Are Your Trees Dropping Green Acorns Like Crazy?
Green acorns? What does it mean, and what does it mean for the upcoming winter?
Do falling acorns have anything to do with predicting the weather? If you have oak trees in your yard, you are probably familiar with the task of raking up tons of acorns in the fall. However, sometimes many small green acorns fall from oak trees like crazy, even in the middle of summer. What does this mean and does the amount of green acorns mean anything about winter weather?
Typically, acorns fall during the autumn season, serving the purpose of planting new trees and providing food for critters. However, if green acorns are dropping prematurely, it indicates that the tree is stressed due to adverse weather conditions.
Normally, acorns ready to drop are brown or tan. Premature shedding suggests that the trees are prioritizing other tasks over seed production.
Related
Summer Tree Stressors
A tree’s stress can be from too much rain, too little rain, a too-hot summer, or other factors. But it’s usually dependent on local conditions. In fact, just like “mast years” can happen in Virginia but not in neighboring North Carolina, the same is true for stressed-out trees dropping green acorns. It’s not happening everywhere.
Acorns and Winter Weather Folklore
In our article, 20 Signs of a Bad Winter Coming, we delve into the folklore surrounding nature’s indicators of harsh winter weather. One such sign is the profuse dropping of acorns, which typically refers to brown acorns falling during autumn months. According to tradition and lore, seeing an abundance of brown acorns falling means a severe winter is predicted.
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What are the acorns like by you?
Are you seeing lots of green acorns on the ground in your backyard?
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- Farmers' Almanac Staffhttps://www.farmersalmanac.com/author/fa-admin
Tons of acorns on my walks in northeast Ohio also. Much more than other resent years. Covers some driveways.
I have lived on an acre and half of a wooded lot for 21 yrs. I have never never seen so many healthy acorns on the ground. I thought someone was breaking in the other night cause of the noise. No wind to disturb them, they just keep falling off the trees. Its the strangest thing I have seen in Northeast Ohio.
I’m seeing more acorns in this area of Southern Lancaster County than at any time in the last 30 years. And it’s a lot!
Many large brown acorns. They are dropping like rain drops. It’s dangerous walking in the backyard for fear of getting pelted on the head. I have never seen as many as this year.
Here in Maine it is sometimes called “Helmet Season” for exactly that reason. An acorn falling from a 50+ foot oak can be painful!
You won’t die from acorns falling on your head!
A little over paranoid?
Raindrops keep falling my ,head,just like the guy,who’s feet are to big for his bed,( never did make any sense, but it’s a ryme,but substitute,”acorns”! for raindrops!!!
I’ve seen tinny brown ones, and larger Green ones, the last few weeks. I tell you I believe the squirrels throw them at me and my friend if we stand around chatting to Long.
We joke that we need helmets when we’re outside. They do have very good aim!
I have acorns raining down at 10 plus at a time. We can’t walk 2” without out steeping on them.
Last time I saw this was in 2015 when the northeast got crushed with snow.
I’m filling buckets just like 2015. May be nothing but I’m hoping for some snow this winter.
Usually it has been regarded as a sign of a hard winter ahead. Buckets full of acorns here in Maine as well!
We have so many acorns falling constantly. More than I ever remember, and we have lived here for a long time. Summer was a bit hotter than usual and more days of hot weather. Kind of dangerous to be out in my garden this time of year, due to the many dropping of the acorns!
Tons of green acorns falling – more than I’ve ever noticed. A very hot dry summer in Charlottesville, VA
Many small green acorns falling in Central Maine. Probably due to excessive temps this Summer. Squirrels are starting to get busy dropping more.
I saw them in Oakley KS
The old timers said there is a day of the year when the trees are polinateing that if it rains enough to wet the bark there will be no acorns . Dose Farmers Almanac have any info on this ? What day that would be ?
