Geographic location?

sorry.. no experience with this specific oak ...

but at the link ... you will find a planting guide ...

as a group ... we do NOT favor amending a planting hole ....

and most of us.. prefer to bare root a dormant tree so as to plant in native soil ... often holding a potted tree.. until its next dormant season ... especially if it is an evergreen oak ....

you dont mention where you are ... i would suggest a call to your COUNTY extension office.. to see if they have any info.. about this particular tree.. in your area .... they may also know general soil information for the county .... in case this tree is just no good for your area ...

good luck ... do let us know where you are ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Zone 9. About an hour south of Fresno, California.

You can use the Find Your Sunset Climate Zone feature to see if they think you are in one of the right areas for this tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: Quercus douglasii - BLUE OAK - Plant Finder - Sunset.com

I see there is at least one publicly accessible tree collection in the area. You might want to go look for blue oaks there, discover what their situations are and what you think of the trees up close and personal.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Arboretum at California State University, Fresno

My zone is ok for the tree. I got the planting of how and where down pretty much. If anyone has any personal experience with this tree such as how often did you water it, size of watering berm if one used, what's your soil like, the temps through the day, how much has it grown etc.... would be muchoO apperciatedO. ..... growth rate variances........ etc...
thanks

Dmacsimus, I have no personal experience with blue oaks but have some with other oaks as a restoration ecologist in CA. Standard procedure for all oaks is to prepare a 3-foot diameter planting basin surrounded by a 3 to 4-inch berm. No soil amendment or disturbance of soil beyond installing a bottomless tree-size gopher basket, if needed (do you have gophers?). For the first year 10-gallons of water are provided at two to three week intervals during the dry season. In the second dry season, it is 10 gallons per month. After that, no supplemental water at all. This is for an area nearer the coast; in Fresno vicinity you may need to increase water to maybe 15 gallons per irrigation event.

Blue oaks, as you mention, are observed to be intolerant of being over-irrigated, so the thinking for an upcoming project we have (first time for any of us planting blue oaks) is, for them, to try extending the wet season at either end (irrigate to mid-June, say, then no water until the end of August) rather than irrigate through the summer. As your tree will be close at hand, you will at least be able to monitor its response and adjust accordingly.

As for growth rate, etc. I've attached a link to the informative write-up by the late, great Bert Wilson of Las Pilitas Nursery.

Here is a link that might be useful: Las Pilitas Quercus douglasii info

....to which I would only add, amending the soil is a great thing, if......you are able to amend the entire potential rooting area of your planting. In other words, the whole yard. Amending just that small area of backfill not only misses the point that for the new tree to succeed in its site, its roots will need to colonize soil far beyond that initial area, it is also apt to induce drainage anomalies, either becoming a small bathtub of poorly draining soil, or just as bad, becoming a small area of excessively drained, and therefore, dry soil. You don't want either, so if you can't amend a large area, then it is considered best to not amend at all.

I hope that makes sense....it does to me, lol....but obviously, if not, let us know.

+oM

Should add to my response that the floor of the planting "basin" should be at grade level and that berm walls should be removed/raked away after artificial irrigation stops. In other words, don't leave a tree sitting in a bathtub.

Once the organic amendments decompose and leach away you are back to the original soil so amending large areas for permanent plantings doesn't make sense anyway.

Mulching permanent plantings does make sense.

Annual flower and vegetable beds that are emptied out every year can easily be re-amended. Garden varieties of these are also derived from wild plants that pop up in disturbed places that may have a high level of fresh organic material - it is natural for such plants to be living in quite organically rich soils.

Unlike many kinds of trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs.

Dare we go. Now we're cooking with gas. I very mucho apperciatedO the info. The reason I'm wanted to amend the soil in the area of planting was attempting to better the chances of the tree adapting to the soil in my yard. It is clay which can stand water for some time. I plan on digging around 3+ feet deep and about 4-5 feet around directly where I'm going to plant it. In the past in some areas of my yard i have found where the top layer was shallow of the clay layer. My hope is to provide enough drainage for the tree and as it's roots spread out it would slowely grow and hopefully adapt into the surrounding soil. As the roots grow they also my seek better areas of soil below the clay layer..... thank you guys again for the info, especially watering. I will try to post follow ups of this venture. Oh...... and gophers ....... one about every other year so I'm thinking of a basket for this tree...... gophers are the devil of the dirt!

Almost ready..... but now thinking of keeping the California Blue Oak in a container and planting some other oak, like a sawtooth or a nuttallii? Oh man........ even a Texas Laceyi Quercus oak...... what to do, what to do?

update: totally changed the location of where I was going to plant the cali blue oak. I planted it in the center of the area shown in the pic on a slightly elevated erea where it can get very dry in the yard. hasn't grown much vertically at all, but the trunk has almost trippled in size on its lower area.

excited to see this one get purdy and grow up some.

Also look at Quercus suber. It does well in CA.

My MIL had a Q. douglasii. Beautiful tree. She lived in the foothills where drainage was quick. She watered it the first two years and let winter rain take care of it after that.

thanks, I will check it out. lately I have removed irrigation to it and plan on the same watering as you have mentioned.
thanks again

IME should be OK there, even as roots extend far beyond shrub bed, as those oaks adapt to the extra water (and by that time, water will be so expensive you'll have cut out your turf).