We planted one in Feb 2008 that was about 10ft tall. It is now about 15ft tall, the trunk has doubled in width and the limbs are spreading out nicely. It produced acorns in it's first fall with us but I don't think they are full monterey oak. It likely crossed with a red oak nearby because the leaves on the ones I planted are not the same. Most nurseries carry them now but we found ours south of San Antonio from a grower at a very good price.

I planted a Monterey oak 4 years ago and it has grown really fast. It is a beautiful tree and made acorns the 3rd year.

Thanks for the info. Momofrowdy, how big was the tree when you planted it. Sorry, rowdysmom... my bad.

We have seven--two of which have been in the ground three years, and five which went in just this fall. We got them at Rainbow Gardens on Thousand Oaks and they were in ten-gallon pots. They haven't taken off yet in terms of growth, but I highly recommend them for drought-tolerance. The first two were completely unfazed by our drought, even though they were planted in horribly rocky areas with very little soil.

Mine are planted in a limestone hillside and it is slow growing. Everything but the cedars are slow growing here.

I don't remember for sure the size, but maybe a 10 gallon pot. It was a very small tree when I put it in and now it is taller than the house, maybe 20 ft. It has a beautiful shape too.

Gary,

Where do you live? It's a little too late to collect acorns at this time of the year unfortunately. If you live in DFW area, Dallas Arboretum has a row of them that you can collect acorns off them. If you live nearby me, I have some that I can sell to you.

They sure grow fast compared to Live Oak (alternative evergreen oak to replace Live Oak for wilt oak disease area) when fertilized (via grass fertilizing) and watered regularly.

dwf1,

I wouldn't call it a deciduous tree. At least a semi-evergreen which would require several hard freezes but they don't stay bare very long. They start leafing out in mid-to late February. 20' in 12 years? That isn't fast growing. I watched some and they sure grow much faster rate. I noticed that after growing many acorns, some tend to grow very fast while some tend to grow slow staying bushy type. I would have expected 3g trees to take off after a year since they are small and wouldn't require to take a long time to establish. Did you water at all during first year? Did you even fertilize the next year? They would have been a lot taller after 3 years.

Bur oak isn't that fast growing compared to Monterrey oak in my experience.

Lou,
With all due respect, many a book has been written about oak trees and a great deal of information is available on the internet.
A deciduous tree is a tree that loses all its leaves at some time during the year (http://texastreeid.tamu.edu/content/treeDictionary/).
Mexican white oak and bur oak are both considered fast growing oak trees.
Perhaps instead of using container size caliper would be best, my trees were 1/2" caliper when planted and should be about 1-1/2" caliper by the end of next year.
Yes, I did water my trees when required.
Oaks have survived for thousands of years without fertilizer I suspect they will continue.
I practice natural gardening methods and I encourage everyone to do the same.
Mother Nature knows best.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Dirt Doctor, Howard Garret

Q. polymorpha is tardily deciduous like live oaks, dropping leaves in Feb/Mar. Here, there are a few acorns still lying on the ground, mostly gone, though. For a real evergreen oak, see Q. rysophylla, the loquat oak.

@fireant - Your seedlings are likely true to form b/c they do not cross with red oaks. Q. polymorpha is in the white oak group. Also, it is normal for seedlings to have larger leaves with extra wavy edges, especially if grown in the shade.

Great tree!!

dwf1-

You're confusing natural area vs having a tree in the yard. Two entirely different things.

Trees growing in the yard will always require more care than the ones in the wild. Soil biology is entirely different.

Obviously, you're not too familiar with Dirt Doctor's method....

Thanks to the dirtdoctor.com for the following info.

IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION: Monterrey oak is a deciduous to evergreen medium sized shade tree that has thick, rounded, dark green leaves. It ranges from deciduous to evergreen and has little to no fall color.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/2675/

Q: Can you fertilize trees anytime with an organic fertilizer such as any of the GreenSense products? V.L., Dallas.
A: Yes, but apply the fertilizer to the entire property rather than just feeding the trees. Trees don't need much fertilizer.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/629/

Step 1: Stop Using High Nitrogen Fertilizers and Toxic Chemical Pesticides
Toxic chemical pesticides kill beneficial nematodes, other helpful microbes, good insects, and also control the pest insects poorly. Synthetic fertilizers are unbalanced, harsh, high in salt, often contaminated and destructive to the chemistry, the physics and the life in the soil. They also feed plants poorly and contaminate the environment.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/2205/

Here is a link that might be useful: The Dirt Doctor

Quercus polymorpha seeds are for sale at peckerwood gardens' website. I purchased some last spring and have had about 20% germination rate with those acorns.

Here is a link that might be useful: Peckerwood Gardens

Frugal Gary - not sure where you are at. But I have found a great guy who sells smaller sized pots of trees and shrubs in Lago Vista. He is partnered with the Sun Hardware Store there in town. And if he doesn't have it in stock, he will get it for you. Those smaller sized pots are a God-send...no one want's to dig a big hole in that neck of the woods.

I have a 10 year old Monterrey Oak that is about 36 feet tall. It is not branching but getting taller and taller. The branches at about 20 feet are only 8 feet across, total. The trunk the first 7 feet is about 5 inches diameter with soil level trunk about 8 inches diameter. I live in Blackland Praire/Austin Silty Clay in Windcrest, a bedroom city surrounded by San Antonio.

The tree is very healthy and green. I did have total leaf drop during the freeze in Winter 2010 but it came back in the Spring.

I believe it was in a five gallon pot when I purchased it from Rainbow Gardens on Thousand Oaks in 2001.

How can I get the tree to banch or is it too late?

I field planted over 100 quercus polymorpha acorns November 2015. We are located in mostly sandy topsoil just east of san antonio, and where the topsoil is sandy for at least 4-8" we had almost 100% germination of field planted acorns. Where the soil was heavier, probably about 50% germination. I have had the best luck with planting year old specimens in the pasture, and using tree tubes to accelerate their growth. I have had 3+ feet of growth on some of my quercus polymorpha year old specimens from March to June this year. They do not seem to compete as well initially out of the ground as a bur oak, but when they hit their stride, you can almost see then grow! Just wants to share, as I have found it berry difficult to find info on seedling growth and establishment.