Trying to understand oaks and acorn production has been one of my life's more fascinating pursuits. Make of that what you will!
Individual observations and experiences are valuable. I also find great value in diving deeper into research based science. Today, I find scientists unloved and misunderstood. Like with any other endeavor and profession there are good one's and bad one's. I hope I've personally been able to recognize both. Make of that what you will!
This may sound presumptuous and I don't mean for it to be. As I travel life's hard road I read the research and try to bring it to a different more understandable level. Sometime I can, other times I don't.
Here go's....
I found this:
https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/other/oak_sym/oak_symposium_proceedings_044.pdf. Feel free to read it. It's research paper based on the research of others. There's a word to describe it but it escapes me.
Here are a few points I found I wanted to share-about oaks and acorn production.
1. There's a lot can happen to an acorn from the time the flower is produced and pollinated, the fruit begins growing, and finally hits the ground, most of it bad!
2. Not all oak species are created equal. Generalizations are rarely useful. What we might understand about a white oak may not apply to a red oak, for example.
3. But, all species of oaks are abundant flower producers, both male and female - on the same tree. So, the quantity of flowers on a given tree is not the cause limiting acorn production.
4. The problem is with pollination, or the fertilization of the "egg." The problems are all climate related (as opposed to the tree's fertility). A scientist would lynch me for putting in that way...
5. Various climatic factors, such as wind, late frost, prolonged rain, relative humidity, and temperature affect successful pollination.
6. A study in Pennsylvania showed that good crops of white oak acorns were obtained when a warm 10-day period in late April was followed by a cool period in May. So, here's the science problem. Does what happens in Pennsylvania apply to white oaks where you are?
7. Here's a surprise to me. White oak acorn production begins one month after pollination. For red oaks, 13-months!
8. The greatest loss of production is when the immature acorn falls off the tree before maturity. See number 7.
9. Canopy density is directly related to production. A tree with a small canopy produces the same amount of acorns per unit of measure (think acorns per cubic foot of canopy) as a tree with a large canopy. Here's my take on that. If you have one oak tree in a sea of maples, reducing the number of surrounding maple trees will allow the oak tree to develop a larger canopy. In an oak forest, thinning oaks will have no impact on acorn production. In fact, it might reduce production.
10. And finally, lots of acorns never make it. Two groups of insects, nut weevils and gall insects, cause the largest losses, but the list of other causes is long!
And, so, like our weather, we take what the Good Lord gives us!