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Meet the squirrel

Marquette man invents acorn-planting device

Lowell Larson of Marquette shows his invention, the Squirrel. The gadget can be used to plant multiple acorns in an ergonomically efficient way. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

MARQUETTE — It’s not exactly peak acorn-planting season, but eventually squirrels will search for these nuts, which, if they don’t eat right away, they bury in the ground for later consumption.

Sometimes, however, those acorns are forgotten, and oak trees are the result.

Oak trees are just what Lowell Larson wants. So, he invented an aptly named invention: the Squirrel.

The Squirrel is specifically designed to plant tree nuts such as acorns. The device works by punching a hole in the ground, dropping the nut in the hole and replacing the dirt on top of the nut.

The ergonomic design allows the user to plant hundreds of acorns with ease while staying in an upright posture.

“People don’t plant oak trees because they’re pretty tough to plant,” said Larson, a retired assistant principal from Marquette Senior High School.

The challenge, he said, is that an oak has a tap root, and if an acorn isn’t planted deeply enough, the result is “j-rooting,” with the root growing to the top and making the tree less stable.

In the early 1990s, Larson started working with a forester, Gayne Erdmann, to develop a strategy to improve his 80 acres of private property at the Peshekee Grade in western Marquette County. Larson said Erdmann noted a lack of oak trees, which provide a good food source for wildlife and produce valuable timber.

Erdmann recommended planting the oak trees by seed — acorns. This would be easier and more cost effective than purchasing and transplanting oak seedlings.

That would have meant Larson spending a lot of time on the ground, digging inch-and-a-half holes and covering them up.

There had to be a better way.

Larson developed an early version of the Squirrel, which he used for several years. However, as with many ideas of would-be inventors, the “acorn planter” prototype sat idle in the basement of his cottage for many years.

In 2015, he learned about a local initiative called Invent@NMU, which helped Larson bring his idea to market.

Invent@NMU, a program of Northern Michigan University, has helped inventors take their ideas from “napkin sketches” to market launch since October 2014, partnering with the Innovate Marquette SmartZone in July 2017.

“While our roots are in product development, we’ve recognized many small businesses in the U.P. need a variety of assistance as well, and have recently expanded our services and capabilities to help these individuals too,” its website states.

The Squirrel was a good fit for such a goal.

Larson said the Invent@NMU team was optimistic about the product and studied it, eventually making a short production run. Field experts also were brought in, and Larson obtained a patent.

The Squirrel is made at Superior Manufacturing Solutions, based at K.I. Sawyer. It has a spring-loaded plunger, rubber hand grips, is 36 inches tall and has a steel design.

Larson hopes to bring the Squirrel to others so they can improve their forestlands by planting nut-bearing trees.

“A lot of hunters and sportsmen would be wise to put those into food plot areas,” Larson said.

The trees benefit the environment by providing oxygen production, carbon dioxide removal and a cooler environment, in addition to being a source of wildlife food and lumber, he said.

There’s also little impact on the environment.

“I can go through and plant 500 acorns, and you’d never know where it was,” Larson said.

What happened with his initial planting?

“Some of the trees are now producing,” Larson said of his 80 acres.

Larson plans to spread the word about the Squirrel through agencies such as the Marquette County Conservation District and the U.S. Forest Service.

He said the best time to plant acorns is just before a winter logging job. The selected acorns are planted in late fall while the acorns are stratified, or dormant. The seedlings will be ready to emerge as soon as the spring sun warms the ground.

Another option, Larson said, is to plant in early spring. Acorns are collected in the fall and kept at a temperature between 34 and 38 degrees until it’s time to plant in the spring.

In fact, he has 3,000 acorns in his garage refrigerator, all of which have been float-tested.

“The ones that will not grow will float to the top, and those that will mature or break out into a tree will sink,” Larson said.

Matt Watkeys, district forester with the Marquette County and Alger conservation districts, gave input and helped with the design as the Squirrel was being developed through Invent@NMU.

“It makes planting acorns real easy,” said Watkeys, who noted the gadget works well for getting the acorn depth and dimension just right.

He also pointed out that hard mast such as acorns need to be added to state forests, and introducing oaks will benefit wildlife habitat

To learn more about the Squirrel, which sells for $149.95 plus tax and shipping and handling, visit nutplanter.com, call 906-360-0788 or email nutplanter@gmail.com.

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