OAKS

RED OAK ON HWY. 13 AND 9TH ST.

SWAMP WHITE OAK, NEIGHBOR'S BACK YARD

Wednesday, 9:00 AM.  41 degrees F at the ferry dock, 36 on the back porch.  Wind variable and calm, sky clear, humidity 91%  The barometer is steady at around 30.19".  It almost froze last night but temperatures should be seasonally moderate for the week, with a chance of rain on Monday.

   Red oaks, Quecus rubra,  in the Beech Family (Fagaceae) is our most common native oak in Northern Wisconsin, growing in mixed forests on drier sites.  Oaks grow best on an acidic soil, and their fallen leaves in turn create an acid soil.  Maple leaves, on the other hand, produce an alkaline soil; in earlier times a maple woods was sought after for farm fields, since most agricultural crops thrive on an alkaline soil.  I soils are too alkaline, oaks will suffer from iron deficiency, their leaves becoming chlorotic, requiring fertilizing with an acid based fertilizer and extra iron.
  Red oaks are moderately shade tolerant and dominate prior to maples, which are even more shade tolerant and therefore with time become the climax forest deciduous tree.

   Red oaks are very long lived and make great street, park and landscape trees, although they grow very large.  Another fine landscape and street tree is the swamp white oak, Quercus bicolor, native to river banks and other wet locations somewhat further south, but which are perfectly hardy north.  They, as are most riverine tree species, are suited to drier sites as well, since genetically they are tolerant of changing water levels.

   I often use swamp white oak as a privacy screening tree in a sunny location as I would a conifer, since the swamp white oak holds its abundant dry leaves virtually all winter long, and provides a nice variation in leaf color and texture as well as screening effect.

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