[NatureNS] lack of acorns?

To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
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From: Donna Crossland <dcrossland@eastlink.ca>
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2018 18:19:37 -0400
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There was a pretty good crop of acorns in the southwest this year.  I 
was relieved, as they had also produced a good crop last year, and of 
course, they do not produce big crops of acorns every year.   It's 
typical to have large acorn crops only at 3-4 year intervals.  
Otherwise, the poor trees would be "working for the squirrels" with 
little benefit for the trees on the reproductive front.

Why was I relieved?  Well the beech nut crop last year was also 
impressive.  Between the bounty of acorns and beech nuts, the wildlife 
had a feast.  It was incredible.  As one may have expected there were a 
number of reports this spring-summer of bears with 3 cubs, likely owing 
to the good fall food supply. With the demise of apple crops, 
blueberries, etc this year, owing to the late spring freeze, I wondered 
how the wildlife would find sufficient food.  So much of the forest has 
been clearcut as well, leaving less food and shelter.  (Yes, clearcuts 
provide some food but the natural vegetation of NS would typically 
provide more wild foods from intact, standing, diverse forests, 
especially from older age classes.  After all, a beech tree doesn't get 
around to producing many beech nuts until @ 60-80 years of age.  These 
days we are clearcutting 35-50 year old stands, so the food source is 
removed.)

Perhaps, however, your oak tree took more of a freeze than tees located 
further to the southwest, and so did not produce acorns. It would be 
interesting to link acorn crops or absence of acorns to locations hit 
hardest by last spring's freeze.

Donna


On 2018-11-07 5:48 PM, Judy Tufts wrote:
> Are there others noticing a dearth of Red Oak acorns this fall?  Just about
> all our Red Oaks  have dropped their leaves due to strong winds and rain,
> especially in the last week, earlier than usual, but where are the acorns...
>
>
> Last year we had a bumper crop.  Would the sharp freeze we had in early June
> have had an impact on the oaks developing their fruit?  Sadly I remember
> many trees in our backyard dropping branch 'tips' shortly after the early
> June freeze, and not just oaks. Maples and poplars took quite a beating too.
>
>   
>
> A friend mentioned her English or White Oaks have produced an abundance of
> acorns  this year. Maybe location and variety of oak trees have played a
> part in supply of acorns?
>
>   
>
> Cheers,
>
>   
>
> Judy Tufts
>
>   
>
>   
>
>   
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>   
>
>    Judy Tufts
>
>     Wolfville
>
> <<<<<<<<
>
>   
>
>
>


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