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dirtbert

acorns falling early...any old wive's tails?

dirtbert
15 years ago

We've had gobs of acorns falling already in our yard. It seems really early for them. I wonder if there are any old wive's tails about it. Something indicating the type of winter we are in for or something...

Anyone have any other "old wive's tails" they've heard that seem to have some truth to them?

Comments (24)

  • rosepedal
    15 years ago

    HI Dirbert,
    I see we are the same zone. This wet weather pattern we have been having since last winter is what I am concerned about. Greenbay had a record snowfall last year and we are still in the same wet pattern. When it starts to get cold all this rain will be snow. Boo hoo We never had a summer here. Heck we just had our first 90 day a week ago. Sure it was great not having to water a two acre garden but, I would of loved some heat..... and so would have my flowers and veges. I say we all start praying to whom ever are higher powers are.......

  • tiffy_z5_6_can
    15 years ago

    Did the acorns fall naturally or were they sent to the ground for pick-up by squirrels?

    I was gardening on Sunday close to some 50-60 feet tall Spruces when a cone fell on my head. Thought nothing of it until the sixth one came down and I decided to look up. Couldn't see anything, but the cones kept falling, one by one.

    After 15 minutes of this, the culprit finally made his way down and started collecting. It was one of our resident squirrels already gathering for the winter - in hot and humid 27C (90F) weather.

    I'd say we are in for a colder and possibly longer winter. Oh, that reminds me, I'd better order another cord of wood. :O)

  • rosepedal
    15 years ago

    LOL That is so funny.... Sorry for the head accident but I picture you out there. I keep waiting for a tree branch to fall on me....LOL

  • ponce418
    15 years ago

    Funny. I was just on the New England forum (I live in Eastern Mass) posting about this insane weather this summer season. I've never seen anything like it.

    Late May - Early June the temps in these parts were around 95/96 degrees. Way, WAYYYYY warmer than usual. That's August temps for us.

    July rolls around and it rains. And rains. And rains some more. Torrential downpours that we usually see in the spring...not the middle of summer.

    And today? Today it feels like fall weather. I wore a jacket on my ride to work.

    A JACKET. In AUGUST.

    And also, for the record, I had to drive up to southwest New Hampshire for work today? Umm, yeah. The leaves on the trees are starting to change.

    In AUGUST.

    Mother Nature has lost her marbles.

  • flwrs4ever
    15 years ago

    I am in rhode island, and I just traveled to PA..and I cant get over all the trees I saw starting to turn..I am really thinking we are in for an early, and long winter..ofcourse the year they make oil so expensive Ill have to wear icecicles on my ears for earrings..UGH !!!

    This really has been an odd year...and I dont ever rememeber being chilly in the middle of August..anyone think we should change the months a bit..with all the global warming ?

  • highalttransplant
    15 years ago

    I got one for you! I remember hearing this one where I grew up in the mid-south.

    Bonnie

    Here is a link that might be useful: Wooly Bear Caterpillars

  • etravia
    15 years ago

    I usually know it's fall when the Canadian Geese start to fly. This morning I saw a group of 15 to 20 flying & honking. That usually doesn't happen until early to mid September.
    Maggie

  • dirtbert
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Well there is definitely a squirrel tossing down some acorns. I have an oak tree near my veggie garden and EVERY time I go out to pick tomatoes a squirrel hackles at me and proceeds to drop acorns on my head. So that is contributing to the abundance.
    But it seems like there are a lot falling naturally as well...I am going to take a closer inspection though...

  • sewobsessed
    15 years ago

    Wow, we haven't seen a 90 day yet this year.
    ~sigh~
    My mums and asters are in bloom...it's waaaay too early!
    It went down to somewhere between 39/42F Tuesday night. I looked like an idiot running around outside trying to get all my tender tropicals in pots, like caladiums, in for the night.
    It's August for pete sake!
    I'm not sure which is worse - constant rain (we saw 21 days straight, one rain-free but cloudy day, then immediatly back to 2 more weeks of rain. grrrr) or this ridiculous cold.
    My toms and peppers are pee-iised. On the bright side, the flowers are all going gangbusters and my onions were the size of softballs!
    I think we're in for an extra long winter. Ugh!

  • lemecdutex
    15 years ago

    This has been a wild year at my place too. First, in late April, early May we had 2 nights in a row it 25°, so all the roses in our main field dropped their buds, our first big bloom was late June! Then, in May we had the hottest days we've had since moving here, over 100°, it even stayed warm at night, the first night that did not go below 60°, period. Then we had two more over 100° heat waves in June. But since then it's gone back to more normal temps for our area, with highs in the 70s or 60s, nights in the 40s or 50s.

    But, I did see geese flying in big flocks the other day, a sign they're getting restless, and wild ducks have come back to join our domestic ducks on the pond. Haven't checked for acorns falling. The naked lady bulbs are almost finished, and this is usually when they start. Maybe it'll be an early winter, who knows! I don't mind the cooler weather, but I hate heatwaves that fry everything, including me!

    --Ron

  • booberry85
    15 years ago

    Like the rest of you, I'm worried about an early winter. The trees near me are changing color. The Canadian geese are starting to gather at the lakes, and the squirrels are schizophrenically starting to gather and hide their winter stashes of food. The coats on the deer have even started to change from that nice chestnut brown to the flat brown of dead trees in winter. ~sigh~ Time to move someplace where summer is long & warm (dry would be nice too).

