Acons advice.

[Exeldama]

Has anyone got any acorns yet..? My trees dont seem to have any or even any developing ones... bit weird. i know about Mast years but i would have thought a few would appear. there arent many squirrels and i havent seen a jay around.... is it too early in the South or have i missed it completley...none on the floor either.

Can you get barren years.. the trees are about 150-200 years old and healthy.

[MartreCycle]

Like yourself - I have gone on the hunt for Oaks with acorns - ready to harvest some in late October -

It is a very poor year for acorns - sessile and common round my way Mid Wales.

Managed to find just three trees with about 10 acorns spotted !!

Last year was a mast year - so this may have bearing on this years poor showing.

[RichardKing]

Clearly not a "mast year" for Oak, but the Beech trees near me are loaded.

[greyman]

it's been raining acorns for quite some time here in West Sussex (well in and around my wood) However as you may have heard on Radio 4 - there has been a bit of an insect exlosion and we had so many catapilars in the trees this year it sounded like it was raining for the period when they were feeding on the leaves. The oaks that have been dropping thier acorns were obviously playing host to either acorn cup gall grubs or an acorn knopper grub 'cos thier all weird and wonderful shapes. sometimes the knopper gall grows right over the acorn and you just can't see it any more. Jays a prone to taking acorns to bury too - I beleive they can be one of the main spreaders of acorns in some areas. They bury them in pastures surrounding the wood.

Hope you get better crops next year.

Be safe,

Greyman

[jillybean]

I have loads, they arent too huge, but in plentiful supply. Youre welcome to come and get some if you wish. Im in Kent near Canterbury

[docsquid]

Our trees are very variable, but most of them have a massive amount of acorns on them compared to last year, so I'd have said it is a mast year for acorns, at least in our wood. Even some of the 20 year old saplings have a few acorns on them.

[tracy]

Last year we had none. Not a sausage (or an acorn) this year we seem to have loads!

[Exeldama]

Thats interesting stuff...sounds like some are having mast years and most not.............. isnt nature peculiar.

I do have a new oak in my front garden its about 7 years old and did give me 3 acorns... good effort..!!

Thanks Jb.. if im your way i might just take you up on it.....

I shall scour every hedgerow within my world and find some locally if it kills me..... thank you and goodnight.

[MartinD]

Loads of acorns here in south Cheshire, along with loads of beech mast. I stand in the wood every night for a few minutes when I come back from work - for the last few weeks it has been the soft rain of beech you can hear, but over the last week it has been the kerplunk of acorns. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be a good year for my conkers. The squirrels have got a few, but there aren't many husks around.