Posted on 12/14/2008 10:54:49 PM PST by neverdem
(CNN) -- Up and down the East Coast, residents and naturalists alike have been scratching their heads this autumn over a simple question: Where are all the acorns?
Oak trees have shed their leaves, but the usual carpet of acorns is not crunching underfoot.
In far-flung pockets of northern Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other states, scientists have found no acorns whatsoever.
"I can't think of any other year like this," said Alonso Abugattas, director of the Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington, Virginia.
Louise Garris, who lives in the Oakcrest neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, first noticed the mysterious phenomenon early this fall when doing yardwork beneath a canopy of large oak trees.
"I have lived in the area my entire life and have never not seen any acorns!" she said. Garris checked with some local plant nurseries and they confirmed her observation.
The mystery has found its way to the Internet, where a "No acorns this year" discussion on Topix.com yielded more than 180 comments from people reporting acorn disappearances as far away as Connecticut and North Carolina.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?" posted a resident of Maplewood, New Jersey. "Now we are finding dead squirrels! SHOULD WE ALL BE CONCERNED?"
Not necessarily, naturalists say. Last year Garris reported a bumper crop of acorns, which scientists say may be one clue to this year's scarcity. Virginia extension agent Adam Downing...
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
ACORN went to work for Obama.
It's climate change.
It's Bush's fault.
Fruit trees that fruit too heavily one year tend to reduce their crop substantially the next. So much so that you want to thin your crop so the tree doesn't over-bear at any point, which keeps your tree healthy and cropping at a constant rate.
If the acorns were heavy last year, it may have stressed the trees, and they're producing lighter this year.
Normal.
This is one of the dumbest dumba$$ed articles I've read in a good while. Must have been written by city folk for city folk.
I blame hormones from birth control pills getting into the water table and emasculating those Oak trees
Its gonna be a long hard winter then. My Ground is covered with Acorns. Squirrels around here are having a bonanza.
What are ACORN’s good for?
(Besides electing communists and making squirrels fat)
My once heavily nut producing acorn tree died from the drought so we don’t have that carpet anymore.
A car killed two squirrels at the same time on my block a couple weeks ago (wiped out a family). Another smuck killed my cat.
Squirrel losses by cars has been rising in urban areas around Washington, D.C. as there are more cars on the street and more shitty drivers who don’t exercise caution in crowded neighborhoods.
As for missing acorns, ask Rev. Jessie Jackson (he has a thing about collecting nuts).
Bush’s fault!
“I have always gone on the old wives tale that a bumper crop of acorns meant a hard and long winter...”
I was gonna mention that, too!
It’s true here in the Ozarks as far as I have observed for the past 24 years. And this year we had a buttload of acorns!
More global warming this winter, I reckon. ; )
As far as I am aware they are eaten by wild animals, mostly squirrels and they are seeds to start new Oak Trees. I never new of anyone making a pie or jelly with them.
The writer of the article seems to think squirrels are about to become extinct because of this. I have good news; squirrels can survive just fine without acorns as they eat walnuts, maple seeds and about anything else that they can get their paws on.
Hard to tell this year, with the two hurricanes running through here, what type of acorn and pecan crop it would have been. Both are very scarce this year.
No,the squirrels were just that industrious this year
Well, I guess you're never to old to learn something new but I don't see myself sitting for hours pealing those tiny wee acorns. Call me lazy..
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