Mighty white oak at home in Ohio

A favorite tree from my childhood was a large white oak outside the dining room window. This tree provided shade to the house and the swingset in the back yard. One of the squirrels which bounded over its branches became the hero of my father's "Reddy the Squirrel " stories. The acorns provided me with miniature cups for tea parties and later interest in sprouting things. Thus began my love for oak trees.The white oak of my childhood was a huge tree. The trunk was probably 3 feet in diameter and the branches reached far out over the yard. My father sometimes worried that one of the big branches might come down in a storm and hit the house but this never happened. We have pictures of the same tree on the property when my great-grandparents lived there. The tree was probably close to 100 years old.There are 14 species of oak trees native to Ohio. One of them is the white oak of my childhood, Quercus alba. White oak is also the name given to one subgenera of oak. These oaks, which include Bur Oak, Swamp White Oak, and Chinkapin Oak, have rounded tips to their leaves and a lighter gray bark. The acorns mature in one year and are sometimes edible. My white oak did have edible acorns though I can honestly say I never tried any. It had alternate simple leaves with five to nine lobes that were rounded on the tips. Though the leaves can turn red in the fall, I never remember them doing so. They simply went brown and often stayed on the tree late into the season and into spring.White oaks prefer an acid soil, moist and well-drained. They can respond poorly to compaction of the soil from construction.Hence trying to keep one alive while you build a house near it can be a problem. White oak also does not respond well to normal transplanting. And the acorns I planted here did not produce any little seedlings. A procedure has been developed to start the seedlings in deep bottomless containers for air root pruning. This helps develop a fibrous root system and these seedlings do successfully transplant.White oak is and has been an important lumber tree with high grade wood used for all purposes including furniture and flooring. Another name was "Stave Oak" because the wood is outstanding in making tight barrels for whiskey and other liquids. It was used for shipbuilding in colonial times.The other subgenera of oak trees is call red or black oaks. These trees have bristle tips and the bark is usually blackish and furrowed. The bitter acorns take two years to mature and are usually present in two sizes. The pin oak in my back yard is a member of the black oak subgenera.Pin oak, Quercus palustris, unlike white oak, is tolerant of wet sites. It grows in bottom lands and around borders of ponds and swamps in company with the American sweetgum. Because of this association, there is a forest type known as the Pin Oak Sweetgum in the Ohio River Valley.Pin oak, though tolerant of wet sites, prefers acidic soil. Pin oak is susceptible to interveinal chlorosis if planted in non acidic soils. Interveinal chlorosis, caused by insufficient iron availability to the root system, shows itself with yellowing between the veins of the leaf. The leaves may turn brown and fall off. Whole branches may die off. The tree will have a bad appearance.Healthy pin oaks develop a pyramidal shape with spreading horizontal branches some of which may need to be removed along sidewalks. The trees take their name from the short pin like twigs that clutter these downward sloping branches. The acorns are ½ inch long and nearly rounded. Because it has a shallower root system than other oak trees, it is easily transplanted, a fact I can attest to as the second one in my yard I moved myself.Pin oaks can have some red color in the fall, but the leaves soon turn brown and many remain on the tree until spring. They grow to a height of 60-80 feet. Like the white oak, they are also native to Ohio.Along with pin oak, another popular oak of the Black Oak subgenera is the Northern Red Oak, Quercus rubra. These are the oaks I saw in a recent visit to the west coast of Michigan, though they are also native to Ohio. These trees will turn a bright red in autumn and are important as a shade trees.The Northern Red Oak is a fast growing oak which is adaptable in city plantings with narrow tree lawns. The leaves tend to hang vertically on the stalk and the lobes are more triangular than in other species with the middle lobe being the largest. It has acorns ½ inch to 1 ¼ inch with a shallow cup. It grows to a height of 60 to 90 feet.Northern Red Oak is also a valuable species for lumber. It is used for flooring, furniture, millwork, railroad cross-ties, and fenceposts among other things.It is interesting to explore the wide variety of oaks. One place to do that is Secrest Arboretum in Wooster. The arboretum has 23 species in specimen plantings or forest settings. Looking at the bark, leaves, and acorns is a fun way to spend a day outdoors.—BARBARA WAGNER Erie County Master Gardener