Photo: Katja Schulz, CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Black Oak

Quercus velutina

Also called yellow oak, quercitron oak, yellowbark oak, smoothbark oak, eastern black oak, Quercus tinctoria.

A tough red oak of dry ridges, sand and rocky slopes, with yellow inner bark once used for dye and acorns that feed turkeys and deer.

Wildlife valueDrought tolerantRareStreet tree

Type: Large tree
Mature height: 50–80 ft
USDA zones: 3–9
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Dry, Average
Grows wild in: Dry uplands, rocky ground and sandy barrens
Native range: 35 states and the District of Columbia, north to Minnesota, south to Florida and west to Nebraska
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Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia
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Black oak is a medium to large red oak of dry uplands across the eastern half of the country. Its inner bark is yellow or orange, once the source of quercitron, a yellow dye, and of tannin for tanning leather. Michaux noted in 1819 that the bitter inner bark stains saliva yellow when chewed, unlike that of other red oaks. It is seldom used in landscapes and offered less often than other oaks. Even so, it can shade a street or a park. Plant it young, as a shade tree for a dry, sandy or rocky slope.

Size, growth and what to expect

It grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. Expect 50 to 80 feet, with a crown 50 to 60 feet wide. It is mature at about 100 years, and some trees live 150 to 200.

It flowers in April or May, and the acorns ripen from late August to late October of their second year. Trees bear from about 20 years, best between 40 and 75, with good crops every 2 to 3 years. The acorns are half to three quarters of an inch long, about half covered by a fringed cup. Jays, woodpeckers, wild turkeys, grouse, quail, squirrels and deer eat them.

It grows wild from southwestern Maine to southeastern Minnesota, south to east Texas and northwest Florida. It grows best on lower slopes in rich, well-drained soil.

How to grow Black Oak

Black oak wants full sun or light shade and a well-drained, acid soil. It grows best on moist, rich loam but takes poor, dry sand or clay. Once rooted it tolerates drought, and it grows near black walnut. Set trees 50 feet apart, and keep each one 30 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Black oak grows a deep taproot and is hard to transplant, so plant it young and plant it once. Plant from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the pot and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. An acorn left on top of the leaf litter dries out and dies. Red oak acorns need a winter before they sprout. Sow them in fall an inch deep under hardware cloth. For spring, hold them damp in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 days first.

Water every week or two through the first summer, then only in a long drought, since it cannot withstand severe drought. Deer seldom browse it, but a tube or cage for the first three years keeps deer and rabbits off a young sapling. Young trees tend to fork, so thin a double leader back to one early.

The flowers are wind pollinated, and an acorn crop wants another oak nearby. Oak wilt can kill a black oak within a few weeks of the first symptoms, so prune only in the dormant season, to avoid the beetles that spread it. Two or three years in a row of caterpillar defoliation killed many trees in New Jersey. Weevils, moths and gall wasps damage the acorns.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (14)