Photo: Jay Sturner, CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Northern Pin Oak

Quercus ellipsoidalis

Also called hill's oak.

The red oak of the Great Lakes sand plains, the most drought tolerant of its group, with deeply cut leaves that turn red in fall.

Fall colorDrought tolerantWildlife valueRareStreet tree

Type: Medium tree
Mature height: 50–70 ft
USDA zones: 3–7
Growth rate: Medium
Sun: Full
Soil moisture: Dry, Average
Grows wild in: Sandy barrens and dry uplands
Native range: 9 states, north and west to North Dakota, south to Missouri and east to Ohio
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Northern pin oak is a red oak largely confined to the middle and western Great Lakes region. It forms pure stands only on dry, acid sand plains and sandstone hills. Its dead lower branches hang on for years as stubs, the pins behind its name. It is one of the few North American oaks hardy in zone 3. It may be hard to find in nurseries. It also suits planting along a city street. Plant it on dry, sandy ground in the North, as a lawn shade tree or in a sand savanna planting.

Size, growth and what to expect

It grows at a medium pace, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. Expect 50 to 70 feet with a crown 40 to 60 feet wide. At the edge of its range it is reduced to shrubby growth.

It flowers in April and May. The acorns take two seasons to ripen and drop from late August to early December. Trees begin to bear at about 20 years, but good crops do not come every year. The acorns are half to three quarters of an inch long, with the cap covering about a third. Gray squirrels, deer and blue jays eat them. Wood ducks and eastern kingbirds nest in its trunk cavities.

It grows wild around Lake Michigan, almost always on glaciated ground, from dry sandstone bluffs and sand savannas to moderately dry woods on clay.

How to grow Northern Pin Oak

Northern pin oak wants full sun and a well-drained, acid soil. It prefers even moisture but takes dry, sandy ground and drought once rooted. It takes a higher soil pH than pin oak without yellowing, but strongly alkaline soil can still yellow and badly damage it. Set trees 40 feet apart, and keep each one 30 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. It transplants well, but it grows a deep taproot, so plant it young. Plant dormant saplings from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots 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. 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 60 to 90 days first.

Water every week or two through the first summer, then only in a long drought. Deer and rabbits browse young oaks, so guard each sapling with a tube or cage for its first three years. It is very intolerant of shade, so keep taller trees from crowding it.

The flowers are wind pollinated, and an acorn crop wants another oak nearby. As a red oak it can catch oak wilt, which killed the former US champion in Wisconsin in 2007. Prune only in the dormant season, to avoid the beetles that spread it. In off years, weevils destroy many of the acorns, and scale and the two-lined chestnut borer also attack it.

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

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