[FlungPup]

strangeness abrew:

no acorns

 

[Ben]

I was listening to someone on armchairsurvivalist.com radio talking about this and the problems with Bee's dying out.

Something mighty strange in afoot.

 

[Straight Razor]

This was hashed over a lot on the Yahoo forage forum. It seems to be season and regional. Plenty of acorns here in Florida.

 

[SouthernLiving]

Tons in Alabama too.

 

[FreedomoftheHills]

Plenty here too. An extraordianry year, in fact. But last year there were almost none, and the bears were all coming down to town to eat garbage.

 

[ken]

starving squirrels

We usually have lots of acorns, but none here in west Texas this year, absolutely zero, very unusual. Around Fort Worth and Dallas they had plenty. We had a late frost this spring, maybe that was it. I had plans to make some acorn pancakes this year. I found a recipe on-line and wanted to test it. I guess I will have to wait until next year. There was a program on NPR last week about the lack of acorns across big patches of the country, lots of starving squirrels, ha. Apparently this is a very unusual event, to have zero acorns over a large area, usually the quantity varies year to year, but not to zero. The radio program "expert" said they were not worried because oaks live a long time, but if there were 2-3 years without acorns, it would be a disaster.

 

[FredLee]

I watch the oaks around here. I collect acorns,the replant them in clearcut areas. The crop was decent this year,but sporatic.Some areas rocked,others sucked.
I found a great hickory tree this year,in the cemetary near my grandparents graves. Lots of nuts.Gonna plant them too.

 

[adalel]

There was alot here in middle Tennessee but do you realise that red oaks only produce acorns every other year and white oaks produce every year. You may have alot of red oaks and this could be most of thems off year.

 

[SmallGame2100]

I dislike bee's.
But Thats weird.

 

[Highlander]

Plenty of Acorns in Menard County, Texas and Dallas/Fort Worth

 

[Raptor45]

In Maine some years we have some, others virtually none but about every third year they fall like rian as they did this past fall. Deer hunting was like walking on ball bearings!

I have often wondered why there are these fluctuations?

 

[hillsidedigger]

Acorns are cyclical with different cycles for red oaks vs. white oaks, at least around here. This past fall was about the most white oak acorns I've ever seen here in WNC.

 

[bert the turtle]

In Maine some years we have some, others virtually none but about every third year they fall like rian as they did this past fall. Deer hunting was like walking on ball bearings!

I have often wondered why there are these fluctuations?

It is likely helpful for the oaks to have different amounts of acorns each year because it keeps the animals that eat the acorns off balance. If there were a big crop every year, something would fill that ecological niche and eat them every year. If there is a bumper crop every so often, then there will probably be some extra acorns around to seed a new crop of oaks.

 

[Guerrilla]

Lots of people around here say that big acorn harvests mean a heavy winter coming. My boss harvested about 20 gallons worth this year. I noticed about 10% less, but last year was insane for mushrooms and acorns. Not that I care. The only thing I hate more than acorn pancakes is cracking the damn things.

-g

 

[LuniticFringeInc]

I can attest to a pretty good mast crop this year in the DFW area.

 

[vanillagorilla]

We had tons of biggo FAT acorns....i thought some were coconuts..LOL

 

[SkullyWV]

Acorn crops are cyclical. I think the cycle is 5 years. The oaks at my farm have shown this to be true for the most part.

 

[DCBerry]

Acorn crops are cyclical. I think the cycle is 5 years. The oaks at my farm have shown this to be true for the most part.

That explains a lot thank you! Never knew that.

 

[Brosia]

We didn't have any acorns this year. I didn't even notice until I read this post, but we do usually have a lot. Must be different cycles in different areas of the country.