Acorns in Your Area

Does everyone notice an abundance of acorns this year? Old wives' tales say the crop is a sign it will be a very cold winter and the acorns will sustain the animals and birds during the cold weather.

It is hard to tell in an urban setting, trees are more regimented to the even water schedules, but "yes" anyway. Here, young trees that most years have tossed off maybe a dozen acorns are dropping a few hundred this fall.

I'm noticing the opposite. I wanted rare species acorns and there are none. Common species have some but not nearly normal amounts.

Very good crop over here this year.

The old wives are wrong on this one, all a good acorn crop proves is that there was a hot sunny period last year when the trees were setting their buds for this year. No forecast for the coming winter at all.

Resin

I have to disagree with Resin on this.

The heavy acorn crop leads to abundant local scavenging opportunities for itinerant quercophiles; above average "skating" situations for the balance-challenged; and lots of seedlings to coo over for those who collect, remain upright, and live through the spring to see them all germinate (then wonder what to do with all of them).

Unfortunately, I was out vacationing in the relatively Quercus-less wilds of MT-WY-ID during prime acorn drop in KY. Upon return, I've found the following to have exceptional crops:

Quercus macrocarpa
Quercus muehlenbergii
Quercus marilandica
Quercus montana
Quercus michauxii
Quercus pagodifolia
Quercus palustris

I'm working my way around town, and seeing what's still left.

I have had more acorns this year than any I can remember...(literally carpeting the ground)..white oak I believe.

Last season was the heaviest mast experienced in this area that any one could remember. We scooped them up with a snow shovel. This year, nada.

Few here.
The few Q.macrocarpa around the area have their typical annual crop.
I've noticed a number of Q.muehlenbergii around town that seem to be cropping fairly heavily.

Around the farm, very few acorns - last year was a good crop for acorns, hickory nuts, black walnuts; this year, very few acorns, no hickories, and very few walnuts.
Pawpaw crop was a total bust here - I never found a single fruit on any of the clumps of wild trees anywhere in the county, whereas friends north of me in IN and in east TN indicated that they were experiencing bumper crops of pawpaws.

do chestnuts fall under the "mast crops" I have huge numbers of them also

Lots of Quercus nigra acorns this year. The acorns are small and apparently mockingbirds eat them, or try at least. I have a shed in the backyard with a tin roof on it and when those birds get in that tree it sounds like gunshots.

Pretty good pecan crop too, compared to the last couple of years.

White oaks (primarily alba and bicolor), massive amounts. Red oaks, mostly black/chestnut, normal to few.

itinerant quercophiles ???

Lucky, the pawpaw trees here worked overtime making fruit. Of course, the trees are very young and full scale production is years away. But after every wind, there were a few fruit on the ground that I hadn't noted before. My meat-only dog appeared with one in his mouth and proceeded to eat it. The first fruit he has ever eaten, bar none. After one pawpaw, he now eats apples, but until he ate that first pawpaw, he wouldn't even sniff after fruit. Wonder what happened there, because he's about 4 yrs old and has always had the run of the place and not bothered vegetative things before.

gloria125:

Sounds positively scandalous! So, you move from KY and totally lose the local lingo.

IQ test?

I nearly joined the walking wounded today. The Quercus bicolor x Q. lyrata specimen in Cherokee Park has outdone itself. You could barely see grass under it for all the nearly-enclosed acorns all about. Bumper crop, indeed, and a rake/shovel combo would've made easier pickins. As it was, I skated to an overflowing bag full.

On a less happy note, I picked up about a dozen Q. bicolor acorns from where the park lost a 102 year old specimen in a storm two weeks ago. It was a tree from one of the original plantings when the property became a park in the 1890s.

Isn't that called 'teleological explanation' to imply that the oaks know somehow that it will get cold and the 'itinerant quercophiles' will need extra sustenance?

Around here, where I live in an old pecan grove, my malamute was a factor in the ecological equation. She thought the pecans belonged just to her, and any squirrel who might think otherwise was dead meat. When the pecans fall in November, I could hardly get her to come in--lest some quercophile sneak in during the night.