  • mattsgrl929
    15 years ago

    Here in California's Gold Country, we have had so many 90* days that you can have 'em!! The heat does make for a fabulous vegetable garden though :) Been plucking cherry tomatoes since June. But,we haven't had any water to speak of in who knows how long. Last winter was the driest one EVER RECORDED for our area. Thank goodness for the invention of the garden hose :)

    As for the acorns, mine are already falling too. I came on line to see what I could find out about this & iyt seems to ba a nationwide epidemic. I have read comments from people as far east as Mass & coming all tha way across the country to me here in the foothills of Ca. What the heck is going on with our world? I thought the acorns may be falling due to the dry waether but, now I'm not so sure. If it does signal a long, wet winter......I welcome it!! We are begging for rain out here. Anybody know a good rain dancer??

  • lemecdutex
    15 years ago

    Booberry, sounds like you want to live in California! We definitely have long, dry summers, and some places are definitely warm, too (I lived in Fresno for a few years, talk about your warm summers...).

    --Ron

  • rosepedal
    15 years ago

    Ron You can keep fresno. Lived there as a teenager for a stint. Too hot..Than we moved to alabama way too hot...LOL Wi it is come on snow.....Snow bunny Barb

  • booberry85
    15 years ago

    Ron, you might be right! I've lived in upstate NY for all of my life but three years (I lived in Boston then.) I've never liked the winters here. We seem to be out of our wet weather pattern. We had rain just about every day since mid-July. It doesn't make for a pretty garden.

    I haven't seem any woolly bears this year. What does that mean?

  • flowergirl1211
    15 years ago

    Hi I just think it's an early fall. Could be the signs of the times.
    Linda

  • kqcrna
    15 years ago

    How about pinoaks with no acorns at all? My neighbor has two huge pinoaks, about 30 years old. Normally they are covered in acorns at this time of year. This year there don't appear to be any?

    Karen

  • climateman
    15 years ago

    I have a huge oak tree and red maple in my backyard here in Northern New Jersey. The acorns are absolutely falling at least a month ahead of what's typical for them. Also, the red maple is starting to turn color, which is extremely odd for it to do so just yet.

    Another little tidbit, I have a resident squirrel in my oak tree, that I also feed peanuts to every morning and afternoon. She always greets me on my back porch in the a.m. (which is somewhat odd, because I think the cat gets jealous, ends up chasing the squirrel then the squirrel turns the tables and chases her back! Just fun to watch lol) and normally eats all the peanuts. However, as of the last week or so, she has been eating half, burying the other half. Been actively lining and building up her nest, with the somewhat significant amount of leaves that seem to be falling from the oak!

    I believe we are probably in for an earlier winter than we have been used to for the last few years.

    (-Tom-)

  • mooseflop
    15 years ago

    Just a note to sayÃdon't underestimate the acorn-dropping efficiency of those squirrels. In the house where I used to live, the neighbor next door had eight huge walnuts in his back yard. I'm talking big, old, healthy trees, 40-50 feet, and a couple of feet in diameter. In a good walnut year those trees would produce bushels of nuts. More than once, I've watched three our four squirrels get into the trees, start at the top, and in a single day, literally cut and drop every single nut. Absolutely amazing!
    Of course once all the nuts were down, it would take them days to clean up the messÃeven though I usually helped by going over and picking up five or six bushels of the dropped nuts. This, BTW, was never more than a third of the nuts on the ground, which gives you an idea of their numbers. I'd dry and hull these gathered nuts, then crack and pick out a few quarts of nutmeats for things like fudge, cakes, and for adding to cereals. The remainder of the hulled walnuts I I would crack or just put out whole in my backyard shelf-feeders for the squirrels during the winter months.
    So while you may, indeed, be losing acorns to a dry or early autumn, it could just as easily be a handful of squirrels with a go-get'um work ethic.

  • etravia
    15 years ago

    I saw a woolly bear yesterday! I'm not ready for summer to be over yet!

  • dirtbert
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    THanks for the info mooseflop (love the name). I'm pretty sure now the falling acorns are the work of a very busy squirrel family. There are still a few trees they haven't gone to work on yet. Unfortunately, they decided to start on the oak near my tomato plants and continuously "throw" acorns at my head. I even checked and there is no bullseye painted up there...LOL

  • lavendargrrl
    15 years ago

    I'm near Raleigh, NC and I have noticed as well that my yard is literally covered in acorns already. There's no way it's the work of squirrels alone. They are constantly falling, often hitting the windows of my home and the skylights in several rooms.

    We've had quite unusual weather here this year with temps over 100 for nearly a week straight in June (this does sometimes happen here in August, but June?). The rest of the summer was for the most part rather mild, and in August when we normally do get the hotter temps, we had beautiful days in the 70s. We were in extreme drought conditions for most of the year, but the late summer brought lots and lots of rain for us. Now we're not doing so badly here in terms of drought, but the eastern and western parts of our state are still quite dry, I think.

    A friend of mine seems to think that there is a old wive's tale that says these early acorns are a sign of a very cold winter ahead. All I know for sure is that this is the first time in 5 years at this home that my yard has been covered in acorns - many of them green - this early.

  • JIGS123
    12 years ago

    I am also in the California Motherlode. I noticed 2 days ago acorns falling from my Oak trees. I have not seen this in 15/20 years. Look for a cold winter this year my friends. Wrap your pipes well!

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