December 1, 2008
The Mystery of the Missing Acorns
A squirrel with an acorn meal; courtesy of Flickr user Marko_K
I was somewhat surprised to read in the Washington Post yesterday that oak trees from northern Virginia to Nova Scotia failed to produce any acorns this year. Last year there were plenty, so what happened? Are the trees sick? Could it have anything to do with climate change? (Warmer weather out west seems to be allowing parasites to thrive that cause sudden aspen decline and other tree diseases.) Or is it just part of the natural cycle for these trees?
Oak trees, at least in the D.C. area, pollinate in one or two weeks usually in May. Mess with the pollination period and there will be no acorns in the fall. Insects, such as gypsy moths, can damage trees but don’t really affect the pollen. A late frost can kill the trees’ flowers and cut off pollination, but we didn’t have a late frost. What we did have, though, was rain. Days and days of rain, adding up to more than 10 inches at National Airport on the Potomac River, according to the National Weather Service.
Was there enough rain to wash away all the pollen and prevent the trees from creating acorns? Maybe. No need to worry just yet; the acorns will probably be back next year. And the oak trees, which can live up to 300 years, will survive. The squirrels, though, could have a hard winter ahead.
Have you seen any acorns this year? Or do you have any other theories on what might be happening?
Editor’s Note: We are aware that the above photo is of a European species of squirrel and would be unaffected by the acorn problems facing his North American brethren. But that photo is just too darn cute and funny, so we’re sticking with it.
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Oh dear, I hope squirrels in the Northeast survive the winter. My father, who lives in western New York, reports the squirrels in his backyard are finding no shortage of walnuts from his walnut tree this year. He’s grown tired of picking up the walnuts this fall — and, is tired of one squirrel, in particular, de-shelling on his porch.
Do the oaks rely on honey bees or other insects for polination?
Oak trees can self-pollinate (they are some of the few trees that can do so). However, mixing their genes with those of other trees is preferred, so they really rely on wind pollination. That’s why our rainy weather is a suspect–it may have washed all the pollen out of the air.
Oak trees in Illinois produced good heavy crop this year.
[...] some students in an uproar over a culling scheduled over winter break. I’m going to guess, if the acorns haven’t shown up in this area either, that there will be more starving animals and more calls for culling in the future. [...]
I live NW of Washington DC in Montgomery Co., MD. I have two large, healthy pin oaks in my backyard that produced a moderate acorn crop this year. Between the squirrels, bluejays and chipmunks,the two trees were denuded in about 3 weeks. I believe my local critters will survive the winter. I also noticed that some other nearby oaks produced acorns this year as well. We got much of those same spring rains claimed to be the culprit for the lack of acorns this year. My question would be, why did the local oaks here produce acorns while other local area oaks didn’t? Is there something else at play?…stay tuned.
I have a cabin in Clarion, Pennsylvania(northwestern PA) with many large oaks, usually thousands of acorns – this year, I didn’t notice any!
I wasn’t aware of any shortage of acorns this year until I read this article. I live in NJ and have 3 large oak tress in my back yard. I usually roundup hundreds of acorns during fall cleanup. But now that i think about it, there wan’t any acorns this fall, just the usual tons of leaves. Maybe that explains why I haven’t been seeing my squirely friends. Not to worry though, I have plenty of oak seedlings sprouting every spring.
No acorns in Wellesley, Massachusetts either. We did have a very rainy spring/summer.
Here in S.W. Virginia acorns are piled up under trees. More acorns than I can remember in years. Weather has been dry all summer, water table down.
Some spring frosts at precise times can do it (damaging the buds and flowers ). I remember my grandfather (his father-in-law being an arborist) saying that late frosts can cause acorn production to drop. It’s probably just that things happened at the wrong time. It’ll be better next year.
Few acorns here in Tulsa, OK, but a moderate amount of hickory nuts. Near Fayetteville, AR, a relative reports zero acorns, but a record crop of hickory nuts.
should i feed the squirrels and if so what should i feed them – a couple of them devoured the electric wires on a neighbors christmas decoration
I live in se pa, and my trash cans are suffering miserably