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The book went on to say that in years when the trees produce
smaller crops, the trees might have damage from insects or bad
weather. In those years, the squirrels and other animals are
able to eat most of the seeds. When the trees produce lots and
lots of seeds, it is called a
mast year
. During a mast year, they all
produce a greater number of seeds. This gives the oak trees a better
chance to reproduce. During mast years, the animals that eat and
store the seeds for winter can’t collect all the seeds. They leave
many seeds to grow into trees.
Now that the acorn mystery is solved, I’ve started looking
around a little more carefully at how many seeds plants create.
Seeds are everywhere! The maple trees have seeds that twirl away
from the adult plant. A strong breeze
can send hundreds, maybe thousands,
of dried twirlers out away from the
parent plant.
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