Yeah that should do it. The ones closer to the tree may be harder to pull out. I'd recommend going out the day after a good rain and plucking til your hearts content. PS I had never heard of the term "a mast of acorns", but I looked it up and it was solid. Cool saying.

In my lifetime, I've killed thousands of tree seedlings in the lawn by mowing them. Oaks are relatively rare as lawn weeds, but cherries, apples and maples have all been beheaded. Killing them doesn't require anything special, just mow the lawn as usual. The first time a lot of them will come back. They can't handle it indefinitely, though. I have yet to hear of an oak tree that wanted to be 3 inches tall.

Mowing them is the way to do it. Best of all, they aerate the soil for you and provide organic matter in the soil!

I've read where this may be a problem with the tree planted too deep. If you truly have thousands of tiny trees, it may be the tree struggling to get oxygen. My neighbor had this problem for years and mowing has done nothing to fix the problem.

Has anyone else trying revealing the root flare to fix this problem?

Dripdrip,

What do acorns produced by oak trees have to do with the tree not getting enough oxygen? Did you by chance post to the wrong thread?

DripDrip,

Our huge and old tree has lots of surface roots that interfere with our lawn, but it's fairly common here with clay. Interesting -- I never thought of the connection. I'll research that!

Finz2left,

The presence of surface roots are not related to how deep the tree is planted. Surface roots are mostly a function of tree species, soil type, and soil moisture.

Ah, thank you! I feel guilty for mowing over baby oak trees, but alas, I need some grassy areas :-)

Brandon-

I've read where the tiny trees are sprouting from acorns, but from the roots as a sign that the tree is struggling for oxygen. I posted a similar question (curious about my neighbor's tree) on another website and was told he needed to expose the root flare.

Drip, the original poster explained that he had had a bumper crop of acorns (a 'mast' of acorns) and is now suffering the consequences. Mowing the seedlings will kill them.

While SOME of the seedlings may be from tree roots, I would imagine that with all the acorns came a lot of squirrels, who buried a LOT of acorns, which have now sprouted. I don't say oaks never sprout from the roots, but they are among the trees that I would say were among the ones least likely to do so.

Rhizo-

I read the orginal post; I'm just throwing out a different theory. I've seen the same thing happen to a Live Oak -- the homeowner thought they were trees from 1000s of acorns, but it turns out this wasn't the case and mowing didn't kill them.

The original poster said they must of missed 1000s of acorns -- this suggests there may be a different problem.

I'm merely throwing the idea out there to see if others have dealt with it and what has worked. My neighbor never exposed the root flare and is still having troubles with the 1000s of trees.

Dripdrip: interesting point to bring up, and it certainly doesn't hurt to suggest it. At the very least, you're reminding us of the importance of air getting to the roots (and of the dangers of mulch volcanoes, etc.)

I too have this problem. I have a big old Oak Tree that drops a lot of acorns, too many to pull by hand. We moved our lawn once a week, but it doesn't seem to kill it. When winter season comes in FL; I get at least a gallon of the acorn dropped every three days. It is killing my nice green grass. I have used weed killer but that didn't work and I'm afraid root killer, it might kill my Oak Tree. Does anyone have any other suggestion?

Aw that's a shame. Can I come to take the baby oaks from you :-)? I need them for a project we are working on.

I have a TON which are sprouting in our yard. The warm weather I beleive is to blame. Come take them all!! There are hundreds growing.

We have a large oak as well. It drops tons of acorns. Too many for the wildlife it seems.... anyone who wamts some sprouted come get em!!!

let me ask you this....why do you have a lawn? Most people dont have a valid reason

Interesting that mowing will, over time, kill the baby oaks. I did not think that that would work.

People who have done this: how many mows or over what sort of time did you find this? Just curious. It seems like an excellent method.

a tree needs leaves.. to process sunshine ... to grow roots.. to grow the top ...

if you keep cutting off the leaves... in this case.. with a mower .... then they will eventually die ...

a babe does not have a significant root mass to have stored a lot of energy ... so it shouldnt take a lot of mowings to kill them ...

ken

Hmmm... yes, that sounds... right.

[Pause.]

Would this work with all trees then? I just have the feeling that if I cut all the baby trees in my garden, instead of pulling them out after rain (if I notice the darn things) that they will grow again.

I have Ashes from our Desert Ash, Golden Rain Trees from a neighbour's tree and the occasional Maple, but never the Maples that I want. I'm going to let one of the Desert Ashes grow because I love their pendulous branches.

Baby trees, you would think, would stand out in a garden and be gone with a flick of a wrist or a throw of the mower. But I find that they blend in with the rest of the growth and before you know it, there is a giant standing there.

tete-a-tete - it should work for any true seedling tree in a lawn, which was the OP's question. If the lawn is mowed regularly, e.g. weekly, they'll die. It will not work as well for suckers. Tree seedlings in the garden beds are another matter since they can get beyond a couple of leaves before you notice them and may have developed a sufficiently large root system to support regrowth.

