My understanding of a Live Oak was that it is evergreen. Is this a different sort? Or have I misunderstood the meaning of 'Live Oak'?

I don't see any leaves either.

I'm honestly not sure what kind of live oak it is. I bought it from arbor day foundation, and it arrived with the lives brown and falling off. The tree itself is fine. The ends of the branches, you can see, are putting out new growth. We've just had temperatures over the past week in the 20's at night and 40's during the day.

It arrived bare root, and it's a little stressed from the transplant. There were two, and of the twenty trees I purchased from arbor day foundation, all were leafless.

I'm just wondering how old it looks, and how long, based on its current height of 13", it could be before it looks like a small tree and not a twig.

For instance, I heard live oaks, when very young, can add about 2-2.5' per year. Is this accurate? In 10 years could I have two 20 foot live oaks?

Thanks.

Arborday narrows it down, they only sell one species of Live Oak, -
http://shop.arborday.org/product.aspx?zpid=876 , Quercus virginiana.
It says zones 7 - 10 but the bootheel of Missouri is 7 and I've never seen one there. I've never known of Live Oak to be much more than southern and semi-coastal (in the ground). Just wondering, is your zone 8a like it says here or 9a like your profile says? Care to disclose your region, I promise to tell my Grandma not to stalk you..lol

East Texas. It's planted at my mother's home. The 9a is referring to my home in Arizona.

Where in east? Stephen F Austin State University Gardens have plant sale every October and March if your mom lives close by to check them out. There are some interesting trees that are not sold in stores like Montezuma-Bald hybrid cypress (fast growth!). Mexican sugar maple is pretty fast grower as well. Often times, I suggest Mexican White Oak as an alternative due to its fast growth.

Here is a link that might be useful: SFASU Gardens

Yeah sure, imm, that sounds like about the right growth rate in an ideal environment for a Coastal Live Oak. I think I would've tried Texas Live Oak (Quercus fusiformis) in that location myself though. -
I wouldn't bet my lunch on Arborday's information, (like their zones). - http://shop.arborday.org/product.aspx?zpid=876

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.backyardnature.net/n/w/tex-live.htm

immob,
I see pine trees on the lot across the street from you.
Live oaks live under the pine trees where I live. I have
hundreds of them in my back yard.
They are evergreen, and loose leaves and releaf in the spring.
If the tree looks as though it is alive, just make sure it receives some water throughout the winter, so it doesn't totally dry out.
Mabey it will releaf out for you in the spring.
They grow really fast, so the tree you have is very young.
I would guess probably a year old.
They are a beautiful tree, I understand why you wanted it, so as long as it shows signs of life, I am sure it will take off for you.
Good Luck.

Many years ago I ordered a 'live oak' from Arbor Day. I don't think it was actually Q. virginiana, because it lost leaves as well. I'm thinking what they sent was actually Swamp Laurel oak (Q. laurifolia) or maybe a Darlington oak, (Q. hemisphaerica).

Perhaps a zoom in to the leaves would help us ID it.

All I'm saying is beware Arbor Day!

A true Q. virginiana should have green leaves still. If you think yours is still alive (scratch test?), then hang on to it for another year and see.

Live oak seedlings do grow quickly. I would say a healthy 2-foot plant should put on 3 to 4 feet of new growth next season if well watered.

In East Texas live oaks should be everywhere. You could probably dig up volunteers or sow some acorns about now.

This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Fri, Nov 21, 14 at 8:01

I'll post pictures of the leaves when they come back out in a few months. The leaves were long and slender, slightly wider and shorter than acacia leaves. I did do a scratch test two nights ago, and the oaks are bright green beneath the bark. They're fine and healthy. I water by sprinkler system, 24 minutes per zone once every other day. I really just think they're stressed from shipping. They did come with leaves, but the leaves had turned brown and were breaking. They came bareroot, not potted.

I know Arbor Day Foundation gets a bad rap, but most of the complaints that I've read are that their ten free trees have died. I didn't get 10 free trees. I got two free forsythia, which I planted by can die for all I care, they won't flower well in East Texas, and a red maple. The red map is about two feet tall, leafless, and looks healthy.