N. W. Pa. , Erie county ; The Oak and Beach trees are dropping many immature nuts here in mid July. My Black Walnut trees don’t have many nuts and some are falling early but they are holding on. Yellow (tulip) Poplar trees hit by a late cold snap dropped all their budding flowers in April . The same cold snap killed most of my “May Apple” plant buds along with “Jack in the Pulpit ” and Trillium buds.
I live in Western New York. I have a huge Oak Tree. This year we have a lot of green acorns dropping prematurely. We also have a lot of little black flies where the acorns are dropping. Any ideas what is going on???
The burr oak trees in Utah are dropping heavy this year
I live in West Texas and this large tree has been dropping acorns for the last 2 mos, going on 3 mos! I am so tired of cleaning these little nuisances each and every day! Help!!!
On Amazon the have nut picker ups it’s on a long like broom handle and it has a good sized round ball as you roll it over the ground it picks up alot of acorn approx $15 $20
Definitely could use one of these this year!
Visiting my Brother in-law in Houston Texas. There were so many green acorns falling. This is traceable to the adverse weather conditions (heat stress from the drought and very hot summer this year).
We live in Central Texas. Part of the hill country. We have so many acorns falling and alot of green ones. Our trees are stressed due to a very hot summer and a lack of rain.
My Beautiful Oak had a start of Primiture dropping early May June/ than thousands heavy drop in Sept./Oct. brown, thousands!
Live in West, Upstate NY, Wolcott!
Oh wow! That could be a sign of a very tough winter!
Houston, TX. My 20 year old Live Oak is dropping green acorns like crazy. Until a few days ago, we had no measurable rainfall and triple digit temps for two months.
It sounds like I’m getting bombed by acorns like the squirrels are thrown them out of the tree they hit everything and are very loud but they are brown, I live in New Jersey
Hi I live in central CT this is happening here to not like I have ever experienced. They denyt the cars all over the drive way as well as my deck. It’s terrible does anyone know when it will stop?
I’m in North Georgia and have already seen tons of huge green/yellow acorns from my 2 massive chestnut oaks. We had a mast in 2021 and are still pulling up baby trees from then. Our summer seemed normal, maybe a little more rain.
A ton of rain all season, and now the acorns are huge in green and dropping already.
We’re in western central Connecticut and our acorns appear to be very SMALL, Immature and sparse. I’ve always understood that to portend a MILD Winter.
The acorns are black this year. Never have had that before. Any meaning to that?
During the past week or so there are brown acorns dropping, I noticed because the acorns are larger than other years. This is in northwestern Fairfield County, in Connecticut. We’ve had a rainy summer but also a dry spell lately.
We’re up in Watertown, CT and our yard Oaks are dropping very small and immature acorns.
I’m in northwestern Connecticut and ours are starting to drop like crazy. But they’re very green.
We have a ton of dropped green, immature acorns in south central Pennsylvania.
I don’t know even as a “schitzofrinic” or however words work now I find it mighty suspicious the low flying black helicopters were circling the trees just days prior to them trying to save energy for some unknown reason. The trees seem healthy but it looks like they have had some kind of weird hack job or aliens traveled time to see what happens if you bary them upside down.
It is August 2023 and I live in North Central Texas, near Dallas. I think we are on day 41 with no rain and consistent temps in triple digits! I’m paying close attention to my trees right now because other plants, I know, are in survivor mode -some are not going to make it unfortunately. I noticed when walking to my red oak it felt like I was walking on pebbles. Seems as though it is dropping them to focus on survival as well. I appreciate this article confirming that deep watering is indeed in order.
Central Louisiana very hot 4 weeks with temperatures over 100 degrees no rain. Fires near us. We’re seeing undeveloped acorns water level dropping in our pond that is fed by a creek.
Mechanicsville, VA – our oak trees are dropping huge green acorns already! Size of a quarter. Looks like green/brown balls and last year we so many, but in the fall and the size of blueberries
Our oaks and hickory trees are both dropping green nuts. It has been a very hot summer with very little rain.
our neighbour’s Oak tree has been dropping acorns by the bushel full, daily all over our cars and driveway, since June and it is now the end of August. We have never seen it this bad
Here in Westchester, NY, we are seeing both brown and green acorns falling earlier than normal, especially since we either have had extremely hot days followed by several days of intensive rain, along with the hatching infestation of spotted lanternflies all over the region.
here in central Indiana, the acorns have been dropping rather quite earlier than usual . they are the healthy normal green and brown.
