We removed dozens of trees @ Owl Creek in 2019…Some had been dead for a long time… Some were volunteers too close to driveways or barn…Some were contortions of trees…bent, split, broken. Several logging projects in the past 50 years harvested hard woods…walnut, maple and oak trees. Our understanding is that oak seedlings are difficult to locate.
To get 2020 spring plants off to a bigger start, I gathered acorns from the backyard. Mostly green, squirrels had not run off with them.
“How to Grow Oak Trees from Acorns” Shelly Wigglesworth Oct 16, 2018, published in New England Today, Living
I like the idea of refrigerating with peat and barley in a sealed container over winter.
Shelly recommended discarding acorns with pin holes. They are made by “inch” worms exiting the hull. I believe the worms enter under the cap. After checking closely and drying about two weeks, I discarded 20 acorns of the 60+ I had gathered from our backyard.
Here we “grow” again…today March 11, 2020…
Responding to the loss oak seedlings ruined by squirrels going for the meat of the acorn…I have turn the table! Using a small cage to keep wild life out and protect future tree…rather than keep animals IN. 45 acorns in peat pots.
Hmmmm…what yield will we have?
elfcroft 
Wow! What an ambitious undertaking. We’re going to have to call you Johnny Oakseed. And I’m just trying to collect some seeds from my last collard plant that has flowered. They were especially tender collards and the little green caterpillars did not like them at all so no daily caterpillar patrol for me.
Did you harvest cotton seeds also?