I'd say that it means that collecting acorns (and growing viburnums) is my special purpose.

Tons of NUTS here in my neck of the woods!!! From trees and folks!! LOL
Squirrels are making me tired watching them. They have been busy for the past month. From sun up to sun down.
Scares me a bit, I'm afraid we are in for a bad one this year.

Not a lot of acorns in northern illinois and parts of wisconsin, from what I have seen. Jim

ViburnumValley:
How wonderful you have acorns from the old oak that was lost. You can grow some and have some historical oaks.

I've noticed more acorns this year as well. So has my dog, unfortunately.

w

Resin, what do you mean acorn crops don't influence weather?! Next I suppose you'll be telling us that you can't get warts by touching a toad. Or masturbation doesn't cause blindness. Boy, if my mom were only around to set you straight!

I beg to differ with you Maackia, touching toads does cause warts. I know this because my brothers told me so. Touching toads also makes them pee on your hand. This I learned from experience.

No Hickory nuts at all this year but acorns seem to be making up for the lack of Hicory nuts. The Oaks aren't fruiting to the extent we'd have to use shovels but they are abundant. Squirrels are very happy. Very happy indeed. They are destroying beds left and right and rotting around in patio pots as if there's no tomorrow.

We have had more acorns this year than any and we also have a forecast for a very mild winter...what does that mean? Also no one answered my question about whether chestnuts fall under the "mast crops" thing. Are they considered the same group...like hickories and oaks.. dumb question probably...

I would like to know what hickory tree that would produce the best nuts for eating. At the historic site next door three hickories along the property line are still healthy after 100 years. Another one is droping limbs, apparently due to the power lines resting on some of the branches. The nuts they produce, though, have such thick shells, even the squirrels wont eat them.

I would like to plant some long-lived nut trees on my property. I like the idea of Gertrude Jekyl's "Nut Walk", but it would be a mix of native nut trees. A place to walk with my dogs--they love nuts, too. Well, maybe a place from someone's grandchildren to walk with their dogs. I have the dogs, but no grandchildren.

Equil: Sounds like you had the same kind of brothers I did. "Hey Gloria, we'll give you 5 cents if you stick your hand down this hole." Maybe it was scientific curiosity. Skunks will also pee on your hand if you give them a chance!

Gloria,
Pecan is a hickory, and by virtue of its heavier production and greater ease of extraction of nutmeats, it would probably get my vote for the 'best' hickory.
But, I'm a general nut tree enthusiast, and I really like the 'true' hickories - and currently have about as many named-variety hickory selections in my collection as I do pecans.
By and large, the shagbark(C.ovata) and shellbark(C.laciniosa) hickories are the principal species utilized for human consumption. Shagbarks tend, in most cases, to be heavier bearers than do shellbarks, and shagbark nuts are typically much thinner than those of the shellbarks - but shellbark nuts and kernels are typically much larger than those of shagbarks.

I've got photos of some good quality hickory nuts - I'll post those to this thread when I get to the office today.

Thanks Lucky-P: I live in a remnant of an old pecan grove. One of the trees in my back yard has a world war I military belt imbedded in the trunk. But I did mean the true hickories. Didn't know pecans were hickories. What do you think the thick shelled hickory is. The hickory trees are certainly long lived and healthy (if not used as electric poles by Alabama Power). Will the shagbarks and shell barks grow in my climate. I am on sandy loam bottomland of an intermittent stream with springs. The blackbelt--limey deposits from the old sea line starts within 1 mile of me, but the soil here is acid with a lot of exposed red subsoil.

I'll second Shellbark Hickory (Carya laciniosa) for where you live.

Do the shellbark and shagbarks grow together in native stands? What would be some good native companions for the shellbarks?

There are still a few original chestnuts here that were not killed by the blight. I guess they were a bottomland tree also. The planting I have in mind will be an informal allee arrangement, so I will need a spectacular tree at the far end.

Gloria125...are you saying you have the American Chestnut?

