If your car’s roof could speak, it would probably say something like “Ouch!” or “Hey, cut that out!” as acorn after acorn bounces off it this fall.
Just about everyone seems to agree the amount of acorns falling this year is among the highest they can remember. Jonathan Shipman, a board-certified master arborist with Shamrock Tree Company on the North Fork, thinks he knows why.
“Acorns are known to drop here early every three to five years,” he said. “It’s kind of a cyclic thing. But it can easily be triggered by drought, and this summer was particularly dry. So it’s not uncommon for trees that need to preserve carbohydrates to actually drop their fruit or acorns early.”
“Acorn production is cyclic,” a DEC spokesperson said in a statement. “Usually every five to eight years a mast (large) crop is produced, but the climatic conditions need to be right. This was not considered a mast year, although acorn production in July and August was high across New York State. This was due to a lack of rain. In addition, acorn production was delayed due to late frosts, which hindered new growth in the spring.”
Photo credit: Monique Singh-Roy
