Rink and Coggeshall (1995) reported on the potential gains that could be achieved from selection within a series of white oak progeny tests at age 5. These progeny tests were established at three locations - two in southern Indiana, and one in southern Illinois. Their results indicated that total height growth gains of up to 30 percent could be achieved by selecting the best individual trees within the best progeny families within the best seed sources. Our report here summarizes the height growth data from the two Indiana progeny test plantations after 10 growing seasons in the field.

There was a very large white oak acorn crop in Indiana in the fall of 1982. This provided an opportunity to collect seeds from many seed sources throughout Indiana. Acorns from 3 to 5 parent trees were collected from each seed source location if possible. Fifteen Indiana sources, plus one source each from Illinois and Missouri were sampled, resulting in acorns collected from a total of 70 individual trees (Table 1). The selection of the parents trees was based not only on the presence of acorns, but also, their overall size and form. All parent trees were of natural origin, rather than planted. Within a seed source, there was no minimum distance between parent trees. The acorns were sown at the IDNR Vallonia State Nursery in the fall of 1982 and lifted as 1-0 stock in the fall 1983. Trees were outplanted at 3 locations in Indiana, as well as one in southern Illinois.

By age 5, the Illinois site had only 49 percent survival, and by age 10, the northern Indiana site located at the Jasper-Pulaski State Nursery, had only 44 percent survival. The reason for these poor success rates was not due to poor seedling quality, but rather, to a combination of poorly drained soils (IN) and browsing by white tail deer (IL). The two test plantings with acceptable growth and survival in southern Indiana were located at Starve Hallow Lake (SHL) in Jackson Co., near Vallonia and at Harrison-Crawford State Forest (HCSF) in Harrison Co., near Corydon. The soil type at the SHL site is a Bloomfield sandy loam. The soil at the HCSF site is a Haymond silt loam. Annual weed control measures included the application of Roundup and Princep herbicides at recommended rates, along with annual mowings. The SHL site contained seedling families from 70 parent trees arranged in a series of 4 tree square plots in 6 replications. At the HCSF site, a total of 63 families were planted in a series of 4 tree single row plots in 8 replications. The SHL planting was thinned to the best two trees per family plot at age 7 and to the best tree at age 10. No systematic thinnings were conducted at the HCSF planting during the first 10 growing seasons.

Seed source performance for 10th year total height data is presented in Table 1. Each seed source listed is composed of a minimum of at least 3 progeny families. It should be noted that the growth of white oaks at the SHL site exceeded the performance of the same seed sources planted at the HCSF site by over 140 percent. This is an indication of just how site specific young white oaks can be in terms of their preferred early growth requirements. The SHL site is sandier and somewhat drier than the HCSF location. In addition, the reality of locating the SHL site close to personnel at the Vallonia State Nursery allowed for an increased level of maintenance and greatly improved growth rates as a result. In terms of geographic trends, it appears that the use of seed sources obtained from the more northerly parts of the state should be avoided when planting in southern Indiana (Table 1). Specifically, the Jasper-Pulaski, South Bend, and Rochester sources should be avoided, due to their consistently poor performance. The exception to this statement is the LaPorte seed source, where one progeny family (LaPorte 1) performed well at both planting locations. Had this family been omitted however, the broader statement could be made that all northern seed sources perform poorly when planted in southern Indiana. Likewise, the non-Indiana sources from both Illinois and Missouri did not exceed the plantation means at either location. From these data, it is recommended that the Vallonia (IN.01) and Lake Monroe (IN.02) seed sources should be utilized as the preferred seed sources to use when establishing new plantings in southern Indiana, based upon their consistently positive performance over two well maintained plantations to which white oak is well adapted.

Desirable parent trees within seed sources can also be identified from these data (Table 2, Fig. 1). This information is especially useful for defining which specific parent trees should be favored for future collection of acorns for use by the state nurseries and/or the identification of those specific parents that may potentially be included in any new clonal state seed orchard program. As with the seed source summary presented in Table 1, the “best” progeny families are not always consistent in their performance over both planting locations. Based on this 10th year data set, it appears that there are 6 specific parent trees which consistently produced fast growing seedling offspring, namely, Vallonia-4, Vallonia-3, Shakamak-1, Lake Monroe-5, Lafayette-1, and LaPorte-1 (Table 2, Fig. 1). It is unfortunate that of these listed parent trees, Shakamak-1 and Lake Monroe-5 are no longer available for re-propagation and subsequent inclusion in a potential state seed orchard, since both were cut after acorns were collected from them in 1982.

The percent growth improvement of the fastest growing families over the plantation average is consistent with an extremely variable gene pool. Shakamak-1 was 20% faster than average and Vallonia-4 and 3 were 18 and 19% faster respectively at the Starve Hollow Lake plantation (Table 2). Height differences of this magnitude at age 10 indicate a strong genetic component to growth rate in white oak.

It is remarkable how fast white oak is capable of growing. For instance several of the fastest growing families at Starve Hollow Lake averaged 2.7 feet per year over the 10 years, and the fastest growing individual seedlings averaged about 4 feet per year. On the other hand it is interesting to note that the 10 slowest growing families at Starve Hollow Lake averaged only 2 feet per year, while at Harrison Crawford State Forest they averaged only 0.8 feet per year which is 11% slower than the plantation mean. So, is it valid to assume that the source of acorns is important when establishing new white oak plantations in Indiana? Based upon these 10 year old data, it appears that the answer should be a resounding “YES”! It seems to us that the importance of seed origins on the long term performance of planted white oak seedlings in Indiana is a demonstrable fact. How well a newly planted tree may perform in a plantation setting is dependent not only upon its physiological “health”, but also its inherent genetic makeup.

We continue to remain excited about how these two test plantations may provide both meaningful and practical information, which will ultimately serve as a basis for future decisions on where to (or where not to) collect white oak acorns from in the future. Also, it is important to note that these plantings are still being actively maintained and in fact, the 20th growing season measurements have just been collected. It will be most interesting to see just how strong these conclusions drawn from the 10 year data will be validated by the growth data after 20 growing seasons.

Rink, G., and M.V. Coggeshall. 1995. Potential height gain from selection in a five-year-old white oak progeny test. South, Journ. Appl. Forestry. 19(1):10-13,