Nuts - Ask Extension
Why aren’t there any walnuts or acorns on my trees?
Knowledgebase
Nuts #815197
Asked October 25, 2022, 2:30 PM EDT
Why aren’t there any walnuts or acorns on my trees?
Monroe County Michigan
Expert Response
Hi Jeff,
Thank you for contacting Ask Extension.
Walnut and red oaks both produce nuts over a two year period. As in the flowers during spring of 2021 would produce the nuts we would expect to drop now, in the autumn of 2022. White oak produces a flower that develops into a nut in one year.
Just last week someone from Washtenaw called and asked about her walnuts not producing this year, and so I pulled up temperature data for 2021, and found that on May 30th, 2021, temps dipped to 32 degrees in the region. Of course, lower temps could have been felt locally; these temperatures likely caused the flowers on the walnut and red oaks to freeze and fall off the tree.
You can check your past weather using weather.gov. Click on past data, choose the region of interest from the map, then choose the specific location from the drop down. Choose "daily data for a month, then set the calendar to May 2021 (be sure to click done on the calendar before closing). Click on "go" and you'll see the temperature data for each day of May 2021.
Something else to consider with the oaks is that they tend to overproduce in some years and underproduce in others. So, the red oaks may or may not have suffered from the freeze, or they could just be experiencing a non-mast year.
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2020/10/what-is-a-mast-year/
If you have any questions, please do reach out to ask!
Thank you,
-Julie
Thank you for contacting Ask Extension.
Walnut and red oaks both produce nuts over a two year period. As in the flowers during spring of 2021 would produce the nuts we would expect to drop now, in the autumn of 2022. White oak produces a flower that develops into a nut in one year.
Just last week someone from Washtenaw called and asked about her walnuts not producing this year, and so I pulled up temperature data for 2021, and found that on May 30th, 2021, temps dipped to 32 degrees in the region. Of course, lower temps could have been felt locally; these temperatures likely caused the flowers on the walnut and red oaks to freeze and fall off the tree.
You can check your past weather using weather.gov. Click on past data, choose the region of interest from the map, then choose the specific location from the drop down. Choose "daily data for a month, then set the calendar to May 2021 (be sure to click done on the calendar before closing). Click on "go" and you'll see the temperature data for each day of May 2021.
Something else to consider with the oaks is that they tend to overproduce in some years and underproduce in others. So, the red oaks may or may not have suffered from the freeze, or they could just be experiencing a non-mast year.
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2020/10/what-is-a-mast-year/
If you have any questions, please do reach out to ask!
Thank you,
-Julie
