There are almost never seedlings growing from acorns. If there were, you would be able to pull them up easily. What you see are sprouts from the roots of the existing tree; therefore, you do not want to spray a herbicide on them in an attempt to eliminate the sprouts for you will hurt the “mother” tree along with the sprouts.
Only a small percentage of oaks send up suckers from the roots. It is a genetic trait, like freckles, except I like freckles. But like freckles and sunshine, some trees have the ability to sucker, but do not unless stimulated to do so. Oaks having a slight tendency to sprout suckers will often do so when roots hit a barrier, such as trees confined to a parking lot planter, or between a sidewalk and driveway. Also, when roots are disturbed and damaged by rototilling, they are more likely to sprout suckers. But some trees never will make suckers. When choosing an oak in a garden center, if there are sprouts coming up at the inside edges of the container, I would avoid that tree.
You may choose to mow them along with the grass, if grass still exists. Or if the grass has thinned too much, you might plant Asiatic Jasmine groundcover, and use hedge trimmers to trim the jasmine and oak sprouts to a uniform height. You can cover the area of sprouts with a heavy gauge woven geotextile, and then either mulch or spread large gravel or decomposed granite over the top of the geotextile. My favorite solution, when appropriate, is to cover the ground with geotextile and then build a wood deck.
Or if you prefer a thick green lawn, you may remove the oak tree, and all of the tree roots with a backhoe. If you just cut down the tree, grind down the stump and all the large roots you can see, there will still be thousands of oak sprouts emerging from the remaining roots in your new lawn or bed area for a few years afterwards. The area will need to be continually sprayed with an herbicide.
James 
Jeff says
Will torching the sprouts work as an alternative ? I have them all over my backyard so putting gravel over it wouldn’t be a solution…
james gill says
If you read above, you will see a reply from someone who tried this, and afterwards was noticing some browning in his tree. I had requested he give us a followup of the result but he has not. So I would be hesitant to try this. And I doubt it would be effective for much longer than mowing anyway.
Carolina says
Please can someone tell me how I can get rid off the sprouts on my front yard Fron the Oak tree , have try everything and nothing works and by the way why the tree do that?
Melanie Harris says
Hello – I just bought a home with beautiful oak trees in the yard – which is nearly covered with about 4″ oak sprigs – likely kept short by mowing. I pulled a few and there are no acorns attached so they’re coming from the main trees. After reading thru these comments, I wondered if any persistent ground cover might successfully compete with these? You mentioned Asiatic Jasmine. If I planted AJ, mowing would be impossible. Would a thick growth of AJ likely keep the sprigs from growing tall? Trying to figure this out! Thanks!
james gill says
No, groundcover will definitely not prevent the sprouts from growing. If you plant asiatic jasmine as a groundcover, you can use power hedge shears to trim the jasmine and oak sprouts to the same height, and the jasmine camoflages the oak sprouts since the leaf color size and shape are so similar.
Melanie Harris says
I think I like the geotextile fabric idea – covered by a deck! Any thoughts/recommendations about the best geotextile? I see woven and non-woven and heavy duty and commercial grade.
Thank you so much!
syl says
We removed the tree, grinded it down and still getting suckers. We are using round up. The suckered are relentless.
james s gill says
Syl, our Brushkiller with Triclopyr will be much more effective than Roundup for killing out those oak suckers, but it will probably still take repeated applications. Applied according to label directions, it will not kill your St. Augustine grass.
Steve Boettcher says
The sprouting tree we have is in our front yard. If we cover it with heavy plastic for a few weeks, will that kill off the sprouts without harming the tree?
It’s a small yard and we want it to look nice. Thanks Steve
james gill says
No, covering with plastic will not kill the sprouts. You can hand prune continually, or mow, or cover with heavy grade geotextile and rock.
steven says
I have laid down thick black plastic rolls over the suckers and then covered that with mulch. Never saw those suckers again. In another area I am trying an herbicide Sucker Punch.. Too early to tell if that will be the answer
james gill says
Please let us know if the Sucker Punch works for you, thanks.
Jeannie Finch says
I still like the decking idea around the tree, but my concern is that they will eventually push up through the boards and being that there is “strength in numbers” may actually push up the deck!
james s gill says
Jeannie, my deck and heavy geotextile has been there 20 years, no problems.
MICHAEL BLOM says
Geotextile is the devil. The previous owners put it down everywhere, with rocks and mulch on top. The problem is the world doesn’t stop. Leaves, catkins and such keep falling, burying the mess. You will never rake or blow it all away. Roots grow through it, making near impossible to remove. Now, deciding to dig a hole to plant a shrub is a torture instead of a joy.
The inventor should be prosecuted.
james gill says
And Wayne, I see I neglected to mention that though Floratam is superior in sun, Raleigh does better in shaded areas such as underneath large or closely planted live oaks.
Elizabeth says
This is so helpful James! I will try the go-turf and mulch. I don’t have large area, and initially pulled all of the sprouts by hand! (Two days) Once I pulled them, my other plants (Society garlic, lantana) started blooming! We are selling this house, but I want this little suckers to GO!