CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If you are like me and have spent any time outside this fall you may have noticed the abundance of acorns. I'm not talking about just a few but at times it feels like the trees are literally bombing you, your car, and your home with acorns. They seem to be falling in bunches as well.
This overproduction of acorns is what botanists refer to as a mast year. It means a bumper crop. Every 2-5 years trees seem to synchronize an overproduction of nuts, fruits, or berries. Scientists don't know exactly why but it is a cyclical pattern where a few years will have low productions then; Wham! a bumper year.
It could be weather and climate-related or another theory is trees actually talk to one another through chemicals released from their leaves. All working together to overproduce their seeds.
This overproduction overwhelms the animal that eats the seeds meaning many get left to grown. In the case of squirrels and chipmunks, they can't eat them all so they bury most of them. They will forget where they were buried and then they have essentially planted new oak trees.
Now there is some old weather folklore about an overproduction of acorns leading to a harsh winter ahead. The problem is the cycle just doesn't work out all the time and there is little correlation. Some years we have tons of acorns and we have a mild winter, then other years few acorns and a harsh winter. It's just a 2-5 year cycle that the trees go through to help keep new trees going.
My officially 17th annual winter forecast for the Carolins will be out on November 4th. Stay tuned!