OK, I just bought a Bur Oak in a 5 gallon pot and it looks dead 10 days after I planted it in my yard. When I took it out of the pot and tried to unwrap the roots a bit, the taproot was in very poor condition, cut off about 3 inches below the depth of the pot with splits in it. I assume that was the problem - SO, would I be better off trying to get a Bur in a 1 gallon pot instead of 5, growing it from an acorn or seedling, or going with a Shumard instead??
If the tree's dead already and the roots were in a poor state when you bought it, I'd complain to the supplier. Oaks in general do not take well to transplanting and it is always best to plant the smallest stock that you can. If you are buying larger stock, buy container grown. It sounds like what you had was containerised, that is field grown then lifted and put in the container. You can find some hints on planting trees here
a friend gave me a small oak around 10 years ago, in his attempt to dig it up he only got me a tiny root so it just looked like a branch about a metre long with only a few leaves. i potted it and thanked him, just to be kind, now its about 3 metres high in a pot, and for the 3rd year has acorns. i suggest soaking it and hope for the best.
Is my Bur Oak dead???? I transplanted a Bur Oak from a 5 gallon pot, with heavily damaged taproot, about 6 weeks ago, and all the leaves immediately fell off and it looks as dead as any tree I've ever seen. However, today I went and snapped off a small twig on one of the upper branches and it was still quite green on the inside. Is it possible this tree will come back next spring, or is it a goner??
