I know that they have to be ground and soaked
to remove bitter tannic acid. I've also heard
that they're not particularly good.

I ask because my mom has a giant oak tree
which is dropping some really big acorns.
It's a California live oak, and I don't remember
this tree producing acorns of significant
size when I was a kid. The few acorns were
really tiny.

I suspect the tree is dying. There's something
called Sudden Oak Death going around here, and
this tree is the most prominent tree along a
heavily travelled road. It has moss growing on
it, which it didn't have during most of the
time I've known it.

I've never heard of oak trees producing a bumper
crop of acorns when dying. The acorns look
really good, but they're going out with the
yard waste unless I save them.

Mark Thorson wrote:


>
> I've never heard of oak trees producing a bumper
> crop of acorns when dying. The acorns look
> really good, but they're going out with the
> yard waste unless I save them.


Don't you have squirrels?

I'd pile the acorns in a corner of the yard as wildlife food.

gloria p

"gloria.p" wrote:
>
> Mark Thorson wrote:
>
> > I've never heard of oak trees producing a bumper
> > crop of acorns when dying. The acorns look
> > really good, but they're going out with the
> > yard waste unless I save them.
>
> Don't you have squirrels?

Yes. They live upstairs.

> I'd pile the acorns in a corner of the yard as wildlife food.

Ah! I can use them as bait in my squirrel trap!

Where I teach dog obedience classes we have several oaks of different
types. The dogs go crazy over the acorns from just One of those trees.
Treat them like peanuts (which most dogs also like). Looked up the
issue and found out that some oaks, as individual trees, not one
specific type of oak tree, produce less bitter acorns. These require
less tretment than other acorns to be edible by humans. There's no way
to predict which oak produces "sweet" acorns until the tree is 15-30
years old, which makes commercial "acorn farming" a no-starter. My dogs
ignore the acrons from all of the trees in our own yard..... and stuff
themselves at the training center.

Just "facts to wow the dinner guests", as an instructor in a military
course once told the class..... not of any real use, but kinda
interesting to know.

Some years there are more acorns than others, and some years they're
larger. This has been a fat acorn year; they're like trying to walk on
ball-bearings. This has also been one of those bumper crop years. In
this area.....

Your squirrels should love 'em.

Jo Wolf
Martinez, Georgia

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
>I know that they have to be ground and soaked
> to remove bitter tannic acid. I've also heard
> that they're not particularly good.
>
> I ask because my mom has a giant oak tree
> which is dropping some really big acorns.
> It's a California live oak, and I don't remember
> this tree producing acorns of significant
> size when I was a kid. The few acorns were
> really tiny.
>
> I suspect the tree is dying. There's something
> called Sudden Oak Death going around here, and
> this tree is the most prominent tree along a
> heavily travelled road. It has moss growing on
> it, which it didn't have during most of the
> time I've known it.
>
> I've never heard of oak trees producing a bumper
> crop of acorns when dying. The acorns look
> really good, but they're going out with the
> yard waste unless I save them.



I haven't. But North American Indians sure did/do:

http://siouxme.com/acorn.html

Jill

Mark Thorson wrote:
> I know that they have to be ground and soaked
> to remove bitter tannic acid. I've also heard
> that they're not particularly good.
>
> I ask because my mom has a giant oak tree
> which is dropping some really big acorns.
> It's a California live oak, and I don't remember
> this tree producing acorns of significant
> size when I was a kid. The few acorns were
> really tiny.
>
> I suspect the tree is dying. There's something
> called Sudden Oak Death going around here, and
> this tree is the most prominent tree along a
> heavily travelled road. It has moss growing on
> it, which it didn't have during most of the
> time I've known it.
>
> I've never heard of oak trees producing a bumper
> crop of acorns when dying. The acorns look
> really good, but they're going out with the
> yard waste unless I save them.

Instead of eating them plant several in pots to transplant when the big
tree is gone.

Mark Thorson wrote:

> I've never heard of oak trees producing a bumper
> crop of acorns when dying. The acorns look
> really good, but they're going out with the
> yard waste unless I save them.

I wouldn't have the nerve to eat enough of them to make
it worth the work. Plants do often make a last ditch effort
to reproduce before they die. Sorry to hear about the tree,
it's a shame.

nancy

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> Mark Thorson wrote:
>snip

.. Plants do often make a last ditch effort
> to reproduce before they die. > nancy


Does that explain horny old men with bad combovers?
(smile).
-ginny

"Virginia Tadrzynski" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Mark Thorson wrote:
>>snip
>
> . Plants do often make a last ditch effort
>> to reproduce before they die. > nancy
>
>
> Does that explain horny old men with bad combovers?
> (smile).
> -ginny
>

ROFL! Okay, hadn't heard that one before but it's pretty funny!

Jill

Virginia Tadrzynski wrote:
> "Nancy Young" > wrote:

> . Plants do often make a last ditch effort
>> to reproduce before they die.

> Does that explain horny old men with bad combovers?
> (smile).

(laughing!!) It just might, Ginny.

nancy

"Virginia Tadrzynski" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Mark Thorson wrote:
>>snip
>
> . Plants do often make a last ditch effort
>> to reproduce before they die. > nancy
>
>
> Does that explain horny old men with bad combovers?
> (smile).
> -ginny

Hay! Are you following me around???

Jon

Mark Thorson wrote:
> I know that they have to be ground and soaked
> to remove bitter tannic acid. I've also heard
> that they're not particularly good.

Yes, I tried them as a kid. Pthaa.

On Dec 21, 10:54*pm, Mark Thorson > wrote:
> I know that they have to be ground and soaked
> to remove bitter tannic acid. *I've also heard
> that they're not particularly good.
>
I'm allergic to tree nuts, so I would never try them. However, FYI,
every other year produces bumper crops of nuts, pine cones, seed pods
or anything else that are annoying to lawn mowers...so the oak tree
could be giving a last "hoorah"....

If I were you, I'd inspect the acorns carefully before trying to use
them - the ones around here are filled with little white worms (which
my neighbor found out when she found the stash her little boy put in
his dresser drawer).

N.

George Shirley wrote:
> Mark Thorson wrote:
>
>> It's a California live oak, and I don't remember
>> this tree producing acorns of significant
>> size when I was a kid. The few acorns were
>> really tiny.
>
> Instead of eating them plant several in pots to transplant when the big
> tree is gone.

Absolutely. California live oak were an endangered species when we
lived in California. We moved in 2000 and in that brief time span I
doubt they have been removed from the list. Planting some would be an
extremely good idea.

I remember the live oaks in the neighborhood prducing small acorns. I
remember reading that native annual grasses have been gradually
supplanted by European perennial grasses and the thicker root systems of
perennial grasses are too thick for the tiny live oaks from tiny acorns
to be able to survive the few years it takes them to get to sizable
saplings that can not be strangled by grasses. If that's true then the
big acorns probably are a last ditch attempt at reproduction.

Please plant some and give them away. Those trees grow as slow as olive
trees and they are beautiful.

As long as you process the acrons like the natives did they should be
fine. I remember doing that in elementary school and the
bread-like-stuff we made from the acrons was fine. I've never tried it
since.

"Becca" > wrote in message
...
> Virginia Tadrzynski wrote:
>> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>> Plants do often make a last ditch effort to reproduce before they die.
>>> nancy
>>>
>>
>>
>> Does that explain horny old men with bad combovers?
>> (smile).
>> -ginny
>
> LOLOL Okay, I had to laugh at that.
>

me too!