# Black Oak (Quercus velutina) > 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. Also called yellow oak, quercitron oak, yellowbark oak, smoothbark oak, eastern black oak, Quercus tinctoria. Category: Rare & Uncommon Oaks. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-oak/ ![Black oak (Quercus velutina) broad, bristle-tipped leaves backlit against autumn color](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/black-oak-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Katja Schulz, CC BY 2.0 ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AQuercus_velutina_%2830784851561%29.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Large tree - Mature height: 50 to 80 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 9 - 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 (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) - Sun: Full, Part - Soil moisture: Average, Dry - Growth rate: Slow - Traits: Wildlife value, Drought tolerant, Rare, Street tree - Sold as: Saplings, Acorns Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes 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. ## Sources - [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Black Oak, Sander 1990](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/black-oak) - [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Quercus velutina, Carey 1992](https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/quevel) - [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Quercus velutina](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501095) - [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Quercus velutina](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/quercus-velutina/) - [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Quercus velutina](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=d458) - [The Morton Arboretum: Black oak](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/black-oak/) - [Missouri Department of Conservation Field Guide: Black Oak](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/black-oak) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus velutina](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=QUVE) - [Trees and Shrubs Online, International Dendrology Society: Quercus velutina](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-velutina/) - [USDA Forest Service, Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America, FHTET-03-01, Stein, Binion and Acciavatti 2003](https://rngr.net/publications/field-guide-to-native-oak-species-of-eastern-north-america) - [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Quercus velutina](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/quercus/velutina/) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Quercus chapter, Bonner](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Quercus.pdf) - [Florida Native Plant Society Plant Database: Quercus velutina](https://www.fnps.org/plant/quercus-velutina) - [NatureServe Explorer: Quercus velutina](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.133488/Quercus_velutina) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [Why a small sapling catches up with a big transplanted tree, and often passes it](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md) - [Native trees for the Great Lakes and Midwest: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-the-great-lakes-and-midwest/index.html.md) - [Red oaks and white oaks, and where each belongs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/red-oaks-and-white-oaks/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Black Oak, add ?species=black-oak with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=black-oak&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Black Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=black-oak): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=black-oak - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Black Oak is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=black-oak - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Black Oak needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=black-oak:2 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Black Oak flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.