Where are they?
Acorns, here in this part of Michigan, don't see any.
Went to a park and my wife and I walked the trails and it was mostly White Osk trees.
In two and a half miles, saw maybe one on the ground ever 50 yards or so.
Couldn't find them on the trees either.
I have one big White Oak in my yard and no acorns?
Anybody else noticing this?
Where I deer hunt I don't have oak trees and I usually don't see deer until around the last part of October. Because the deer like the acorns.
But the deer are still here and that tells me they are not finding acorns. :dunno:
The acorn crop up here in the western U.P. seems to be super heavy this year. If its windy, I feel like I need to wear a helmet when scouting in the oaks. The ground is almost solid acorns in spots.
Here in Maryland almost zero acorns this year. Found 1 white oak dropping some and shot a doe there.
Here in NYS the acorn drop has been zilch, we've also had a pretty bad gypsy moth problem this year, my mind is linking them together but IDK.
Orange County NY and Sussex Co NJ there are no acorns and I've looked multiple farms. The few I've found dropping were still light and in spots they were landscaped so they had everything they'd need. That being so we had snow and cold in May. I wonder if the cold killed the buds or something
*I am seeing acorns in good numbers in S.E MI. this year in my area.
Acorns everywhere I've been here in S.W. Pa. Yesterday was super calm in the morning and all I could hear was another acorn dropping. So many the deer are spread out.
Pine it's better than last year up here. In my part of the UP we only have red oaks and they are dropping.
Excellent crop down south.
My part of Va has a bumper crop this year
Yesterday a large flock of starlings landed in the white oak next to the house. Instantly it started raining acorns. The birds were in the tree for 5 minutes or more and the acorns rained heavily until they left. We have a good number of both red and white acorns on our 25ac but the whites rarely produce heavily if at all. The reds seem to always produce.
In my part of NC, coastal, there are not any acorns which is very unusual!!!
In this part of Texas the acorns are small, peanut sized. The reds are normal.
Plenty in my area of western Ky.
I'm in west central MI, all the oaks in my yard are dropping in plentiful quantities, and where I hunt also. Whites, and Reds both.
If you want to see better acorn drops in the areas you hunt go to a garden supply store and by tree food spikes and drive them into the ground around both the big and the small oak trees. They should have fruit tree spikes and general tree spikes. If you can find nut tree spikes those will work best. You might want to put nut tree spikes around other but trees Mike pecan, hickory and pig nut. Do that for your own larder.
We've got a pretty good crop of red and white oak acorns this year in middle/south georgia. The white oaks are falling a little early it seems this year.
They are very scarce on my little plot.
This is very interesting, none some places, just normal other places and yet again, very few.
And also it's the whites. The reports are just fine for the reds. :dunno:
Cyclical! :thumbsup:
Reds are much more reliable I have found. I believe, here in Va at least, there are southern reds and northern reds and the deer only eat the northerns.
Depending where I'm hunting but one area has plenty and another has none. Last year the deer were feeding like crazy on the one area that has none this year. I believe the crop varies from year to year and sometimes it may take 2-3 years to have a good crop again. These are white acorns
Acorns are plentiful in central Wisconsin this year. Last year hardly any. I've read they are biannual and is thought to be a survival mechanism. Too many actors every year means an abundance of food for critters. Too many critters means less nuts have a chance to seed. Therefore the cycle allows for squirrel and chipmunks to starve off and keep numbers in check
Red oaks in my area of Maine. They tend to drop just before bow opener, tho a few lag. This y goldear our wild apples are almost a no hitter! If I can find an apple tree dropping this year it would be like gold to the Gabor sisters!
From what all I have read on the topic, the white oaks generally bear every other year if the weather is right. The red/black oaks will bear every year if the weather is right. The key is the weather.
Here in the northeast the oaks flower in mid-May. You will see the long catkins emerge just as the leaves are emerging. If you have "soft" weather - gentle breeze, no rain, warm days - the pollen fills the air, the hood of the Jeep is a yellowgreen every morning for a week and the female flowers are fertilized. That is step one. If you have cold weather, pouring rain or stormy conditions the pollination is poor and the harvest cannot be any better.
Step two comes in June, July and August. You must have adequate rain. If it is dry summer, the fertilized female flowers cannot produce an acorn and the harvest will be poor.
Your mast crop is the combination of the cyclic nature of the trees, the weather during flower time and the weather during the summer. All three must come together to have a great mast crop. Here in the northeast we had a poor spring and a poor summer. The acorn crop is very lean.
I hope for better weather for next year.
JMC
No acorns on my trees but half a mile north on my sisters place they are loaded. Go figure
Just finished a circuit hike of Sesquehanock trail in North Central PA on the lower 40 miles around Ole Bull and both sides of Cross Fork found some of the largest acorns I've ever seen. Especially, above 1,800-2,000 feet.
:campfire:
Lots of Nuts in Kentucky; I'm one of them! :laughing:
And on a set note, we have a lot of Acorns this year also.