There's a company in Mississippi (I think) that sells live oaks of considerable size. I've seen their ads in Country Roads magazine and wish I could remember their name. Hopefully someone here knows who I'm talking about.

Thanks. I went to a local nursery today where they showed me a very sick oak and told me they'd get me, uh, a "better one." Sigh! I am looking to buy one that is alreday sizeable, so any tips are appreciated.

Live oaks grow fast. Buy a plant with good form rather than a "big" tree and then water it every week that it doesn't rain. Keep a circle of fresh mulch way out around it so the tree has no grass competition at all and the soil stays cool. With water and some fertilizer it will grow three to four feet every year after the first year. The first year it might not grow at all. Make sure you buy a tree without "weak crotches".

The bigger the tree the more likely it will have root issues from being in a container so long. Your big tree might tip over come hurricane season that much easier, even years later. Also a tree grown in nursery conditions (crowded) will not be as pleasingly shaped as one started small in an open sunny location where it will spread from the start.

What makes the live oak so special is it's low branching, spreading habit. A plant grown in crowded nursery conditions will be top heavy, and again... more likely to tip over next Katrina.

If you plant "fast growing" trees all around the oak, they will affect the shape of the oak just as if it were grown in a crowded nursery.

Follow these tips and in ten years you will have a very nice tree that people will think is thirty years old.

Wow, thanks! Can you explain how I can identify a live oak with good "form," and how to identify "weak crotches"?

I'm grateful for your advice... Because I'm leaving a beauty behind, I'd been considering buying one that already had some height to it, but I definitely don't want to buy one that may have probems. We do, in fact, have a large yard that gets plenty of direct sunlight, so I'll take your advice and start small. Also, we'll plant any fast-growing shade trees far from the oak (we're lucky to have a very large yar, especially by New Orleans standards).

Thanks for your reply!

You're welcome. A "weak crotch" is a branch that leaves the trunk at an acute sharp angle. An ideal branch leaves the trunk close to being parallel with the ground and THEN starts to gently climb rather than climbing sharply immediately alongside the trunk. Weak crotches can split during a storm leaving a huge wound. A branch that very gently climbs away from the trunk from the get go is fine and not considered a weak crotch.

A tree with IDEAL form looks like a miniature adult tree: It is as wide or wider than it is tall and has a low center of gravity. Very hard to find.

More often than not you will need to "top" your young tree. This is a no-no with most species of shade trees, but a live oak is not an ordinary shade tree. A good looking live oak has NO CENTRAL LEADER. It starts to spread with at first two or three, then quickly to four or five, roughly equal branches each heading away in their own direction. Your job over the next few years of pruning is to keep any one branch from dominating the others. At the same time you don't want a score of branches heading out in their own directions. The branches of the tree are then competing with each other too much. Each branch should have it's own territory.

Find any branches that rub (or cross) or that will rub in the future, and remove at least one of those branches. Try to picture what each little branch will look like in the future when they're as thick as your leg and how they'll interact with their neighboring branch then.

I'm sorry, but it's something of an art.

Spend some time walking under and studying an adult tree that you like. Then apply those lessons to your little tree.

Nolawed... I found this post a moment ago which may give you heart:

RE: what's the most expensive plant you ever bought?

Posted by sowngrow 8TX on Thu, Jan 8, 04 at 12:57

I hate to admit this but $400 for a Burr Oak tree. The tree itself was $300 and I was charged $100 for it to be planted and this wasn't a really large caliper tree. Probably about 3" at the time. I've since bought similiar sized Burr Oaks and Red Oaks from a different nursery, paying $300-$350 to have them delivered and planted. We desperately needed shade in our yard. The $68 Red Oak I bought at H. Depot has nearly caught up in size to the original $400 Burr Oak.

Nolawed, I picked up a copy of Country Roads and found the ad I mentioned above. Here's the info if you're still interested.

Large live oaks for sale
15' to 30' high
6" - 9" trunk diameter
$400-$750

Treppendahl Farms, Inc.
1364 Treppendahl Road
Woodville, MS 39669
Contact David Treppendahl
dtcre@bellsouth.net

Thanks, all. It does, indeed, sound like an art form to plant and maintain a live oak. Can anyone recommend a local nursery where I might find a helpful so-and-so to work on a search for a healthy candidate for our new yard?

I was looking at the larger trees, and willing to pay a bit for one, but I do want to plant a real gem, and not a tree that spent its infancy crowded by other oaks. If anyone can recommend a nursery that sells more mature trees that AREN'T crowded, they Yay.

Thanks for all of your help and advice, all. This is, well, FUN!

An art form to planting and maintaining live oaks? I think you can make anything as complicated as you want, but consider this...have you ever seen a live oak that wasn't gorgeous? I haven't. They are plentiful and you can bet no-one gave much thought to "maintaining" 99% of em! I have noticed that a lot of sizeable live oaks that were planted to replenish the untold number we lost in the storm tend to blow over in strong winds unless braced well, so that is one thing to consider. I purchased two small trees last year and did nothing more than water then during last year's drought.They have not grown much this first year(which I think is normal)and I only plan on giving them enough attention this year to keep them alive. I would be willing to bet in 10 years they will be as gorgeous as any other.

I have seen many, many ugly live oaks. Oaks with crossing branches and oaks that have been damaged by storms...possibly because they were not properly pruned.

