This is definitely going to be an interesting year for acorns

[Hoytvectrix]

This is from a bur oak in my gravel bed in MN. It started aborting the acorns a few weeks ago and most are done dropping now. Most are about the size of a pea or a dime. I have no idea how palatable these will be, but for what its worth, I haven't seen a squirrel or chipmunk touch them yet. I have only been scouting on one piece of public in MN so far recently, but I have been seeing fewer acorns for sure. This will definitely be an interesting year for acorns based on when and where drought has been occurring.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

The pin oak in our yard is dropping loads of pea-sized "acorns" and has been for about 2 weeks. No development of the "meat" of the acorns - pretty much just a cap with no acorn. Don't know what that means, but it's the first time this happened since I planted it in 1987. Even my wife noticed there aren't any squirrels around.

 

[Native Hunter]

Our native Chestnut Oaks are littering the ground right now with big, fat acorns. The Swamp Chestnut Oaks I planted a few years ago are covered with developing acorns that drop in November.

 

[GMan5465]

I'm seeing a bumper crop of acorns that are now just starting to fall.

 

[Teeder]

Acorns seem a little light here this year, except my English are loaded again.

 

[SD51555]

I've got one of the best acorn crops coming that I've ever seen at my place, and that's after having a massive crop last year. My place is flat and poorly drained, so a normal moisture year usually means my bur oaks will get anthracnose pretty bad and have a terrible crop. This year they are huge and numerous, and that's likely because of the excess oxygen provided by the drought. If I can make D2 drought in the summer, there seems to be a bin buster coming from the oaks.

 

[356]

Looks like a poor white acorn crop here in NW Missouri. Most here are still on the trees, but the deer are going after them...

 

[b116757]

Yes light acorn crop in SE Kansas most WO species are showing none do to a late frost we had and even the reds are lighter than normal locally. No early dropping happening just few acorns total this year from the trees I normally keep an eye on.

 

[Barndog56]

I cut a couple of branches off of the Northern Red Oak my stand is in. It's absolutely loaded with fat acorns. They're still green but there were a few on the ground after the last thunderstorm.

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[Teeder]

NRO is my favorite Red. They always have acorns around here.
Wish they produced at a younger age.

 

[Angus 1895]

The northern red oaks seem to like my ground.

the scarlet oak…..not so much.

 

[BuckSutherland]

The previous owner of our land logged (2011) most of the oak off before they lost it in foreclosure. They left 2 old crappy burr oaks. One of them I just found this year. They also left about 5 nice big mature red oaks and about 2 dozen slightly smaller scrubby ones that didn't have the greatest timber value. There are a minimum of 50+ more trees that must be around 25-40 years old. They are producing some nice crops and should only get much bigger going forward. Also have a few hundred that are less than 2" in diameter. A bunch of them trapped under the logging regrowth from the previous owner. I have released at least 100 of these with the silky saw. Plenty more to do. I wanna tube 5 small naturally occurring red oaks next time I go up (labor day) and then throw down a weed mat and mulch. Just so I can see how they respond to management and how long it takes them to produce.


I think I have an above average acorn crop this year (all reds). Lots of beaked hazel too.

 

[Angus 1895]

How big of a bear is that?

 

[BuckSutherland]

Her live weight is minimum 250#. She's a good sized sow and around the area often. My nephew and I ran into her and the cubs on the ground at 30 yards. They ran off and we thought we were sneaking out about 5 mins later. Instead they kinda circled around and climbed a big red oak. I never really felt any danger from her. We had a really close encounter with a third cub. Kinda got lost and came running back to the original spot looking for mom 3-4 mins after the initial encounter. I got some pretty cool videos of mom huffing and wheezing a little to let us know she was there in that tree. Definitely a memory that will stick with me. We just calmy backed out and let her be.

 

[bwoods11]

Pretty good crop of acorns in Minnesota. I

 

[hillrunner]

Last year's acorn crop was the biggest I've ever seen here. This year's is pretty pathetic.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Can't say i've paid enough attention to really say what a good year vs down year is. I did note that the edges of one of my food plots has been carpeted with bur, NRO, and pin oak acorns more so than I recall seeing in the past and the deer have been hitting it. I did a lot of chainsaw work 2 winters ago around here to make a thick visual barrier on the edge of the plot and also release the oaks so maybe that is helping them produce.

 

[b116757]

We had a very heavy mast year a couple years ago I even had a bumper crop of acorns on a 4’ tall DCO that year it’s maybe 6’ tall this year and no acorns at all but most of the whites oaks have few acorns and my apple trees have few apples from a late frost this spring. My Liberty and Enterprise are troopers and both still have a decent crop not as heavy as some years but they do at least have some apples almost all my other apple trees are pretty slim.

 

[SD51555]

I checked mine again this weekend. Not really dropping yet. It’s gonna be a whopper. I expect to see a bobcat come thru to eat acorn scavengers.

This pic made me think of Austin Powers:

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[Teeder]

Acorns seem a little light here this year, except my English are loaded again.

I went out yesterday to scout some local trees that I watch every year. Nothing on the couple burs in the area, but the whites and swo's seem to have a decent crop. There's one isolated white in a park that has been loaded every year for over 20 years that I've been watching it. Heck of a tree!