Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

I had a good run of oak but then the ones I planted seemed to have a much lower drop rate for seeds.

As I sailed around I would stop whenever I saw an oak tree and "wild" oaks were giving me seeds at the better rate. If there were two trees in a meadow area, one was bound to drop some seeds. No where near the rate of the planted ones.

This really could be intentional if they want them used more for decoration than mega finewood factories.

That thought crossed my mind too. I don't pay close attention to updates and changes, but I almost wondered if the drop rates had been changed, for the kind of reason you mention. An Oak Tree farm would be a bonanza, and you could do it if you always got seeds at above replacement rate.