move them in dormancy ... IDing them would help decide if they are evergreen or deciduous ...

there is no reason they cant be moved ... but this close to summer.. is probably not the best time ...

at some point.. they are going to become invasive weeds [though i might call that many in one place a weed already] .. in your garden... they will need to be dealt with.. and that may well include.. killing a vast majority of them ... unless you have acreage.. one oak tree is probably enough for most suburban settings ...

i dont know where you are... as California Chapparal doesnt mean anything to this MI boy ....

'timing' is everything when dealing with trees ... and its usually never when you want or can do it.. lol ...

ken

I'll just post a little background about what i've been trying to accomplish. There's about an acre of land i've been trying to reforest with oak trees but finding seedlings on my land hasn't exactly been easy. Most of the little oaks i've experimented with in the past have died from the transplant and i've found that these oaks are very sensitive to root disturbance. These oaks i've moved aren't invasive (I have trouble finding them at all) but I'm guessing there must have been a twig with acorns on it that got buried, and my watering caused all of the acorns to sprout.
I'm by no means a professional, this is kind of just a hobby i've picked up in the last couple years ^.^. Separating them if there were any distance between them wouldn't be a problem as i'd just dig them out with all the dirt. Unfortunately these are within a penny's distance of eachother...and the roots grow mostly horizontally. There being nine of them this close I don't want to risk poking around and taking some of them out without the dirt to go along. I actually overestimated the inches...the diameter of the circle is closer to 3.5 inches, not 5.
My main concern is that the growth of the individual oaks may be stunted and while there will be nine of them growing as one, the trunks will be thin and weaker. Do you think this will happen?
The attached picture is what i'm trying to avoid lol. That's my biggest fear of what could happen down the road.

This post was edited by TheOakMan on Mon, Apr 28, 14 at 11:33

Well, those octopus oak groves can also actually be pretty cool (as in your photo) and add some central focal points to your land..

Your photo looks good to me. The Q. Fusiformis grow like that sometimes. I guess it depends on a person's taste in how they want their trees to look.

Thanks everyone. I also think it can look nice sometimes so I guess i'll just let them grow a little more and see how it develops. I guess it's also good insurance against some of them dying. Thanks again.

I've never had much luck transplanting oaks; even when I find them six inches tall. I have had good luck with collecting acorns in the fall and "planting" several of them where I desire an oak to grow, though. Watch out for the squirrels though.