Secrets for Fast Growth & Toughness!

Oak trees are among the toughest, most beautiful, and longest lived trees in both our urban forests and native woodlands.  Most people do not realize that oaks can also grow quite rapidly into nice sized shade trees.  The misconception is that oaks are slow growing.  We are consistently ab le to get oak trees to grow 2 to 5 feet per year, and can help you to get the same results by following a few simple steps:

• Purchase oak trees that have been produced to have a dense, properly structured root system that has lots of fine roots, and will transplant easily, and establish rapidly. Knecht’s Peak Performance trees have this type of root system.
• Use proper planting techniques. We provide you with a clear and sample planting guide.
• Choose fertile, properly drained soils that are not severely compacted. Break up any compacted soils in the planting area.
• Fertilize moderately with slow release fertilize at planting time and over the next 5-10 years. We recommend the Osmocote brand.
• Choose an oak variety that is a good match for the type of soil you have. We can help you with this choice.
• Water just enough and never too much. WE have a detailed chart we give you to help prevent over-watering.  Water consistently in measured amounts.
• Keep a circular area around the tree trunk mulched and free of all weeds and grass for the life of the tree. Diameter of the mulched area should be 4 to 5 feet or more.  The larger the areas where no grass and weeds are present around the trunk, the faster the tree grows.  This also makes mowing easier and eliminates the very sad damaged we often see to the tree back from weed whips and collisions from mower decks.
• Aggressively prune out week branches and gradually remove low level branches so that the tree has good sound structure and a high canopy that will allow grass in the yard to grow dense and beautiful.

These simple steps will enable you to grow an oak tree very quickly into a lovely high quality shade tree.  The same steps are good for all other tree varieties.

Excellent choices for having a fast growing oak tree are:   Ancestry Oak, Heritage Oak, Swamp White Oak, Northern Red Oak, Regal Splendor Oak and Crimson Spire Oak.