Acorn viability for pin oaks

Hi,
I’m looking to plant some pin oaks on my property but unfortunately no one in my area has any for sale so, I thought I’d just plant some acorns and get some that way. The problem is I saw some for sale on eBay but would they be viable if they are dried out?
I thought that if acorns aren’t fresh they won’t sprout.
Should I take the chance and try them anyway?

Don't you have any forests in your neighbourhood? Are there any oaks in them? Can't you take a walk there and collect some acorns?

I know it's not exactly what you asked and there might be snow there already, but you might give it a try in the spring.

it doesn’t help you now, donald, but i or other pinoak-adjacent permies could send fresh nuts when they’re falling (mid-october here) with a little reminder ahead of time. i don’t have experience with planting dry acorns but fresh ones sure germinate well.

edited to add: the native range of pin oaks probably doesn’t extend to OP’s location, krisz. he’s looking for a specific species of oak, not just what’s in the local woods.

Krisz Berta wrote:Don't you have any forests in your neighbourhood? Are there any oaks in them? Can't you take a walk there and collect some acorns?

I know it's not exactly what you asked and there might be snow there already, but you might give it a try in the spring.

There are some pin oaks but none that I have seen have any acorns, I have collected some red oak acorns and they sprouted well but I have some more wet areas on my property. I love oaks so I thought I’d try some pin ones.

greg mosser wrote:it doesn’t help you now, donald, but i or other pinoak-adjacent permies could send fresh nuts when they’re falling (mid-october here) with a little reminder ahead of time. i don’t have experience with planting dry acorns but fresh ones sure germinate well.

That would be great! I’ll keep that in mind.
edited to add: the native range of pin oaks probably doesn’t extend to OP’s location, krisz. he’s looking for a specific species of oak, not just what’s in the local woods.

Yep, native range doesn’t extend here but they will definitely grow here as I have seen some, just none big enough to have acorns .

I decided to just take the plunge and buy some acorns from eBay and try them out. I ordered a hundred so at least I have enough to at least guarantee a few will sprout. The seller did a float test on the acorns as well and kept only the sinking ones so there’s that as well.

definitely nice that you’re not paying for wormy ones!

and please report back with your technique and success rate! it would be great to have more info on sprouting dry acorns!

greg mosser wrote:definitely nice that you’re not paying for wormy ones!

and please report back with your technique and success rate! it would be great to have more info on sprouting dry acorns!

I will! I should have done so on the other trees I managed to sprout this year, but it has been a madhouse this year, hopefully next year I’ll have more time to take pictures and document things.