Tall Pin Oak (Black Diamond) Traditional Cache

This Pin Oak is so tall, I’m not absolutely sure that is what it is. It’s very hard to see the leaves. Please remember to BYOP!

Common Name: pin oak

Type: Tree

Family: Fagaceae

Native Range: Northeastern United States, southeastern Canada

Zone: 4 to 8

Height: 50.00 to 70.00 feet

Spread: 40.00 to 60.00 feet

Bloom Time: April

Bloom Description: Yellowish-green

Sun: Full sun

Water: Medium to wet

Maintenance: Medium

Suggested Use: Shade Tree, Rain Garden

Flower: Insignificant

Leaf: Good Fall

Fruit: Showy

Tolerate: Wet Soil

Culture

Easily grown in average, medium to wet, acidic soils in full sun. Prefers moist loams. Tolerates poorly drained soils. Tolerates some flooding. May take up to 15-20 years for this tree to bear a first crop of acorns.

Noteworthy Characteristics

Quercus palustris commonly called pin oak is a medium sized deciduous oak of the red oak group that typically grows 50-70’ (less frequently to 100’) tall with a broad pyramidal crown. Upper branches are ascending, middle branches are somewhat horizontal and lower branches are descending. In the wild, the lower branches of this tree are often shaded by other trees, eventually dying and breaking off leaving persistent pin-like stubs, hence the common name. Trunk diameter to 3’. Smooth gray-brown bark usually develops ridging with age. This is a tree of lowlands and bottomlands that is primarily native to the Midwest and mid-Atlantic States. In Missouri, it typically occurs in valleys, floodplains and stream margins, but is infrequently found in drier upland areas (Steyermark). Insignificant monoecious yellowish-green flowers in separate male and female catkins appear in spring as the leaves emerge. Fruits are rounded acorns (to 1/2” long), with shallow, saucer-shaped acorn cups that barely cover the acorn base. Acorns are an important source of food for wildlife. Glossy, dark green leaves (to 5” long) typically have 5 bristle-tipped lobes with deeply cut sinuses extending close to the midrib. Leaves turn deep red in fall. Pin oak is perhaps the most popular commercial oak of eastern North America, having been widely planted as both a street and a landscape tree.

Genus name comes from the classical Latin name for oak trees.

Specific epithet comes from the Latin word for marsh (palus), in reference to a common habitat for this tree.

Problems

Chlorosis (yellowing of leaves) is common in alkaline soils and can severely damage this tree. Pin oak is otherwise infrequently attacked by the common diseases of oaks which include oak wilt, chestnut blight, shoestring root rot, anthracnose, oak leaf blister, cankers, leaf spots and powdery mildew. Potential insect pests include scale, oak skeletonizer, leaf miner, galls, oak lace bugs, borers, caterpillars and nut weevils.

“The pin oak pleases me for reasons I cannot wholly explain,” wrote nature writer Hal Borland in A Countryman’s Woods.

But homeowners and city foresters are pleased with this tree for very specific reasons: strong wood; dense shade; tolerance of many soil conditions, heat, soil compaction and air pollution; free from most major pests; pleasing to the eye in all seasons; and easy to plant. Needless to say, this faster-growing oak is a common sight in yards, along streets and throughout parks.

The cache is a tied in, camoed , “micro” pill bottle, that you have to push hard to open and close. Please make sure you keep track of everything and put it back as you found it. BYOP!