About J. Wayne Fears

The question is often raised about the practicality of growing a fast mast producing tree orchard as a long-term perennial food plot in conjunction with, or rather than, a grain, legume, and/or brassica food plot. In effect, it is a food plot that would look somewhat like a wood lot.

The fact is that this is done quite often by landowners who are serious about their long-term white-tailed deer management program. These plots are often called “food lots,” a take-off on the term “wood lot.” Some food lots are planted in soft mast trees such as persimmon, plumb, crabapple or mulberry; others are planted in hard mast trees, usually a variety of fast growing oaks. Some deer managers like to have food lots with a mixture of both soft and hard mast trees which can provide a food variety over more of the year.

The sawtooth oak gets its name from its serrated leaf edge.

The most popular food lot tree at this time is the sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima) and more and more we are seeing food lots planted strictly with these fast growing oaks.

“Acorns are probably the most important food item for our deer and wild turkeys, and sawtooth oaks are the most consistent acorn producers I’ve seen,” says Bo Pitman. This Alabama farmer is a serious deer manager and has planted more than 4,500 sawtooth oaks over the past 12 years.

“If you take care of your sawtooth oaks they grow fast, start producing acorns when they’re about six to eight years old, and have the potential for a good mast crop annually,” he says. “They drop large acorns, and are a favorite food for not only deer and wild turkey, but squirrels as well.”

What is the Sawtooth Oak?

The sawtooth oak, which gets its name from the serrated edge of the leaf, was first imported into the United States from Asia in the early 1920s as an ornamental tree. A species of white oak, the sawtooth is a fast-growing tree that may reach 50 to 70 feet in height, with a 30- to 40-foot spread.

It grows well in fertile, well-drained soils, but is widely adapted to a variety of soil types and moisture conditions. They do poorly in deep sand and in areas that retain water.

In the U.S. the sawtooth has been successfully grown in much of the eastern half of the country, from southern New England west to south-central Michigan, and southern Minnesota south to east Texas and east to the Atlantic. It doesn’t do well in areas where winter temperatures frequently dip below zero degrees.

	Sawtooth oak food lots require annual management during the first few years to obtain maximun growth and early acorn production.

Fast Acorn Producers

Deer managers interested in planting food lots will like the sawtooth oak’s ability to produce acorns at an early age, often as early as the sixth year after being planted as a bare-root seedling. Some researchers have reported well-managed trees bearing acorns as early as the fourth year, although I personally have never seen any that produced that quickly.

Research we conducted on my farm has recorded initial acorn production the eighth year. Trees planted out in the open that were fertilized and kept free of competitive plants are the first to bear acorns. But whether these trees bear acorns the fourth or eighth year of growth, this is still much faster than the 20 to 40 years it takes other oaks to produce their first mast crop.

“I like their consistency,” Pitman says. “Once my sawtooths started producing acorns, they have produced every year since.” My experience has been the same except for one year when my farm was hit by a late spring freeze just at the peak of the sawtooth oak’s flowering stage. That following fall there was no mast.

An Abundance of Large Acorns

Sawtooth oak trees that are 15 years of age and older have been reported to produce 1,000 to 1,300 pounds of acorns in a single year. Considering that there are 40 to 80 acorns per pound, that’s a lot of fall and winter food for deer and other wildlife.

A 8-year-old tree can produce a bushel of acorns, while a 15-year-old tree can produce 1,000 pounds of acorns or more.

The average sawtooth acorn is 1½ inches long. Because wild turkeys prefer smaller acorns, researchers in Kentucky developed a new variety of sawtooth oak that produces a 5/8- to ¾-inch acorn. Called the “Gobbler” sawtooth oak, it yields about 150 acorns per pound.

Planting for Success

The sawtooth oak, like any other high-yield plant, must be planted with care if it is to give satisfactory results. Most deer managers prefer to plant 18-inch to 36-inch bare-root seedlings when planting sawtooth oaks. The seedling has a large, carrot-like taproot that must be set out with the point straight down, not bent into a “J” shape, and the roots must be completely covered. Planting time can be from late fall to early spring.

Seedlings are often available from state forestry agencies or may be purchased online from www.wildlifegroup.com. Be sure to order early (late summer) before you plan on planting the coming fall or spring. Seedlings usually sell out fast.

The sawtooth oak requires sunlight 75% of the day, so they do best when planted in open fields or large forest openings. At my farm during the early days of research, we planted several 24-inch seedlings in shady areas and six years later they had only grown one foot. Sun is a must for these oak seedlings to grow to their potential.

Pittman suggests setting out sawtooths near pine plantations as a source of food near cover for deer and wild turkeys. However, he warns that sawtooths must be planted far enough away from the pines to prevent over-shading – usually 40 feet or more.

During the first three to five years of growth, sawtooth seedlings cannot stand competition from grass, weeds, trees, or other plants, so you must mechanically control vegetation around seedlings. Pittman suggests that when setting seedlings out in a large field, you should space them so that a tractor with a mower or disk can be driven between the trees easily for vegetative control and for planting a ground cover.

In an orchard or food lot-style planting, biologists recommend 20- x 25-foot spacing. The food lot can be as small as a half acre or as large as 2 acres. Pitman says he gets heavy use in his smaller half-acre food lots.

Fertilization can increase growth and mast production. Fertilize in early spring according to a soil test; or in the absence of a soil test, an application of 13-13-13 fertilizer broadcast in a 6-foot circle around young seedlings, at a rate of one pound per tree, usually works well. Spread the fertilizer around the drip line of mature trees at a rate of two pounds per 1,000 square feet of crown.

A Tree Shelter Helps

The use of tree shelters (www.treessentials.com) on the sawtooth seedlings can be a good idea the first half dozen years or so of their life since deer like to browse the young plants and rub their antlers on the older seedlings, and rabbits and other rodents will girdle the seedling if they can get to it. The tree shelter also works as a mini-greenhouse, helping the young tree survive during severe weather. Also, it marks each tree location for management purposes and helps protect the seedling when mowing is done.

I have had problems with beavers traveling from nearby streams to get at my five- and six-year-old trees. They cut them down and carried them back to the stream, so if you are establishing sawtooths within a quarter-mile of a known beaver population, protecting the tree trunk would be wise.

I recently visited a farm in the southern Appalachians where the owner had planted several one-acre food lots of sawtooth oaks with a ground cover of Durana clover. The trees were 10 years old and the established ground cover of clover was two years old. It was a win-win situation. The acorns were a magnet for deer during the early fall bow season, and the clover held them until spring green-up in the woods. It was ideal for both hunter and deer.

Sawtooth oaks are not the magic bean that deer managers are constantly looking for, but it’s a hard mast crop that can be included in a long-term deer habitat program, and with proper management, most years it can produce plenty of choice food in the fall.