What's flowering as forage in your area

[jenkinsbrynmair]

yep - apparently they also used oak galls to dye material black for making shrouds

 

[The Poot]

Has anybody noticed the almost complete lack of acorns this year?

Yes, there’s hardly any on the local trees. The pigeons will go hungry…

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes, there’s hardly any on the local trees. The pigeons will go hungry…

The jays here are taking the beech mast.

 

[Murox]

There is a 'survivor' sweet chestnut around here that is only producing the tiniest of chestnuts this year, basically ripe but pea sized.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Has anybody noticed the almost complete lack of acorns this year?

checked four apiaries since this question where I know there's usually a profusion of acorns, on two of them I usually have to sweep the acorns off the hive roofs. This time I even made a point in checking the trees as the leaves have yet to turn here.
Zero acorns on any of the trees - but you must remember that a few on here noted a glut of them last season, and after a glut...............................

 

[enrico]

checked four apiaries since this question where I know there's usually a profusion of acorns, on two of them I usually have to sweep the acorns off the hive roofs. This time I even made a point in checking the trees as the leaves have yet to turn here.
Zero acorns on any of the trees - but you must remember that a few on here noted a glut of them last season, and after a glut...............................

We had a horse chestnut tree locally that produced conker cases that were elongated and looked more like kiwi fruit, if opened the nuts inside were non existent. Never seen that before!

 

[Erichalfbee]

checked four apiaries since this question where I know there's usually a profusion of acorns, on two of them I usually have to sweep the acorns off the hive roofs. This time I even made a point in checking the trees as the leaves have yet to turn here.
Zero acorns on any of the trees - but you must remember that a few on here noted a glut of them last season, and after a glut...............................

Yes that’s likely the explanation. The oaks had a mast year last year. I suppose they need a rest.

 

[Antipodes]

I suppose they need a rest.

They reckon it's to starve the pests isn't it....partly anyway?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Whilst out seed gathering this year, you may have noticed that acorns are hard to come by. And you’re not alone. Right across the country, we are seeing one of the lowest fall of acorns for roughly 7 years.

From the Tree Coucil

It’s from 2021 but probably a good explanation anyway

 

[JamezF]

It’s from 2021 but probably a good explanation anyway

The explanations all feel a bit anthropomorphic to me. They seem to be suggesting significant conciousness on the part of the oak tree when in fact the explanation may well be far more simple, such as there being some specific reason that after a number of years of "bountiful harvest" the tree is biologically incapable of maintaining that level of production.

However, the idea that "mast years" exist perhaps might also suggest that there are external factors at play, for example if the weather is not conducive to pollinators visiting the tree at the time it flowers or for some reason the flowers aren't producing the amount of pollen/nectar that makes them sufficiently attractive to visit.

We've had similar issues in our own garden this year with other plants. The early pears have absolutely no fruit at all. Damsons were ok, but there have been pretty much no plums at all. We have two Dabinett cider apples that have fruit, but only on the north-facing side of the tree.

James

 

[Penninetrader]

The explanations all feel a bit anthropomorphic to me. They seem to be suggesting significant conciousness on the part of the oak tree when in fact the explanation may well be far more simple, such as there being some specific reason that after a number of years of "bountiful harvest" the tree is biologically incapable of maintaining that level of production.

However, the idea that "mast years" exist perhaps might also suggest that there are external factors at play, for example if the weather is not conducive to pollinators visiting the tree at the time it flowers or for some reason the flowers aren't producing the amount of pollen/nectar that makes them sufficiently attractive to visit.

We've had similar issues in our own garden this year with other plants. The early pears have absolutely no fruit at all. Damsons were ok, but there have been pretty much no plums at all. We have two Dabinett cider apples that have fruit, but only on the north-facing side of the tree.

James

I think you are on the right track, acorns are the fruit and that requires pollination. the weather this year has made it quite difficult for all fruits to be pollinated in a timely manner. Some missing completely. We saw the blossoms and flowers but not the fruit. I have 5 apple trees which bear at varying levels in their natural cycle, never will all be at a low in the same year but that was the case this year. A strange occurrence being that my Bramley produced few but decent sized apples, the strange being that none had seeds, I have never ever seen that before. It would seem to me that instead of wasting vast sums on foolish projects that do nothing more than transfer wealth to those already wealthy beyond counting, we should consider placing our efforts into adapting to what is much beyond mankind's control. Nature will do it and the bees with their late surge that caught so many unawares this year are a perfect example

 

[Murox]

We had a horse chestnut tree locally that produced conker cases that were elongated and looked more like kiwi fruit, if opened the nuts inside were non existent. Never seen that before!

That took me back to childhood days, the local churchyard where we lived still has a profusion of conker trees. There were one or two that used to do as you described and I recall those were eventually cut down and some years laters replaced. I think we had some of the best conkers generally for fights, and plenty of them!