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Acorns: Floaters vs Sinkers

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From: Tom Martinson City: Stanchfield, MN
When I gather acorns for planting, the ones that float in water, I was told, are dead. The ones that sink are good for planting. Is this true?
	Extension Message From: Jay Hayek Extension Specialist, Forestry Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences jhayek@illinois.edu
Hi Tom: As a general rule of thumb: Sinkers are viable and Floaters are to be discarded. However, a good friend of mine (Mr. Ray Herman) who used to float-test A LOT of acorns found that up to 25% of floaters (i.e., weevil damage) actually were viable and did eventually germinate. Hope this helped!
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