Agreed with Gary’s comment. We are also central Indiana and green/brown acorns are coming down. But mine are without caps this time!?
We are seeing very tiny acorns falling off the pin oak -for over a week now.
We are in Central Missouri. The black oak tree over our deck, has been dropping tiny brown acorns for couple of weeks. Here at our farm, we have had an extreme drought from the end of April until early August, litterally no measurable rain in that time. The leaves on the oak trees look very distressed.
We are in western Suffolk County, NY. We have early, young green and brown acorns falling for a week or two. Some are eaten before they fall, others are intact. It is a veritable “rain” of them! It’s been hot and humid for a bit. The trees get water every day from the sprinkler. Wondering why this is happening.
In Northwestern Virginia (Rappahannock) we’re seeing tons of brown acorns falling like crazy…big fat acorns. I mean, it sounds like several hundred a minute. Lots of locusts, too. Spiders galore, even after spraying, huge webs. Almost no stripe on the woollybuger caterpillars. Very cool at night, even after a hot day. Lots of fog. After two really mild winters, we’re happy to see a cold and snowy one coming.
Mine are dropping ripe acorns in central MN started week ago. Been earlier last couple years with hot summers. Not sure maybe enough heat units already. But seems like earlier they drop longer rougher winters we have.
I have a lot of green acorns dropping and brown ones and it is middle of August in Vicroria, British Columbia, Canada. We have had a very long dry spell with well below normal precipitation for over 10 months.
My acorns falling are teeny, tiny and underdeveloped! I live in Northern California, the wine country; 45 minutes from the coast and about an hour or so from San Francisco by car. I have lived here since 1972 and have NOT experienced this issue in all of those years. Yes, our days have been very hot and we have been in drought conditions two years past, so it must have to do with weather conditions, putting the beautiful oak trees under stress.
SW Michigan, green acorns falling- cool May, early summer there was a very dry spell, then normal weekly rains. Seems as if squirrels are cutting them free to fall. Very rarely has happened in past 20 years. Fewer clusters, more singles.
Acorns a falling off my trees in southeast Michigan. When it does this I also find that it is a year they are over producing nuts and as they grow they fall off because there is not enough space. My walnut trees also do this. The last time they started falling off this early and green it was a year that I’ve seen more acorns than ever before in a season. Usually find it is a longer and colder winter than others.
I have tons of acorns on the ground, falling everyday. Started about one week ago. Wasn’t like this last year. I live in central Minnesota. It has been a very hot dry summer, so guess it’s due to that. I have had tiny ants in the house also, which is a first, & found out it’s related to the hot, dry summer also. Every year is different, that’s for sure.
I wonder if the intense smoke from the Canadian fires has something to do with the oak trees dropping so many acorns. Nature is smart and if the tree thinks it is going to burn I would bet it would drop whatever seeds it has to survive as a species.
Oh wow, now there’s a thought
My oak tree is shedding numerous tiny brown acorns. It started about one week ago. We are in central Alabama.
You and I are not even in the same area AND YET ARE EXPERIENCING THE VERY SAME THING WITH OUR OAKS! California…Alabama…..How unusual. Our planting number here was always 9. I wonder what it will be now!
Large drops of very small acorns from our live oaks. I’d guess they are around 1/10th the size of normal acorns
Sounds like it’s raining! Brown acorns falling. Live in Texas.
Pin oak dropping tons of tiny unformed (really just the caps with little bitty nut) acorns. No sign of browning in leaves. Eastern pa north of Philadelphia.
Tons of acorns falling from my oak trees in late July, early August in Walled Lake, MI. More rain than usual but not overly hot.