Oaks can be difficult to transplant for this reason. An acorn is the best way to do it if you don't need the tree to be a certain size to start out or have certain attributes, can wait several years before it starts to resemble a tree and you're not worried about the acorn getting eaten. And of course if you happen to have a viable acorn.

I planted an acorn in my yard (orange clay, but well drained) in the fall of 2006, the little seedling was about 4 inches tall at the end of the first season, and it is still 4 inches tall. I asked about it here, and it sounds like it is common for acorns planted in the ground to stagnate on top for a few years while they build a root system. If I were to do it again, I would plant an acorn in a big pot of free draining potting mix for a year or two, where the roots will develop faster and the top would gain some size sooner. Then I would bare root transplant it in the fall.

From what I've read here, there's nothing magic about the tap root, and it becomes less predominant as the tree gets older. I do know from direct experience that if you prune the tip of the tap root, a lot of lateral roots will form.

I keep telling myself that my tree will be better off in the long run, but it looks so vulnerable, even protected by a cage! It is a bit perplexing to watch. I mean, is all that photosynthate really going to make roots? Hopefully this is the year it takes off. My neighbors must be wondering what the cage is for! For comparison, I planted a few persimmon seeds last spring. This is another tap rooted tree, but the seeds are much smaller, maybe 1/10 the mass of a white oak acorn. The tallest of those grew to over three feet in a single season!

Alex

forget about the tap root debate... its really irrelevant.. except on a theoretical level ...

next.. is the fact that it actually be a white oak important ... ???

how will you know a white oak will come out of your acorn????

if just growing an oak is fine with you... i would do two things...kill some grass in about a one foot area... pound in a marker of some kind.. and put 3 or 4 acorns in the loosened soil ... and wait about 20 years.. lol ... cull out all but the strongest in the second year ... wouldnt want to waste a year on duds ...

second... put some soil and ,.. presuming you have access to many acorns.. put 4 in the pot.. and see what happens .. if they live .... in fall when they lose their leaves.. plant them in the ground ....

if a white oak is important.. you would mail order a white oak .. which will not have a tap root ... and have what you want..

i got a 3 foot whip about 8 years ago.. and its a nice little 20 footer ...

it is an old wives tale that oaks are slow growing.. once established ...

and i have transplanted at least 40 of them.. and never lost one... but i do that in april or october in my z5 ... maybe my area is special to oaks.. or it is harder down south.. i know not ...

good luck

ken

Thanks for your answers so far.

Iforgotitsonevermind: I have viable acorns from two locations in Indianapolis, or more accurately, I will have some in the fall. I want to enjoy the experience to plant a white oak from acorn once in my life. I know it will take longer than starting with a bigger tree, but that's ok. This tree hopefully will be here long after I am gone, so no rush on my part.

Alexander3: That's an interesting observation about the young seedling basically sitting there for a few years before starting to grow. I have grown white oaks in pots, and never seen that "just sitting" there. It'll be interesting to observe the behavior of the young seedling.

Ken_adrian: Can you please elaborate a bit on the irrelevance of the tap-root debate? I'm curious here...

The importance of the acorn actually being a white oak and me knowing it is actually a white oak... That's a good point. Yes, it is important to me to grow a white oak. I have a hard time finding one in my neighborhood (35 year old suburb), plus I really like that tree. My acorn sources are three old trees on Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, where three old white oaks grow next to each other. Each trunk is about four feet in diameter and each one is absolutely stunning in shape, size and overall appearance. Growing next to each other, I figured I have a pretty good chance of getting relatively pure white oak acorns from them. My second source is an even more impressive tree on the Campus of Butler University in Indianapolis. The tree has easily a diameter of five feet or more. Incredible shape, stunning specimen. I have grown many acorns from that tree over the years, and they all seem to match the white oak characteristics.

Slow growers... I agree with you, so far the acorns I have grown in pots all grow at what I consider a normal speed. Not weed-like, but definitely not on the slow side either. I have used the mailorder route, but for this one I want to start the the beginning myself. Maybe even document it... just a thought.

I think I will proceed in two ways. One, I will plant my acorns in the ground, protect them with wire from animals and see what happens. Two, I will grow some in pots and transplant them if the acorns in the ground fail to grow or something happens to them.

I guess you can call me hopelessly romantic, but I started a tulip tree in 2000 as my millennium tree, and every time I walk past it I get joy out of it, just for what it represents and for how well it has grown. I guess I am going for something similar with this white oak project.

Marcy,
There's nothing magical about a taproot.
Yes, it provides some anchorage, early on, but its main function is as a 'storage vessel' for stored energy reserves to push growth in the subsequent growing season.
Severing a taproot is not necessarily a 'death warrant' for any taprooted species, but it does behoove us, when digging a bareroot specimen to preserve as much of the taproot as is possible, just so that the seedling has as much reserve as possible to 'fall back on' while it's getting a root system re-established.
Many forestry nurseries routinely undercut/root-prune 1st year seedlings in the nursery beds in order to foster development of a more lateralized root system early on - this translates into greater transplant success rates.
A few of the specialty nurseries that specialize in strongly taprooted species like oaks & nut trees are growing their seedlings elevated bottomless pots, plant bands, or grow-bags; as the tip of the taproot exits the bottom of the growth medium, it is 'air-pruned' and the plant begins to develop a more lateralized root system - which, again, translates into faster establishment, less 'transplant shock', and evidence suggests that trees grown in this manner may also come into production sooner, as well.

Growing your own white oak from locally-collected acorns - great! Go for it! Direct seeding is OK, but check out the link below.
OIKOS Tree Crops, in Kalamazoo, offers some unique oak selections.

Here is a link that might be useful: Containerized growing of oak & nut tree seedlings

RE the tap root, see figure A.

Figure A.
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See that little carrot dangling down on the bottom? On oaks, this starts out small but grows quickly making it a little tricky for planting very small seedlings. But once oak seedlings grow larger, the tap roots don't keep growing at the same rapid pace. On some tree species tap roots are larger and grow deeper.