# Delta Post Oak (Quercus similis)

> A post oak that tolerates wet feet, from the bottomlands of the lower Mississippi valley.

Also called bottomland post oak. Category: Rare & Uncommon Oaks. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/delta-post-oak/

![Delta post oak (Quercus similis) branch of gray-green lobed leaves in summer, pines blurred behind it](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/delta-post-oak-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Bruce Kirchoff, CC BY 2.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quercus_similis_%2824109787896%29.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Large tree
- Mature height: 60 to 80 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 7 to 9
- Grows wild in: Floodplain forests
- Native range: 7 states, north to [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), south to [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA) and west to [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC) and [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX))
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Wet
- Growth rate: Medium
- Flowers: March to May
- Fruit: Acorns, September to November
- First crop: About 25 years
- Mature spread: 80 ft
- Traits: Rare, Tolerates wet soil, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Acorns

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

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

In bundles: Rare Oak Collection.

## Notes

Delta post oak is a little-known bottomland species of Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi, growing on clay flats that flood in winter and bake in summer. It looks like post oak but grows taller and straighter, and it handles seasonal standing water that ordinary post oak cannot. A rare find for flood-prone ground in warm climates. Belongs in an oak collection, or as the shade tree on a heavy clay lot.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Delta post oak is a tree of wet stream bottoms, flatwoods and river valleys from South Carolina and Georgia through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas to east Texas. It is a little-studied oak. The growth figure to plan on is our growth estimator's, roughly a foot and a half a year in youth for a medium tree, slowing as it nears full size. It grows to about 80 feet on a single straight trunk under brown, scaly bark, and in a yard expect 60 to 80 feet.

Some botanists count it a variety of post oak, which begins to bear at about 25 years with a good crop every 2 to 3 years. The delta form should follow the same rhythm. The acorns are small, half to five eighths of an inch long, and come one to three together. It flowers in spring, from March to May. The acorns ripen from September to November and drop soon after.

In the wild it keeps to fine sandy loam on the highest ridges of the first bottoms, ground that stays wet from slow drainage.

## How to grow Delta Post Oak

Delta post oak is a warm-country tree, and it belongs on average to wet ground: a clay flat, a swale, a field that stands in water after winter rain. It takes full sun or part shade. It is broad in the crown at full size, so it wants 40 feet from the house and other big trees.

Plant while dormant. Saplings arrive bare-root or in deep pots. Open a wide, shallow hole, set the root flare at grade, and backfill with the soil you dug rather than a bought mix, which makes a bathtub in clay. Sow acorns as soon as they drop, an inch deep under pinned hardware cloth, because white oak acorns root before winter and will not keep in a dry shed.

Water through the first summer or two while the root goes down, though a wet site may do it for you. Sleeve the stem against rabbits and voles, cage against deer until the top is out of reach, and prune in winter only to pick a leader.

The female flowers of delta post oak open about a week after its male catkins shed pollen, and only pollen from another tree sets acorns. Plant two or more seedlings. The taproot is long and brittle, so plant a small tree and plant it once. Seasonal flooding suits it; year-round standing water does not.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Quercus similis](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501083)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus similis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=QUSI2)
- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: post oak, delta post oak passages](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/post-oak)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Quercus similis, QUSI2](https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/plant-profile/QUSI2)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Quercus chapter](https://rngr.net/publications/wpsm/genera/q/at_download/file)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Quercus similis](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.156620/Quercus_similis)
- [The Morton Arboretum, Conservation Gap Analysis of Native U.S. Oaks: species profile, Quercus similis, Beckman and others 2019](https://mortonarb.org/app/uploads/2021/08/species-profile-quercus-similis.pdf)
- [LSU AgCenter, School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana Plant ID: Quercus similis, delta post oak](http://www.rnr.lsu.edu/plantid/species/deltapostoak/deltapostoak.htm)

## 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)
- [Red oaks and white oaks, and where each belongs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/red-oaks-and-white-oaks/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for heavy clay: which take it wet, which take it dry, and how to plant them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-and-shrubs-for-heavy-clay/index.html.md)
- [Planting acorns, nuts and seed: collecting, storing and the first year](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-acorns-nuts-and-seed/index.html.md)

## Related

- We grow 42 other oaks (Quercus): [all of them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/index.html.md?q=quercus)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Swamp Laurel Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/swamp-laurel-oak/index.html.md), [Spruce Pine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/spruce-pine/index.html.md), [Water Tupelo](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/water-tupelo/index.html.md) and [Water Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/water-hickory/index.html.md)
- Under its canopy: [Two-wing Silverbell](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/two-wing-silverbell/index.html.md), [Dwarf Palmetto](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/dwarf-palmetto/index.html.md) and [Florida Anise](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-anise/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Oglethorpe Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/oglethorpe-oak/index.html.md), [Pin Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pin-oak/index.html.md), [Cherrybark Oak, Wye Island line](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/cherrybark-oak/index.html.md) and [Southern Red Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/southern-red-oak/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Delta Post Oak, add ?species=delta-post-oak with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 7, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=delta-post-oak&zone=7&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Delta Post Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=delta-post-oak): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Transplant planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=delta-post-oak): whether Delta Post Oak can be moved and what the move takes, the root ball, its weight, who can move it and the months, as Markdown at that address (add caliper= or height=, month= 1 to 12 and soil= sandy, loam or clay)
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Delta Post Oak as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=delta-post-oak (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Delta Post Oak is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=delta-post-oak (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Delta Post Oak needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 2 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=delta-post-oak:2
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Delta Post Oak where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=delta-post-oak&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Delta Post Oak goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=delta-post-oak&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Delta Post Oak flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=delta-post-oak