Yep, same here. It has gotten taller, but hasn't spread any.

I would give it more time. Most trees seem to just sit there for the first couple of years. My Bur Oak has taken off after getting established. Be sure to give it water once a week in the summer and mulch helps also.

There are a few things that really slows them down...

1) planting too deep. Root flares need to be exposed a little bit.

2) no mulch. The wider, the better. 5 feet wide is good.

3) small hole. A large circle like 5 feet would need to be loosened up (Garden Claw works great)to help roots spread out faster. If the soil is too compacted, it will slow them down dramatically.

I planted a 5 gallon 5 feet bur oak in fall of 2005. it grew about 8 inches in 2006. It grew at least 3 feet in 2007. It appears to have grown 8 inches already this year.

Fertilizer helps. I use organic fertilizer so whenever the lawn gets it, trees get it as well.

I have been doing a little experiment of my own. I planted a 5g gallon 6 feet bur oak at the neighborhood park last fall and it grew 6-8 inches already. What I did something different with this tree is that I dug up 5 feet wide hole (3 feet for mine), 5 feet wide mulch (3ft wide for mine). Also I applied a mixture of alfalfa pellet and soybean meal under the mulch to get the soil biology going and provide nutrients to the roots. Oh yeah, I poured in 5g of water with fish hydrosylate and seaweed mix directly into the rootball in the fall. I am convinced it works a lot better.

I would wait. We planted ours in the fall of 1998. It seemed to sit there for the first few years. It is now 30+ feet tall with a beautiful canopy. It has grown much faster than the Chinquapin that we planted about the same time. Both are beautiful trees, but the Bur is my favorite!

Bur oak is one of the slowest growing oak species. It can take 35 years before it starts producing acorns unless is it a hybrid of bur and another white oak which will have hybrid vigor and grow and fruit more quickly.