Scientists baffled by mysterious acorn shortage

CNN ^ | Dec 12, 2008 | Marsha Walton

[Jonah Hex]

No shortage here. Every morning, when I step out into my backyard, I'm always stepping on my nuts. Hurts like hell too, especially when I'm barefooted.

[LibLieSlayer]

If anyone needs some... Mississippi has a million percent more than needed this year... can't even walk in the yard... deer and squirrels are dragging their bellies when they walk.

LLS

[bert]

I know what caused the problem. The oak trees flower, the flowers are fertilized by the pollen and acorns are produced. At the critical moment there was a hard freeze. The flowers were destroyed. No flowers, no acorns.

The same process resulted in sterile Maple seeds and Redbud pods.

[tanknetter]

No shortage here. Every morning, when I step out into my backyard, I'm always stepping on my nuts. Hurts like hell too, especially when I'm barefooted.

In Northern Virginia we had a HUGE acorn year ... last year. Never seen so many, and I had to go buy a gravel shovel to scoop them up out of our road gutters and throw them into a trash can. Last Spring saw most of my front lawn covered with the sproutlings.

No acorns at all this year. Common sense tells me that its just a cyclical thing, that the trees are compensating for overproduction last year, and there's nothing to really worry about.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

It's those damn squirrels again probably.
They're a little "bitter" this year for some reason and are hoarding acorns.
Maybe the National Civilian Volunteer Service could fund a study and look into it? Apparently they have some experience with hidden ACORN data.

[C210N]

re: I thought acorns were toxic to humans

Perhaps you are thinking of tomatoes

[seemoAR]

It is the same in SW AR. We have a huge white oak tree beside our house. The acorns have been very big and plentiful this year. They will wake us up when the wind blows and the acorns fall on our roof. Squirrels and deer have been in our yard a lot. The hickory nuts seem to be larger this year. They can be a real hazard if stepped on.

[ChoobacKY]

Yeah, us too. Never saw so many acorns. The squirrels and blue jays are fat as pigs now.

[Mercat]

Maybe in Virginia. Here in Kansas we have all brown wooly bears this year and you know what that means.

[FrankR]

"I have always gone on the old wives tale that a bumper crop of acorns meant a hard and long winter. A sparse crop meant a mild winter and early spring. It has always proved to be true IMHO.. "

I've heard that too. I've got several oaks on my property, and two giant hickory trees. About 8 years ago, I had tons of acorns and hickory nuts almost as big as golf balls. But the last couple of years it's been a little sparse on the acorns and the hickory nuts are fewer in number and not much bigger than a large marble. I was thinking it was the drought, because the last couple of years we've been way low on rainfall.

But as you mentioned, the weather about eight years ago here (in north georgia) was pretty cold and we had a couple of snowstorms that year. The last couple of years has been milder...probably that gorebull warming.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“Maybe in Virginia. Here in Kansas we have all brown wooly bears this year and you know what that means.”

Yeah, don’t go for a walk in the woods with your Bruno Maglis on.

[mdmathis6]

There were plenty at my house peppering my car if I parked to close to my trees!

[LibLieSlayer]

We proudly “buck” this article!!! Sorry for the pun.

LLS

[Tribune7]

So are the Democrats in Louisiana.

[George Smiley]

Dead squirrels in New Jersey?

They were probably about to “rat” somebody out.

[Hot Tabasco]

"Now we are finding dead squirrels!

I've noticed a lot of dead squirrels where I live too. What's really weird is that they all seemed to have dropped dead right in the middle of the roads........

[vetvetdoug]

NE Mississippi Quercus/Oak have produced more acorns than the previous several years. The deer are fat, the squirrels are fat and the ground is covered. The pecans and walnut trees produced a bumper crop, as did the crabapples and persimmons.

[CaptainK]

Lat week my sister and I were commenting on how fat the squirrels were this year.

Sort of like your picture.

[stayathomemom]

For what it's worth our maple trees produced a bumper crop of seeds this year. I noticed it on other maples in the area. (SE Michigan) It seemed to affect the trees’ ability to produce large leaves which seemed stunted this year.

[reagan_fanatic]