White Oak Seedlings

Our white oak seedlings are Quercus alba, the slow-growing, long-lived native oak that can eventually reach 80 to 100 feet. They ship bare-root at 6-12 inches, 12-18 inches and as a row run of mixed 6 to 24 inch seedlings, in packs of 100, 500 and 1000, for reforestation, wildlife plantings and buyers starting a legacy shade tree.

White Oak Seedlings Size, Zones and Sun

Left alone, a white oak ends up 80 to 100 feet tall (a few reach 135) with a spread that can hit 80 feet. It's a patient tree and the growth rate is slow, so you're planting for the next generation. White oak is hardy in zones 3 to 9. Full sun to part shade suits it, and the best ground is deep, moist, well-drained loam that runs slightly acidic. Clay and sand work too. The one thing it doesn't like is a wet site.

White Oak Leaves, Acorns and Bark

The leaves have rounded lobes, without the bristle tips you see on red oaks, and they color late in fall, purplish brown to reddish brown, with some hanging on into winter. Acorns run three-quarters of an inch to an inch long, ripen in a single season and fall between September and November. The bark is whitish to ashy gray and scaly, broken into flat plates.

White Oak and Wildlife

White oak supports a lot of wildlife. Woodpeckers, blue jays, wild turkeys, deer and black bears eat the acorns, small mammals and songbirds use the tree for food and cover, and the leaves host hairstreak, duskywing and imperial moth caterpillars. That's the case for putting white oaks into reforestation blocks and hedgerows. Our white oak planting ideas that layer plum and witch hazel show one way to build a mixed planting around them.

Planting White Oak Seedlings

White oak builds a deep taproot, which makes big trees hard to move. Small seedlings are the easy route, since the root hasn't gone far yet. Dig a hole wide enough that the roots spread out without bending, set the seedling at the depth it grew in the field, firm the soil and water well. Mulch keeps weeds down. In deer country, a tree shelter around each seedling saves a lot of replanting. Our planting and aftercare steps for tree seedlings walk through the whole routine.

Good to Know About White Oak

White oak is slow, so don't expect a shade tree in five years. It dislikes compacted soil, so keep equipment and foot traffic off the root zone. If the leaves yellow between green veins, the soil pH is probably too high, and a soil test before a big planting settles it. The tree also drops acorns and leaves each fall, which some buyers love and some rake.

Spacing and Planting Density

For a reforestation block or a wildlife planting, many buyers set white oak seedlings 10 by 10 feet apart, which works out to about 435 per acre, so a pack of 500 covers a little over an acre. Oaks planted close compete with each other, grow straight, and get thinned later. For a yard or a legacy tree, give each one 40 feet or more and plan on the long game.

Buying White Oak Seedlings in Bulk

The row run suits large acreage. It's a mix of sizes from 6 to 24 inches straight from the row, so expect some variation in height. The graded 6-12 and 12-18 inch sizes are more uniform, which matters on a showpiece planting or a contract with a size spec. Whichever you pick, the seedlings ship bare-root and need to go in the ground soon after they arrive.

White Oak Seedling Sizes, Packs and Shipping

White oak seedlings ship bare-root in November, in 6-12 inch and 12-18 inch sizes or a 6 to 24 inch row run, in packs of 100, 500 and 1000. Volume pricing available. See more bare-root seedlings in our wholesale collection.