This year it appears that all of the trees are producing seeds. I'm thinking it's because we had a relatively wet winter. Dad says that the maple trees haven't produced seeds each year, rather every 2 or 3 years. I know that the cotton is still floating around like crazy.
Here's something that I found about Sugar Maples: The minimum seed-bearing age for sugar maple is about thirty years. After this age some seed is produced every year, but massive quantities of viable seed are produced cyclically, usually at two to five-year intervals depending on climatic conditions. During these good seed years, trees are loaded with flowers, which gives them a yellowish cast when seen from a distance. The seeds are relatively heavy (average clean weight of 6,100 seeds per pound), but the winged shape of the samaras provides for wide dispersal by wind and blowing over snow.
ReplyDeletebrian & I have noticed that down here the bark on the trees is a LOT darker than it normally is, we're blaming the wetter than average winter as well.