I also bought eight dogwoods, which will be grown in full sun, but I think will do alright since they're on a sprinkler system. (I hope I didn't kill them last night because I accidentally left the sprinkler system on all night, and we had freak rains. Most of them are standing in water right now.)

But for the most part the trees have been healthy. For the past week, really until the night before last, we've had sub freezing temperatures. Despite this, some of the tree limbs, although bare, have been putting out new growth.

I actually went back to Arbor Day and bought some Shumard Oaks, and other varieties of oak, to plant in the area of the yard that doesn't have any sprinklers.

The only trees that I bought that still had leaves were the loblolly pines, which I still haven't put in the ground. I actually asked that they cancel the loblollies and they didn't.

About 2 to 3 years if it's still alive. Is it flexible and not brittle?

I was thinking about ordering some trees from Arbor day -- hearing mixed things here. I guess i have never bought a "bare root" tree because I usually get stuff at a nursery in dirt... they ship in certain time frames based on where you live. Do other people find that their trees do ok, for the most part? They don't have all the trees I'm interested in but they have some. I'm in a town that seems to have a very cool microclimate / niche -- supposed to be zone 6B, and we do have hard winters but we have orchards everywhere, and in town snowbells, mimosas, wisteria, lace elderberry, purple robe locust, tulips, cypress near the river only, ginkgo, tons of maples and oaks, quaking aspen... I'm experimenting to see if I can grow a brown turkey fig, oklahoma redbud, empress, tulip.

Most of the negative publicity about Arbor Day Foundation has to do with their "10 free trees" deal. People complain that they don't have good records with keeping those trees alive.

I didn't do the 10 free trees deal. I purchased about twenty trees from them and got a couple freebies. While their trees are smaller than what you would expect from a big box store, I've found their trees to be nice for the price.

The best thing about Arbor Day is they tell you when you're ordering what trees will work in your area. They have recommended trees based on your zip code.

The trees come dormant and bare root, with their roots wrapped in plastic and covered in gel. How well you prepare the planting area is really the biggest determinant of whether they survive. You really want about a 3-4' wide mulched area around the planting hole. I didn't want to take the time digging up grass so I put down newspaper in a circle around the trees and mulched on top of that.

Even though they're small, you want to stake them as well. I use Nelson Tree Stake Kits. They're wooden stakes that are very easy to use, and they cost $6.99 on Amazon.

The dogwoods I've planted are already growing new limbs. They've been in the ground for a week. The crabapples, while not yet leafing out, are putting on new growth.

Immobilus, If you can recall, did these Live oaks have a good bit of rootball? I had received paid for trees many years ago from Arborday, and the roots were crap, hardly any rootball. If you got a good rootball, and when planted, the roots aren't tangled, your tree should be fine, even if the top is dead, likely if the rootball is good and well developed, you will likely get good top growth. I am not an expert with live oaks, but, I have a good amount of oak trees here in my yard, and I have had a Live oak come up from the roots last winter. I do hope those with larger mature Live oaks concur with me.

hi immob,
This pic is of one year old Q. virginiana. I collected the seed about this time last year, sowed them in pots, they germinated shortly thereafter. I overwintered them in a frostfree area and here's what they look like today.
Since I know little about Arbor Day Foundation I did an online search. The Arbor Day farm in Nebraska looks like a theme park. Surely they are not growing seedlings and other liners??? I assume that they are brokering them from several sources.
Cheap, bareroot, mailorder trees have been the source of numerous complaints on this forum.
On a popular watchdog site, negatives are so numerous, any for-profit could not exist like this for long.
{{gwi:474354}}

The leaves, while still brown, don't look like that on mine. They aren't lobed. They're soft-edged and cylindrical. They do look exactly like the photo. The trees are also putting on new growth, just not leaves.

They're like acacia leaves, except shorter and more broad.

That picture came from Google images.

I'm just going to leave them alone and see how they do as it warms.

I'll keep you posted.