How to Do an Oak Tree Acorn Float Test

Growing oak trees is a way to help the planet and expand the natural beauty of your garden. Beginning with viable acorns is the key to successful growing. By performing a float test on acorn bulbs, the oak tree grower can save time and energy during the growing process by concentrating efforts only on those acorns that have the potential to turn into oak trees. Perform the acorn float test by following the guidelines below.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Acorns
• Bucket
• Water

1. Gather fallen acorns from around an oak tree for performing the float test. Only collect those acorns that have already lost their caps. Capped acorns will not grow.

2. Fill a clean plastic bucket 3/4 full with cold water. The quality of the water is not overly important although it should be clear. Regular tap water either from an outside or inside tap is perfectly acceptable.

3. Place acorns into the bucket of cold water to see if they float or not. Those bulbs that fall to the bottom of the bucket and stay there are viable acorns. Those that float to the top will not grow.

4. Pour water and floating bulbs from bucket to separate viable from non-viable acorns. You may have to scoop out the last few acorns by hand to avoid mixing up the acorns on the bottom with those that floated to the top.

5. Remove the acorns that sunk to the bottom of the bucket from the water and allow to dry. Leaving the acorns in the water for too long will damage the acorn's growth potential.

6. Repeat the test every few weeks with newly fallen acorn to create a large collection of potential oak trees.