# Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata) > A common upland red oak of the South, at home on poor, dry sand or clay, with long-lobed leaves and small acorns for wildlife. Also called Spanish oak, three-lobed red oak, Quercus digitata, Quercus triloba. Category: Rare & Uncommon Oaks. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/southern-red-oak/ ![Southern red oak (Quercus falcata) three-lobed leaves with long, narrow middle lobes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/southern-red-oak-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Katja Schulz, CC BY 2.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASouthern_Red_Oak_-_Flickr_-_treegrow.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Large tree - Mature height: 60 to 80 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 6 to 9 - Grows wild in: Dry uplands and sandy barrens - Native range: 23 states and the District of Columbia, north to New York, south to Florida and west to Texas (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia) - Sun: Full, Part - Soil moisture: Dry, Average - Growth rate: Medium - Traits: Drought tolerant, Wildlife value, 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 Southern red oak is one of the more common upland oaks of the South. Its other name, Spanish oak, is tied to early Spanish settlement. Its leaves end in a long middle lobe, and young trees often carry three-lobed leaves. Cherrybark oak, the bottomland giant we also grow, was once counted a variety of it. Pennsylvania lists southern red oak as endangered, and Ohio as potentially threatened, at the northern edge of its range. Its drought tolerance suits it to southern streets. Plant it for shade on worn, poor sand or clay, where few other oaks will grow. ## Size, growth and what to expect It grows at a medium pace, moderately fast for an oak, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. Expect 60 to 80 feet with a crown 60 to 70 feet wide. It lives to about 150 years. It flowers in April and May, and the acorns ripen in September and October of their second season. Seed production begins at about 25 years and peaks between 50 and 75, with good crops every year or two. The acorns are about half an inch long, much smaller than a black oak's, and squirrels and blue jays scatter them. Its leaves feed the caterpillars of the banded and white M hairstreaks. It grows wild from Long Island and New Jersey to north Florida and west to the Brazos River in Texas. It usually grows on dry ridgetops and upper slopes, and in the South Atlantic states mostly in the Piedmont. ## How to grow Southern Red Oak Southern red oak wants full sun or part shade. It grows in a well-drained, acid soil, from sandy loam to gravel or clay loam. It takes drought and poor, worn soil, and it tolerates brief flooding. At the northern edge of its hardiness, as in St. Louis, give it a sheltered spot. Set trees 60 feet apart, and keep each one 35 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires. Saplings ship bare-root or potted. 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 half an inch deep under hardware cloth. For spring, hold them damp in the refrigerator for 30 to 90 days first. A mulch of leaves or straw under the cloth protects a fall bed. Water every week or two through the first summer, then only in a long drought. Deer browse it only moderately, but a tube or cage for the first three years keeps deer and rabbits off a young sapling. Once it is grown, keep trenching, grading and heavy traffic off its roots, since root damage during building can kill it. The flowers are wind pollinated, and an acorn crop wants another oak nearby. As a red oak it is highly susceptible to oak wilt, though the disease is virtually unknown south of the 35th parallel. Prune only in the dormant season all the same, to avoid the beetles that spread it. Its thin bark scars easily in fire, and heart rots follow the wounds. Fall cankerworms strip the leaves in some years. ## Sources - [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Southern Red Oak, Belanger 1990](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/southern-red-oak) - [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Quercus falcata, Q. pagoda, Carey 1992](https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/quefal) - [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Quercus falcata](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501030) - [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Quercus falcata](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/quercus-falcata/) - [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Quercus falcata](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=280748) - [UF/IFAS Extension, ENH-704/ST546, Quercus falcata: Southern Red Oak, Gilman and others](https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ST546) - [University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, FOR-142, Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata), Thomas and Morris](https://forestry.mgcafe.uky.edu/sites/forestry.ca.uky.edu/files/southern_red_oak_factsheet.pdf) - [Trees and Shrubs Online, International Dendrology Society: Quercus falcata](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-falcata/) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus falcata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=QUFA) - [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) - [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 falcata](https://www.fnps.org/plant/quercus-falcata) - [NatureServe Explorer: Quercus falcata](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.154985/Quercus_falcata) - [Pennsylvania Code, 17 Pa. Code § 45.12, Pennsylvania Endangered, current through July 4, 2026](https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=/secure/pacode/data/017/chapter45/s45.12.html&d=reduce) - [Ohio Department of Natural Resources: 2024-25 Ohio Rare Native Plants Status List](https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/odnr/natural-areas/2024-25_Ohio_Rare_Native_Plants_Status_List_FINAL_draft.pdf) ## 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) - [When oaks leaf out, and why two of them never agree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/when-oaks-leaf-out/index.html.md) - [Marcescence: why young beeches and oaks keep their dead leaves all winter](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/marcescence/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Southern Red Oak, add ?species=southern-red-oak with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=southern-red-oak&zone=6&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Southern Red Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=southern-red-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=southern-red-oak - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Southern Red 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=southern-red-oak - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Southern Red 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=southern-red-oak:2 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Southern Red Oak flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.