English oak

Photo: Unknown — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 4 through 8

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Acorns edible after leaching out bitter tannins, ground into flour or roasted — moderate tannin, needs thorough leaching.

Hardiness

Zone 4–8

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Nut

Ripens

Sept–Oct

Mature size

Large tree 20–40 m, immensely broad-crowned and long-lived — not containerable

Light

Full sun — acorn masting needs a sunlit crown

Soil pH

Castanea 4.5–6.5 — ⚠ LIME-INTOLERANT (calcifuge, unlike other nut trees). Quercus/Fagus 5.0–6.5

Environment

Temperate woodland

Native range

Europe and western Asia — the British Isles east to the Caucasus and Urals, south to the Mediterranean; the classic oak of European lowland woodland, hedgerow and parkland.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–5 yrs grafted

Growth speed

30–60 cm/year — medium, slower in youth while the taproot is built.

Spacing

1400 cm (551 in) apart — about 196 m² (2110 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, 7–14 cm long, with 3–7 pairs of deep rounded lobes, a very short stalk and two small ear-like auricles clasping the twig at the base — the auricles plus short petiole are diagnostic.

Root system

A strong taproot dominates the first three years, driving 60–120 cm down while the top makes only modest growth — which is why oaks resent being moved once established and why nursery stock should be planted young. Mature trees add a wide lateral network.

Fruit description

Oval acorns 2–3 cm long carried on a long slender stalk — the peduncle that gives it the name pedunculate oak — the cup covering a quarter to a third of the nut. Edible after thorough leaching, though more tannic than the American white oaks.

Propagation

⚠ White-oak-group acorns germinate in autumn, the moment they drop — they must be sown fresh and cannot be dried or stored like red oak acorns. Sow immediately in deep pots or straight into position, protected from mice; little or no cold stratification is needed.

Pollination

Wind-pollinated and monoecious — male catkins and small female flowers on the same tree, so a lone tree will bear. Masting, with heavy crops every few years; a group of trees within pollen range sets far more reliably than an isolated one.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.