Bear Oak (Scrub Oak)

Size, growth and what to expect

Bear oak seedlings in one study stood 16 inches after their first season and only 16 to 23 inches three years after planting. That is under the foot a year our growth estimator models for a slow grower. In a yard expect a shrub of 6 to 20 feet, though wild stems run 3 to 30 feet tall. Each stem lives 20 to 30 years, while the root system lives on and sends up new ones.

Acorns take two seasons to ripen, and the first on New Jersey sprouts came at 3 years. The acorns are egg-shaped, about half an inch to three quarters long, under a saucer cup covering half the nut. Bears, deer, wild turkeys, grouse, jays and squirrels eat them, and the name reportedly comes from bears being the only takers of the bitter acorns. It flowers from April to June, and the acorns ripen from August in the Carolinas to early October around New York.

It grows wild from southern Maine and Ontario south through New York and New Jersey to Pennsylvania and Maryland, and down the mountains through West Virginia and Virginia to western North Carolina. In shade it stops flowering.

How to grow Bear Oak

Bear oak is a plant for the poorest ground you have: sand, gravel, thin soil over rock, in full sun. Because it spreads into a thicket, it goes 8 to 10 feet apart for cover and 10 feet from buildings. It does not want shade, rich soil or wet feet.

Like all oaks it grows a taproot early, so plant it young. Bare-root saplings go in while dormant; dig a hole twice the width of the roots and as deep as the taproot, set the root flare at grade, and backfill with unamended soil. Mulch a ring two inches deep, clear of the stem. Acorns are sown the fall they ripen, an inch deep, under hardware cloth against mice, squirrels and jays.

Water once a week through the first summer, then leave it alone. Deer and rabbits browse young oaks, so use a tube or cage for two or three years.

Bear oak is wind pollinated and will not set acorns from its own pollen, so plant two or more seedlings. Bear oak belongs to the red oak group, so it can catch oak wilt where that disease occurs. Prune only in the dormant season to avoid the beetles that spread it. Acorns take two years to mature and come in heavy crops every other year.