Acorn: Friend or Foe?
Unless you need to store these up for the winter, feed them to pigs, wild turkeys or make acorn fritters, these are headaches with a cap on.
Don’t be fooled by it’s innocent look! They are not cute.
Now if I was an oak tree living my comfortable life span of 200 years or more, the last thing I would want is some little upstart oak trying to catch up to me and take away valuable sunshine. So why would I want to drop thousands of seeds at my base? To get back at all the naked oak furniture stores? To damn the homeowner who throws yet another log on the fire? To make a stand against tree swings? They’re up to something and that something is dropping seed-bombs on top of our HEADS. My wife has been pinged several times. Free falling from 40 to 60 feet up doesn’t make for a tingly feeling. These bad boys hit roof lines and make it sound like an amatuer fire-works display.
A Floridian blogger sums up his frustration about loosing sleep due to acorns falling on the metal carport roof outside his apartment.
Facts Facts Facts:
Acorn production
The oak trees produce acorns once a year during the fall. Acorn production varies year to year and normally alternates. Not even the healthiest and largest oak can accumulate enough food and energy to produce strong crops two years in succession.
HA! I beg to differ!
Mature trees can drop as many as 2200 acorns!
Obligatory Acorn Production Graph
My imagination takes me back to Hitchcock’s Birds. Acorns are slowly moving into non-acorn areas. The garage. The porch. This morning a warning sign found in the kitchen! An acorn CAP! AHHH! How did that happen. It’s not like these things easily get caught in your shoes. They move about on their own. One came down the chimney the other day! The house is encircled.
I’ve got to go. Must buy plywood. Must buy nails. Must change locks.
