DES MOINES - Central Iowa residents can donate acorns to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) State Forest Nursery beginning Sept. 1. The State Forest Nursery will be collecting acorns for the next few weeks to produce a new stock of oak trees.

"Instead of bagging them up and throwing them away, we will take them off your hands and use these acorns to grow new oak trees," said John Walkowiak, chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources forestry bureau.

The DNR will be collecting acorns in the Des Moines metro area at the State Capitol complex parking lot at East Locust and Pennsylvania Avenue in Des Moines. "We are asking residents to bag their acorns in paper sacks or open cardboard boxes and drop them off at the northwest corner of the parking lot," Walkowiak said. Plastic bags should not be used, because plastic will trap in heat and damage the seed. Acorns that have been run through the lawn mower are usually damaged and have little value to germinate.

White oak acorns germinate in the fall and must be picked up almost as soon as they hit the ground. Red, bur and other oak acorns germinate in the spring but need to be planted in the fall to break the hard seed coating.

If possible, different types of acorns should be kept in separate bags or containers to allow ease in sowing the seed. "It is fairly easy to identify the various types of acorns. Bur oak acorns possess a hairy, fuzzy-like cap that covers most of the acorn. White oak acorns are long, light brown to purple in color and have a small cap. Red oak acorns are fat, dark brown in color and also have a small cap," Walkowiak said. "But if you are unsure of what type of acorn you have, that's okay, the donation will help our effort to reforest oak trees across Iowa."

The current acorn crop seems to be early to drop and much fewer in numbers across the state due to the impacts of the late spring freeze and extremely dry conditions over the past 30 to 60 days, he said. Acorns are a valuable source for food for wildlife including deer, wild turkey and even blue jays. "With the increased interest in tree planting in Iowa to aid water quality protection, we need acorn seed to grow new oak trees that can take up to two year to reach six to twelve inches in height," Walkowiak said. 

If you have acreage to plant to several hundred native oak trees the State Forest Nursery operation has good numbers of seedlings for next spring ready to be ordered, Walkowiak added. To place your order for new oak tree seedlings or any of the 40+ native tree and shrub conservation seedlings, contact the State Forest Nursery directly at 1-800-865-2477 or go online to place your order at www.iowadnr.com/forestry/.
 

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