wonder if he knows what a live oak is. |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| If they drop their leaves in the cold they ARE deciduous - that's what it means. |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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- Posted by rjj1 Norman OK Zone7 (My Page) on
Wed, Aug 16, 06 at 16:20
| Dear Lucy Texas Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) is an evergreen, not a deciduous tree based on the scientific description. The fact that it "might" drop all of it's leaves doesn't change the fact that it's an evergreen. You don't change it to a deciduous tree merely because some choose to grow it outside it's normal environment. An evergreen is an evergreen no matter where it's grown. randy |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| actually, most books describe live oak a species that is highly adaptable and behaves like a deciduous tree in the northern limit of it's range. I'm thinking of trying some as a street tree here in Amarillo. |
LIVEOAKLOVER live oak in a northern zone
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| To LiveOakLover....3 yrs later....Still have the live oak growing in evansville, it's probably 17-20ft tall and 4 inch diameter trunk, tall. It didn't lose much of it's leaves this past winter and just started branching horizontal this year. I picked up the tree in Panama City, FL at Home Depot for $10....probably 4ft at the time. |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| I've got a 15ft Sandjack Oak aka. Sand Live Oak, which is a taller straighter variety of Coast Live oak. It is doing fine in Louisville, Kentucky and stays completely green until early March when the green leaves suddenly all will fall off within a few days as if the tree is dead. Then by the early to mid april it rapidly will leaf back out again with little pink leaves at first. I also have two 25ft Chapman Oaks, which are also evergreen southern oaks with wider leaves and grow very fast. I've been surprised how well they have all survived on my property and my neighbors constantly ask what kind of trees they are. It rarely drops below zero here in metro Louisville or stays below freezing for more than a couple days at a time. But once a few years ago it got several degrees below zero and my evergreen oaks only lost about 10% of their leaves. But,if the high stays below 30 degrees for more than 5 days in a row EVERYTHING that is evergreen loses lots of leaves, even some dieback occurs. So its the duration of the cold that matters more than the actual low temps on brief cold snaps. |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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| Hello, I recently joined the GW and it,s been a while since this posting but is frewworld still around I just planted a Live oak in my backyard this past May and was encouraged by how their Live oak has survived a few winters in Indiana. I am in SW Pa and depending on which zone map you believe a 5 or 6/7. I don,t remember any below zero winters for years, but hope the tree can handle short term cold blasts. If it can survive in Indiana I bet it can survive here in SW Pa.thanks poaky1 |
RE: live oak in a northern zone
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Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)
Holds on to its green leaves through the winter
then in spring the new buds push all the old leaves off and we have full leaf drop in the spring.
It just looks like an evergreen. |
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