Answers about Live Oaks:
Q: Why do I want Live Oak
trees for my landscape?
A: An amazingly durable American native the Live Oak tree can measure its lifetime in centuries if properly located and cared for in the landscape. It makes an excellent street tree in the South.
The traditional or classic Live-Oaks
grow to be a large, sprawling,
picturesque tree, usually graced with
Spanish moss and strongly reminiscent of
the Old South, Live Oak is one of the
broadest spreading of the Oaks,
providing large areas of deep, inviting
shade. Reaching 40 to 60 feet in height
with a 60 to 100 foot spread and usually
possessing many sinuously curved trunks
and branches. Live Oak trees are an impressive
sight for any large-scale landscape;
Give it plenty of room since the trunk
can grow to more than six feet in
diameter.
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Q: What does B&B mean, why should I prefer field grown
Live Oak trees?
A: A field-grown Live Oak tree is planted into native soils, grown to a
harvestable size, harvested prior to sale, and transported to the
job site. Field-grown Live Oak trees are referred to as balled and bur lapped
(B&B) because the root system is harvested and wrapped in burlap.
Live Oak trees are placed in wire baskets to support the root system and to
make it possible to lift the Live Oak by the root ball rather than the
trunk.
Many studies have been done to compare B&B Live
Oak trees with
Container Grown Live Oak trees after planting. One such study from the
University of Florida Horticulture Department (1996) shows how
B&B take to a new environment as long as certain root pruning and
irrigation procedures are done in the nursery. Live Oak trees in our
field-grown nursery are maintained with drip irrigation, fertilizer,
selective shoot pruning, and root pruning. Root pruning, drip
irrigation and fertilizer help build a strong, dense root system,
while selective pruning is used to guide the Live Oak tree into the desired
form.
Our field-grown Live Oak trees are hardened-off or cured after
harvesting. This hardening-off process lasts three to four weeks and
it simply involves providing the Live Oak with optimum irrigation during
the few weeks after harvesting. This step, as simple as it may seem,
is crucial to the health and survivability of the Live Oak tree.
After the Live Oak tree is hardened-off it is ready to ship (see our shipping
process page) to the landscape site. New roots that have begun to
develop are ready to grow immediately into the landscape. These new
roots growing outside of the burlap are a sign of quality. Our
Quality Root System Guarantee reminds you of the care taken to
assure the survival of our Live Oak trees in your landscape. Look for roots
outside of the burlap, our QRS Guarantee assures that you are
planting a quality hardened-off Live Oak tree.
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Q: How are
your Live Oak trees grown?
A: Our Live Oaks grown in-ground, or the technical term "field
grown", from about 2-3 feet tall until we sell them to our
customers. We only sell Live Oak trees that we grow in our nursery.
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Q: In what zone will Live Oak trees grow?
A: We really get this question a lot. Live Oaks (quercus
virginiana's) are sometimes called the Southern Oak on purpose. They
like warm southern air but can tolerate a little cold. Here's a list
of compatible zones using the American Horticulture Society USDA
Hardiness Zone Map:
- USDA Zone 8a: to -12.2° C (10° F)
- USDA Zone 8b: to -9.4° C (15° F)
- USDA Zone 9a: to -6.6° C (20° F)
- USDA Zone 9b: to -3.8° C (25° F)
- USDA Zone 10a: to -1.1°C (30° F)
- USDA Zone 10b: to 1.7° C (35° F)
- USDA Zone 11: above 4.5° C (40° F)
Where are Live Oak trees Grown:
Southern Pride Tree Farm is located in north Florida and ships trees to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Florida.
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Q: What does caliper mean?
A: Caliper is a nursery standard measurement for the diameter of
the trunk.
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Q: What does your Quality Roots System
(QRS) guarantee mean?
A:Southern Pride Tree Farm guarantee's our customers are buying
the best quality hardened-off Live Oak tree available. All of our
Live Oak trees are
held until new roots develop from the top of the root ball to the
bottom and all the way around. Then and only then are the Live Oak trees
ready to be moved and start growing into your landscape. We are
committed to increasing the awareness and quality that field-grown
Live Oak
trees offer a landscape.
Hardening-off means the Live Oak has
been held in our nursery under optimum irrigation until new roots
have begun to regenerate. (4-6 weeks minimum). These roots are ready
to start growing into your landscape. Look for our Quality Root
System™" tag in your next shipment of Live Oak trees to guarantee you are
buying quality hardened-off field-grown Live Oak trees.
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Q: What are
the Live Oak tree grades & standards for
Florida trees?
A: Grades and Standards were developed by The University of
Florida and The Florida Department of Agriculture to provide city
and county landscapers with a preferred tree structure and a method
of grading the different trees grown and placed in Florida
Landscapes. Here you learn the difference in a Florida #1, Florida
Fancy or others.
Click Here to view the .pdf Tree's Grades and Standards
document.
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Q: Where can I find more information
about Live Oak trees?
A: The organization
Roots Plus Growers developed a very good tool called the
Tree Planting Cue Card < you can view and
download it here. You will need adobe acrobat reader.
More about tree grades and standards
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Q: When is the best time to plant
Live Oak
trees?
A: Anytime, though in more northern regions that get colder we
recommend the earlier the better so the Live Oak tree establishes before
dealing with the cold. We dig the inventory we will sell for the
year in late January and harden off (allow new roots to be visible
from the top of the rootball to the bottom and all the way around)
and go through any shock from being dug in the nursery - the Live
Oak trees
are healthy and happy before we ship and will establish nicely any
time of year. (Click here - To see how we prepare
Live Oak trees for
shipping)
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