A year and a half ago, during the last stages of autum, my five year old niece and I were going for a walk in our neighborhood. She began collecting acorns that had fallen on the ground and asked what they were. I explained and she instantly became excited about the possibility of growing a tree from this small seed. We went online and got general advice on stratification and began the process. I explained to her that we may be disappointed; that not all seeds will grow. Nevertheless, and to our surprise, several of the seeds had sprouted during the stratification process.
That spring (last spring), we planted the sprouted seeds in a pot with potting soil. The seedings did well all summer long. During the winter, we moved the pot onto the patio to keep it sheltered from the cold. Unfortunately, only one of the seedlings survived the winter. This seedling is now bigger and has more leaves than it did last year and is a little over nine inches in height. With careful optimism, I realize that this wonderful little oak has the potential to live to be hundreds of years old. We are planning on buying a home two years from now and don’t want to leave this mighty little oak behind.
We would like to keep it in its current pot and plant it in our new yard in a few years. I am looking for advice on how to keep it healthy and happy until the move and then how to transplant it into the ground at that time. The pot we are using is a thick plastic pot with drainage holes in the bottom. The diameter is approximately 11” and is about 9” deep. I understand that plastic pots are not ideal and plan to transplant the oak to a terra-cotta pot in the fall. The pot is in partial sunlight (about 4-5 hours a day) and the soil is kept moist. Any advice would be very much appreciated.