Surplus of acorns doesn't bode well with the old prediction.

Tons of walnuts too.

I live on a fair size lot in a suburban setting. We have a huge oak on the back yard that overhangs a good size covered patio. On normal acorn years the damn squirrels set above the patio and throw down the hull sans some partially eaten acorns. On heavy years like this one I swear they make a sport of throwing down the excess acorns just to make a racket.

Too close to neighbors for even a quiet .22. I tell my wife all the time that squirrels are just rats with a good marketing campaign. I HATE them.

Had a BIL who listed them in 2# boxes on eBay and sold a crapton or them to NE Yankees.

I’ve got a ton coming down this year. My biggest issue is I over seed every September and the acorns rain down on the grass seedlings. I haven’t found a way to get them up without damaging the new grass. Raking was very destructive, and the wire weasel thing didn’t work well in thick 3.5 inch tall fescue and was pretty labor intensive.

I’ve resorted to letting nature have its way. Tree rats eat a lot of them and in spring I mow the seedlings until they die. Most years this approach works pretty well, but the heavy acorn falls affect the turf quality next year.

I have one huge gazillion year old white oak in my front yard. It overhangs most of the house. I'm pretty sure I've had more acorns drop out of that tree this year than in all the previous 25+ years that I've been here combined. The squirrels are having a heyday.

Wecome to acrornopacalypse! The mast year. My property is COVERED in very big mature oak trees and a few hickorys to boot. So much so that any one of probably 15 trees could destroy my house if it fell on it. I know, this is not smart, but it's part of the architects design of a home embracing nature back in the last mid-century, and I don't have the heart or cash to bring down this lot of trees. In the summer, it is dim/dark in my house at mid day, as the trees steal all the sun.

With that picture in mind, you simply cannot imagine the mast years here. The driveway is paved with acorns. And you get pelted like rain going out for the mail. It's hilarious. Squirrels take many, chipmunks who survive my feral family take some. They REALLY love the hickory nuts. But ultimately, the leaf blower pushes them in a wave down over the hill where the deer surely eat them up.

Thanks ROgue. I didn’t know about mast years. So there is hope not every year will be this bad.

No acorns where i am at but a lot of Black Walnuts and Osage Orange Hedgeapples. Seem to be a bumpercrop of the hedgeapples this year, the deer are in the yard eating them as i write this.

Hmm, the Bag-a-Nut picks up brass? I wonder how it works on spilled dog food, nots and bolts, etc..

For years I had a walnut tree and didn't know it because the critters took every nut it produced, along with most every nut from the hickory.

Pulled down a sagging soffit and found a couple bushels. It was kind of like pingpong balls on the old Captain Kangaroo, just off balance, on a ladder, and not as light.

Now that I got dogs, that has all changed. Nuts are the bait they hunt over and it's like walking on tennis and golf balls until I pick them up and toss them in the fire pit.

Seems like a bumper crop year for all nuts on my property this year. Acorns are the biggest I've seen, and the deer love them. What they leave behind isn't much better though.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunset_Va:
Surplus of acorns doesn't bode well with the old prediction.

Tons of walnuts too.

That means we are going to have a doozy of a winter, right?

The trees know…

They're not yet falling like rain in "The Long Rain" The Illustrated Man (1951)?

Two words of advice: Be. Prepared.

My brother-in-law uses a shop vac to gather his up out of his front yard.

Sounds like a machine gun when they are sucked into the canister! LOL

My neighbor has a large metal barn/garage. It is surrounded by Oak trees. Acorns are dropping on it every minute this time of year. They sound like 25lb rocks crashing down onto the roof.

Can you burn acorns in your woodstove? I got into burning a lot of green wood last year and found that the Black Walnuts burned very nicely and would rev up the fire somewhat with some colors shooting out of them.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by Sunset_Va:
Surplus of acorns doesn't bode well with the old prediction.

Tons of walnuts too.

That means we are going to have a doozy of a winter, right?

The trees know…

That’s what I was wondering as well. Does anyone still read the Farmers Almanac?

Down this way the deer eat them up.

Last night I was watching some videos where people prepared acorns as it looks to be good knowledge for a good SHTF food. God Bless !!!


Many videos like this:

The hickory tree in my backyard has made a tremendous crop of nuts this year and they're almost done falling but Saturday afternoon we had a wind storm kick up and I shit you not, it was HAILING nuts all under and around that tree. The wind was blowing so hard they were hitting my patio and house.

It was...NUTS

Hopefully I get a break next year and this danged tree has an off year because this is so much work cleaning up these things and the worst part...IT'S NOT EVEN MY TREE!

It literally sits one foot into my neighbors yard but I'd say 70% of it hangs over my property and drops branches and leaves and nuts pretty much all year.

I've approached the neighbor numerous times about getting it taken down, it's got to be 120 years old and 150 feet high and every time he refuses. I even offered to pay half the cost the last time I asked a few weeks ago and he goes "Oh, we love that tree! We will never cut it down!"

Of course you do, because YOU don't have to do all the work cleaning up after the dammed thing...I DO

I hope it falls someday from old age right onto his house.

I have a few medium size White Oak trees. From what I seem to know, about the top acorn for most wildlife. I don’t see to many complete acorns on the ground, mostly halves after being opened up.

Umm, you mean you burned black walnut hulls, right? Chestnuts are also quite tasty…