In FIVE years you are all welcome to view MY oaks and see for your self how gorgeous young live oaks can be. (They grow faster when pruned correctly ;-)

Thank you everyone....your questions, answers and information was just what I was looking for....a place to purchase a live oak for our anniversay tomorrow. We just moved to NOLA from NJ, 4 months after Katrina and we have finally moved into our new home and we would love to plant a live oak and native crepe mrytles and the large variety of Magnolias that I see all around the garden district. Any sources for these beauties? Thanks so much....we are New New Orleanians and we love this city!
Loretta

I do agree that trees planted young grow faster and become better established than trees planted at a larger size.

I'm also considering planting a live oak, but I have a bit of a challenge: there are power lines hanging over the edge of my front yard and the yard is not quite big enough to accomodate a large live oak without growing into the power lines and growing over the house. If I plant it quite close to the house, but not so close as to undermine the slab foundation, the power lines won't interfere with the tree's canopy. I wonder if I could guide the tree's growth so it will grow over the roof of the house. Is this doable and safe?

Jm Breland...I think you had better prepare to pay a professional every three years, or so, to shape your tree. Keep a live oak away from your foundation as the roots of an old tree are massive. Take a look at Oak Alley Plantation's oaks' roots and you'll know to keep yours clear of your foundation.

Here in Ocean Springs, some oaks are carefully shaped around the power lines and not just hacked on. Others in town are butchered. I'm not sure why some trees are cared for while others are not. Maybe you have to pay professional pruners to present the power company with a fate' accompli... by doing the trimming around the lines long before their butchers get to your tree.

We just built a new home and worked with a landscaper (talke about expensive.) He planted a live oak, and we paid extra for a more mature one, that had a little size to it. When I mentioned that I didn't want it too close to the sidewalks or foundation, he laughed and said "you won't have to worry about it in your lifetime." (My husband and I are both 57.) Kind of cruel remark, but funny, and probably right!

Vancleaveterry, it is now five years later and I would really like to see pics of your beautiful live oak trees. We want to plant an evergreen tree in our front yard to replace the one we had to cut down about 4 years ago. We would like a pine tree but may just go with a live oak.

wodka, your story reminds me of my neighbor across the street. He just replaced his roof with a new 10-year roof. He was well-aware that he could have purchased one with a longer life!

Carol

I hope that the live oak has been a success in the needed opinion of each of my musical friends opinions. I need someone to tell me how to reach.

I am confused by my last post. There were some live oak fans that have posted on the forum that had showed interest in the Live oak. It's late I'm sleepy.

Vancleaveterry, It is now 7 yrs later, Post a pic of your Live oak tree. I am sorry for my other posts, I was drunk, quite frankly. But seriously, Vancleaveterry, or anyone with a beautiful Live oak, post some pics. I love Live oak trees, but am in zone 6 Pa. The closest I can get is hybrid Compton's oak.

Poaky - you cracked me up. I've been guilty of the same so I feel ya. I too would like to see these live oaks.

Has anyone got any pics of their Live oaks to show off?

I live on a salt water bayou on the Coast (Ms) on land which is 3.5 to 5 foot above mean tide - and we get 3 foot tides so salt water flooding is flooding is very regular - and the soil a wet, silty, sand, or dry sand. The live oak thrives here and Walmart has the trees at half price so I bought 5 live oaks, 3 gallon I think, 4-5 foot tall! 10 years ago I planted 2 at the road and they are stunning, just gorgeous.

When planting any tree from a pot you must cut any circling root, or make room in the hole for them to go straight away from the trunk, With your fingers pull any roots you see circling, same for the bottom of the root ball. All circling roots must be cut or pulled straight and then forced straight as soil is added. A circling root will keep getting bigger and strangle the other.

Today and yesterday I have planted 3 oaks, 2 peach, 2 pears, 1 kiwi, 2 Satsuma...........

Awww WHAT? I didn't know about the circling root thing! I have planted four live oaks this year. Google told me NOTHING about circling roots. What a bummer....

It is called "Pot Bound" or "Rootbound". The problem with a pot bound plant is it will seem to thrive for a few years but the roots will keep circling and getting bigger till the plant will strangle itself - also it will not get a proper root spread for water and nutrients - or to hold it up in wind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atf2I0ehXf8

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnPQyDPjAQI

Many plants in pots are fine to just plant. The nursery will have dug them and cut the roots correctly the year before, and then put them in pots - knowing when it will be sold for it not to be much potbound. Most will have some pot bound though - hopefully not much, worth checking before planting - you are likely fine if they are fresh from a reputable source.

Potbound is why a dry rooted tree will exceed a pot tree in size in 3 years because although the dry rooted tree is tiny compared to the pot tree the roots never have the pot blocking them, they grow free in the native earth.

This is why keeping trees/shrubs in pots it is correct to plant in a bigger pot - 2 years later unpot it and pot in a bigger pot, then same again in 2 years till the really big pot is reached. This makes the plant grow rings of roots through out the big pot. If you just planted a woody plant into the really big pot the roots will go to the outside pot and circle in a mass with little roots in the rest.

If it is a tap root tree you must check to see if the tap root is curled at the pot bottom - and straighten it down or cut it.

What a coincidence that this thread popped back up. Said neighbor passed away a few weeks ago. I will really miss him. I told his son, who lives in Ohio, about his Dad and the roof. He told me that he found the receipt while going through papers and his father did go ahead and put on a 30-year roof!