Acorn mast

[Wilson]

There have been reports of a scarcity of acorns this fall. What are your experiences? Is it all oaks, just red oaks, or just white?

In the Durham area I've noticed very few acorns on red oak species this fall, but decent crops on certain white oaks (Swamp Chestnut, Overcup).

See the Washington Post article:
Acorn Watchers Wonder What Happened to Crop

Some related threads have cropped up recently on Ecolog-L (lots of good reading!).

[JQ Public]

Last year our Southern Red Oak had tons of acorns.  This year our neighbor's Quercus alba (White Oak) dropped a lot of acorns.  I know the Whites produce every year while the Reds have acorns that take 2 seasons to mature.  I think both types of oaks vary from year to year.  I hope this helps?!  I'm in N. Raleigh by the way.

[w4sar]

In Northern Orange County, plenty of mast from mostly white oak and red oak. I've seen both deer and squirrels actively browsing.

Dave Snyder