Levilyla: I do not personally have an American chestnut, but there are some in backyards at the other end of town. Yes, real chestnuts not killed by the chestnut blight.
The land owners that I knew have died within the past few years. I don't know the present owners, or if the trees produced any chestnuts this year. Will make an effort to find out.

What kind of chestnuts do you have?

Gloria,
I grew up east of you, in the Auburn/Opelika area. Most likely, the thick-shelled hickory you've got is mockernut(C.tomentosa), though others, like nutmeg, pignut, bitternut(it's in the pecan section), white, red, and sand hickories may also be part of the mix.
I'm only aware of a single shagbark tree on the 200 acre farm I grew up on in Lee Co., and no shellbarks whatsoever.
Shellbarks tend to be lowland/creekbottom inhabitants, and while I do encounter shagbarks on the creekbanks here in KY from time to time, they tend to be more prevalent on droughtier upland, hillside sites.
Most of the shellbark clones seem to be fairly resistant to the scab fungus, but even the shagbarks, while susceptible, don't seem to be as significantly affected by it - as regards nut quality - as the pecans are.

Shellbark has limited natural distribution in AL - maps I've seen show only two isolated populations of this species in north and central AL - I've received shellbark nuts from a contact in Lawrence Co, up in the northern part of the state, so I know it grows there.
Shagbark - I don't know for sure, and I'm not sure how C.carolinae-septentrionalis(Southern shagbark hickory) fits into the classification scheme with classical C.ovata(shagbark). I've not been able, today, to find a good range distribution map for ovata or c-s.

In the photo I've attached, the nut on the left is my own KY State Fair winning shagbark hickory selection, "Sinking Fork", with the nut on the left being a nice, local shellbark selection, "Garnett".

Lucky-P: Thanks. Two lefts? Are by any chance a graduate professor??? As I stated above, I am on bottomland, old floodplain. any information on sources for the shellbarks and companion nut trees. How about beeches? And Oaks. Also, I am looking for one spectacular tree to go at the far end of my nut allee. Got any suggestions?

Shagbark or shellbark?

Here's another for size, showing the nearby phone pole

I think the only one I have is Aesculus flava...and I also have hickories I think but don't know which ones they are LOL But I remember as a child having tons of Castanea dentata....but absolutely none that I know of anymore...all gone from a fungus. I have heard that some resprout from the stump only to die before producing any nuts...is this what you have in your area..or are they full size nut producing trees?

Dang! That's why I never was very good at square dancing! ''NO. Your OTHER left!" LOL.
No, not a graduate professor. Pathologist and lecturer.
Yes, the shellbark is the one on the right.

Clay,
I can't tell which from the photos. Could be either. Some shellbarks are pretty shaggy.
I'd need to see leaves/buds/nuts to know for sure.

I've got one tree here on the farm here that sure looks to me like it's a hybrid of shagbark and mockernut, although those two species have differing chromosome numbers. Leaves/buds on this one look like shagbark, bark looks most like mockernut with some exfoliation high up in the tree, nuts are shaped like nearby mockernuts, but are light in color and reasonably easy to crack, whereas mockernut nuts are exceedingly thick-shelled, with prominent internal ridges/convolutions that trap nutmeats.

Levilya: I went out to find the American chestnut--Ive heard of others around here but this one would have been on the property of an 1830s farmstead along the south side of town. Now it is at the back of a property that has recently changed hands. Owners not home so I couldn't get permission to look at it. It is the original tree, not a sprout. the neighbor directed me to a chestnut tree down the road. it was a huge beautiful chinese chestnut carpeted with husks and nuts. While I was out I ran into some people who are in the hunt clubs along the river. They, too, have heard of original chestnut trees and will start hunting for me. Are you wanting some nuts? I would be afraid to plant a tree so vulnerable to disease. I believe there are some nurseries who have propagated a disease resistant American Chestnut.
While I was out talking chestnuts, someone suggested that I plant some chinquapins--which taste even better than chestnuts they said.

Hi Levilya