Poor regeneration of oak forest has been observed in north America and Eurasia. In the Himalaya it has mainly been explained by anthropogenic pressures. This study analyses the regeneration of 2 Quercus semecarpifolia forests (2200-3000 m altitude) in Nepal, one with almost zero disturbance and the other with different degrees of canopy disturbance. The relationships between biotic and abiotic environmental variables and the number of Quercus semecarpifolia seedlings and saplings (i.e. recruits of <10 cm Diameter at Breast Height (DBH)) were analysed by means of Generalized Additive Models (GAM). The 2 forests were compared with respect to size-class distributions of mature trees (i.e. >10 cm DBH), and the number of recruits. The size-class distributions indicate that regeneration is most reliable in the nearly undisturbed forest. Most recruits were found under high canopy cover and high potential radiation. Canopy disturbance had a negative effect on the number of seedlings. Seedling (but not sapling) numbers were related to soil pH (optimum 6), Loss-on- Ignition (optimum 20-30%), and total nitrogen (optimum 2-3%). In general, there were very few plots with saplings, and there was not a clear relationship between the number of saplings and the soil variables. The size-class diagrams indicate a lack of young trees in the disturbed forest, and it is hypothesized that fire may inhibit recruits reaching the canopy phase.