Acorn Quest - end of part 1

As we are coming to the end of the first part of our Acorn Quest - the sprouting of the acorn - we are looking back on the last 6 months with a huge sense of pride.

We started our pilot scheme with 4 primary schools in county Kerry this last October. The students were all given an Oaky Pod, designed by our friends at http://oakyworld.com/, and acorns that we collected from Derrynane House Estate with the permission of the OPW. Every month the Transition Year students from the Intermediate School in Killorglin made a video of how to get the Acorn Quest started, what to look out for in the coming month and some fun Oak facts for the kids. The teachers of the schools shared these in class with their students.

As the acorns were suspended in water the roots started to appear first. The students were able to see how a good root system gets established before the acorn cracks open to reveal the start of the actual stem and leaves.

We are quickly approaching the time that these little saplings need to go into the soil. They are happy to stay on a sunny window sill for a long time as they are starting to photosynthesise, but they need nutrients to grow into big mighty oaks. So our next step will be to get them planted into suitable containers and put them in an outdoor location were they will be sheltered, but get plenty of sunlight and water to grow on. If the schools have no space for them we will take them back and plant them out into outdoor beds at the nursery and we will grow them on till they are large enough to be planted into their forever homes.