Auburn fans can now roll the Toomer's oaks whenever they want thanks to the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences.
The school sold seedling trees that were descendents of the oaks on Toomer's Corner at their Homecoming events Saturday.
"Since it's the alumni game what we do is we have the Toomer's oaks, that we collect and we grow and we sell to the alumni for gifts or graduation presents or whatnot," said Scott Enebak, professor of forest pathology.
Enebak said, since there would be a big group of people attending the game with a lot of alumni coming in, they put up a table out front to try and sell more trees.
Each tree sold is one of the offspring of the live oaks on Toomer's Corner.
Students in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences harvest the acorns from Toomer's oaks and sow them.
"Each October we go out and we actually have a boom that we go up in and pick acorns out of the tree and pick them up from the street where they've dropped," said John Goode, sophomore in wildlife sciences. "This year I think we collected about 1,800 acorns, and we'll take those and of those we'll plant 700 to 800 of them and raise them from seedlings all the way up and try and get them all sold the first year, and if we don't get them sold the first year, we'll sell again the next year as an older tree."
The program began in 2003 when there was growing concern about the health of the trees on Toomer's Corner.
The School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences first planted 40 acorns from the trees so they would have a replacement tree in case something happened to one of the original trees.
The event sparked discussions of spreading the descendents of the trees across Auburn and the Southeast.
The School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences started selling baby Toomer's oaks to raise money for student activities.
"Each dollar goes straight back to the school," Goode said. "It goes to the forestry club, the wildlife sciences club and to scholarship funds."
Auburn fans can purchase the trees in person or have them shipped to their houses. Every seedling comes with all of the essentials for owning a Toomer's oak.
"When you get the oak, most of them are shipped out," Goode said. "They're shipped out in little cardboard boxes and with that comes an envelope which has your certificate of authenticity and all that and a roll of toilet paper."
Goode said there's news articles that pop up every now and then about people who have their Toomer's oak in their yard and will actually go out and roll it after a win.
Enebak said many people who purchase a baby Toomer's oak keep him updated on the status of the tree.
People send Enebak pictures of their trees, and he often hears interesting stories associated with the oaks.
"We've had people call us, one was even involved in a divorce," Enebak said. "It became part of the property and someone lost it and they contacted us and said, 'I need to replace my tree that I lost in the divorce.' So there's those stories where people really were attached to the tree and then there's feel good stories about the tree that are 8-feet tall and they go out and they put toilet paper on it when Auburn wins."
Enebak said there are plenty of trees left if people would like to give out the tree as a gift this holiday season.
"After today we'll probably have at least 300 trees left over," Enebak said. "So they can call the School of Forestry here or go to the Tiger Rags Web site and just order it online and you'll have it at your door in a couple of weeks."
Lindsey Phillips, sophomore in forestry and wildlife sciences, said she has benefited from the trees through her involvement.
Phillips said everyone should buy a Toomer's oak, because it is a good cause.
"Definitely do it, it's a great thing," Phillips said. "You'd have a piece of Auburn history, and it goes to support students. The money that comes from that goes to the scholarships in the school. "
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