acorns!

Karl Hoover wrote:
just dump more compost material ontop of the whole mess. or perhaps,
next time, invite some more squirrels. also you will probably find
that even acorns several years old will sprout irregularly after
some number of years of delay
 


My squirrels have been unable to keep up with the hundreds of these fallen acorns. Perhaps they don't actually get much "down" time, as the dog is always chasing them back up into the trees. Yesterday I hand sifted 2 - 5 gallon barrels full of them out of compost. Most had sprouted. I think it's pretty much a wasted effort , as there are so many more. I have a question for the group, do sick-looking trees make more acorns, in an effort at self preservation?  I've looked around the area, and noticed that the trees that have the healthiest appearance, (lots' of leaves, showing vigorous growth, etc,)  don't seem to shed as many acorns, as the ones that look less vital. Also, there is quite a range in the size of the nuts themselves, some are about 1 inch long, thin, and others are 2 1/2 inches,very fat, lots' of "meat" in them. Is this typical of one tree, or am I seeing nuts from different trees? They sort of all run together, and to my inexperienced eye, they all look the same. (To quote Ronald Reagan).  "You've seen one Redwood, you've seen 'em all" . Or was that James Watts?

I digress. ahem...
 
Anyway, thanks for the help.
 

loretta in fairfax

Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index