Runner Oak

Size, growth and what to expect

Runner oak grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. Wild stems seldom top 3 feet, and Florida growers see 3 to 6 feet. Five seedlings planted in France in 2008 made a clump 15 feet long and 8 feet wide by 2021. Those plants began bearing acorns about 3 years after planting.

It flowers in March and April. Unlike most red oaks, it ripens its acorns in a single season, by fall. The French clump had been bearing for about ten years by 2021. The nut is about half an inch long, a third to half hidden in the cup. Squirrels eat the acorns, and the leaves feed the caterpillars of red-banded and white-M hairstreaks. Some references call it Quercus elliottii, a name proposed in 2002, but most keep Walter's name of 1788.

How to grow Runner Oak

Runner oak wants full sun or part shade and a dry, sandy, acid soil low in nutrients. It takes long droughts once rooted, but it does poorly where the soil stays wet. Set plants 6 feet apart for a groundcover, and keep each one 4 feet from a wall. It may grow within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the sand back in, and keep the mulch thin. Runner oak acorns need a winter's chill before they sprout. Sow them in fall, half an inch deep, under hardware cloth. For spring, hold them damp in the refrigerator for four to twelve weeks first.

Water every week or two through the first summer, then only in a long drought. Deer browse it readily, so cage young plants for their first two years. Seedlings like ours spread by suckers, while grafted plants do not.

The flowers are wind pollinated, and an acorn crop wants another oak nearby. As a red oak it can catch oak wilt where that disease occurs, so prune only in the dormant season, to avoid the beetles that spread it. Hybrids with bluejack, laurel, myrtle and willow oaks have been reported.