Whole ones can sprout in the pile (and you can grub them out and toss 'em back in as greens) or will do nothing and take forever to break down. Sledgehammering them to high-protein powder would work, but would be time-consuming. You could sweep them into the street, run your car over them in the normal course of driving, and then sweep the powder up and put it in the compost. Don't sweat it if a few survive unpowdered.

they are very easy to pull out and kill. Just be sure not to plant an oak 2 feet from the house by mistake. Even then until they are too big to pull by hand they are easy to kill.

Whole acorns will not decompose quickly, not even in a year. If they sprout in your pile, pull them out - no problem then if you do it while they are small. Do not let them set a root though. Once that root goes down a ways they are difficult to get out. In our hard clay soil, any more than 6-8 inches of root is amazingly hard to pull.

I like to sweep them into the driveway. Hickory nuts too. Then just taking the car in and out will flatten them and prepare them for the compost. The squirrels get their share too.

John

If you have white oaks,you might have a tasty nutritious snack.Try one,raw.If it isn't bitter,they get better when slightly roasted.
Red/black oak acorns tend to have higher tannins and require leaching,probably too much hassle for modern humans.
Otherwise,throw in the compost.Any sprouts should flip easily unless they get into soil.

I know you guys are going to think Im nuts here, but anyway,

What happens if you run over them with the lawn mower?

DH mows and my Dad always mowed, so Im mower-stupid.

hee!

A mower blade might hit a few of them but not enough to make it worth while just as far as trying to break them up with a mower. Good advice above, just dump them into your compost pile and any that sprout and come up, just turn them back under. If a few make it to your garden, just be alert and get them while they are small and they are pretty easy to deal with.

I have had them sprout in my rain gutters many times if I do not get them cleaned out quick enough. A couple of years ago, I dumped a couple of big wheel barrows of mostly acorns into my compost pile with almost no problems.

We have a very "good" acorn crop here this year, the deer, squirrels, wild hogs etc. will find living easy for awhile.
Bill p.

The mower turns the acorns into dangerous projectiles that can take out a window or an eyeball. Be careful when mowing nuts.

I have put acorns and hickory nuts into my compost pile. They do eventually sprout but after they sprout- they will die off when they get turned back into the pile. The squirrels usually take care of the hickory nuts such that I only have hulls left to compost. The acorns are another matter... if they don't sprout they take forever to decompose...

The compost I get from the county has lots of acorns in it. Whole nuts don't decompose easily. I like the idea of driving over them to bust them up.