NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) – Have you heard more acorns cracking against the sidewalks this year? It’s been a record season for the crop – with the impacts ranging from potential interactions with bears, to good news for the whiskey industry.
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station reports this fall as a “bumper crop” season for acorns, the first such year since 2019.
About 57% of red oak trees will produce acorns in any given year. This year, that rate reached 87%. However, this year is also being considered a failure for white oak trees, with only 9% producing acorns, compared to a historical average of 25%. And while there’s more acorns being produced overall, the northern corner of the state didn’t see as much of a boost.
Red oaks saw bumper years in 2016 and 2019. White oaks haven’t seen one since 2015.
This year’s increase is likely attributed to multiple factors, according to Joseph Barsky, a research technician and forester with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. One of those is maturation time. White oaks can start producing acorns within a season after they are pollinated. Red oaks take two.
“My thought is that the time of pollination last year was just the right Goldilocks conditions for pollination, and it was a good food set,” he said.
Other theories state that oak trees have bumper years so that they can overwhelm predators. Another is that the trees have to build up energy reserves.
The bumper year is positive news for animals like squirrels, blue jays, deer, bears and caterpillars that feed on the acorns. Barsky said about 80 species depend on the crop for a primary food source, including rodents, which might be more abundant next year.
The increase in acorns could signal a change in the number of human-bear interactions this year. In 2022, during an acorn crop failure, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection issued a warning that more bears will be scavenging through garbage to find food. The agency did not respond to a request from News 8 about if there is expected to be a change in human-bear interactions this year.
The acorn boom also means good things for Appalachia. Barsky pointed to states like Kentucky and Tennessee, which use the wood from oak trees to make barrels used to refine whiskey.
The 12 species of oak trees native to Connecticut have seen challenges in recent years. Barsky said leaf litter is accumulating in forests due to a lack of routine fires. Oak trees are also being outcompeted by birch and maple trees.
And while there will be more acorns in the ground this year, Barsky said he’s always hesitant about predicting future crops.
“A lot does depend on the weather and how that will impact acorn production,” he said.
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