And tree seedlings in gravel or paving (gasp) - the worst of all. In the beds, nothing survives my trusty hoe - basically a (sharp) knife on a stick...but hoeing the gravel and scree beds - nightmare.

There are millions of ash, acer and birch seedlings appearing in the public green spaces near my house...but a few runs with the mower and poof! all gone.

I too have a huge issue with baby oak trees from acorns!! In the lawn I pull them out easily . However I have a huge mass of these horrendous little baby oaks in my flower bed which I just cleaned out for spring flowers. Everything came out but the baby oaks. Some got as tall as 8". I have tried using a garden rake and a garden hoe to no avail, I live in central Florida. I guess the only answer is to sit myself down and hand pull out the once that will come out. The only good thing is we are planning to pour concrete to enlarge the driveway!! Crazy baby oaks!!

Carole, you should not have to pull one single tree seedling from your lawn. Read this thread.

Sysfo, there's simply no way an oak (or any other species) tree seedling in the lawn will not be killed by repeat mowing. Completely impossible. What's more, any broadleaf weed killer would also easily get them. Are you reading product labels? This is really simple stuff here. In fact, forget about reading the label. Just mow. I do not believe you when you say this isn't working.

I DID NOT SAY I WASN'T ABLE TO CONTROL THE ONES IN THE YARD!!! I do mow them in the yard! It's the flower bed that is being difficult. However, I doused them with some Round-up, it kills everything ! Thanks for your response though! :)

OK, you wrote "In the lawn, I pull them out easily". Evidently I misunderstood.

Hey no problem! We all do that sometimes, including me. :) I live in zone 9 in central FL.

Dripdrip,

That was very interesting to go and read about root flare. I plan to take a closer look at the good sized southern live oak in my front yard. I have been struggling with many seedlings/saplings/(tree guy called them suckers) growing. I have tried mowing them, and if I try pulling them they seem to be attached to the tree's root system. We love our big ole tree and want it to live a long, healthy life!

Thanks for posting and I have the same problem with my neighbors oak acorn tree. Yikes I don't like them acorns.

Nooooo! Don't do it!

LOL. The Thread that wouldn't Die.

You mow and they put down deeper roots. I pull up if I can but yikes there is too many.

I have the big oaks and millions of acorns and tons of little saplings trying to survive and beat out all others. I used my weedeater to knock them back, but my issue is U am left with tons of the small stems tiny branches that hurt to walk in. They are everywhere. Like the other commenter, I would really like to n is how to get out all if these dry reigns stuck in the ground by their own dying roots. Option, sitting down or duggibf out every single one.

Just mow them. It really is that simple.

wear shoes.. and or.. get rid of the tree ...

ken

What if they are growing to close to our garden fence to mow them. To many to pull.

Dee, I bought a BATTERY powered trimmer from the box store. About $150 if I remember. It kills weedz

Roundup

oak trees typically produce an over abundance of acorns in drought years. It is a survival trait. Acorns were terrible during the fall of 2016 in the southeast especially along the I-85 corridor (Georgia, South Carolina, and NC).

Our lawn guy told us to expect them every couple of years and that they sometimes take a couple of mowings to kill, we've got hundreds around each of our 60+ year old oak trees.

Mowing my grass has not killed them. They are now growing faster than the grass.

overproduction is called a mast year : https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=mast+year&ia=web

it can be.. but not always... is the year AFTER some weather event... very cold winter... drought.. etc .. as the flowers bloom before the drought .... it wouldnt be adverse to the nut production the year of teh drought .. inartful english there.. hope you can figure what i mean ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=oak+flowers&t=ffcm&iax=images&ia=images

perhaps mary is not mowing her grass often enough ... perhaps dont wait until the grass is tall enough.. and just keep mowing the trees .. if you keep cutting off the leaves.. soon or later.. the tree will use up stored energy..and die ...

ken

We have millions of little oaks because of the huge amount of acorns that fell last fall.. I hope the commenters are right and that continual mowing will eventually destroy them. In the mean time, I am continually pulling them out of my flower beds by hand.

Look at the bright side. Acorns, sweet gum balls, etc, make good paving materials for the paths in your garden and ramps to sheds, or a dirt driveway if you have one. Maple seed also work as mulch. When we lived in Adrian Michigan there was a large Cherry orchard that used cherry pits to pave the roads though the grove.

I routinely get several bushels of sweet gums ball from my yard in the early spring. I have been putting them on the paths in the wooded area of my yard for years, I now have a good base for the paths, and have never had a problem with sweet gum trees in the path.

You have to make the best use of what GOD gives us.