Oak Patrol

Going on oak patrol is a recurring activity every spring, here in the Oakland Hills. Oak patrol means looking for oak seedlings in the yard and uprooting them (see Spring Spruce Up). Every fall the the squirrels and birds stash acorns all over the property in preparation for winter. By spring they've eaten most of them, and forgotten many. Those forgotten start to sprout in response to the winter rains. I love our mighty oak, but the little patch of land is too small to sustain a mixed oak forest! Out they come.

Oak patrol

The futility of cutting off an oak sprout

Over the years we've learned that cutting sprouts off at the soil is not enough. The oak sends down a strong root straight into the ground, and sends out new shoots every spring. The whole seedling must come out or you'll be revisiting it next year!

Interesting oak galls

This year I found a whole groups of sprouts with various shapes of oak galls. We've enjoyed seeing oak galls, or oak apples, on our rambles in the Bay Area see Summer on the Iron Horse Trail, Clear Lake Plant Diseases, and Finished Plant Diseases. Plus, oak gall is a mordant for cellulose-based fibers because of the tannin, as described in Mordants and Fixatives. I recently spotted a few more oak seedlings in another area of the land, so there is more oak patrol work to be done!