Acorns - do all oak trees have them?!

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poacher82

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May sound like a daft question, but my winter field has an oak in it, which I have stared long and hard at in an attempt to spot an acorn. I have also scoured the ground - not quite on my hands and knees, but closely enough! I cannot spot a single one, on the tree or on the ground. There is nothing in the field at the moment, although deer may eat them in the night, but they wouldn't eat every single one and there would still be acorns on the tree.

So now I'm wondering if there might be a reason it doesn't have any acorns? Obviously don't want to take any risks with the horses over the winter, but if it genuinely doesn't have acorns then nor do I want to fence off a huge chunk of the field for no reason.

Anyone else found this or can shed any light please?
 
There are a couple of reasons I know of as to why this may have happened, if you have a very big crop of them in year 1 the tree will sometimes have none the next year. Also if you had a cold, wet spring that could kill the flowers and stop bees etc pollinatpng which could cause it. Have you looked at others in the area to see if they have the same thing happening?
 
Thanks crabbymare - cold, wet spring (and summer, and autumn...) might be it. Must admit I haven't investigated other oaks nearby, but will have a look over the weekend. Farmer already thinks I'm a nutty horsey girl, so wandering around the sheep fields staring alternately at the oaks and the ground will add to his amusement I'm sure!
 
my field is lined on one side with oaks and I never have a single acorn - no idea why, but I do check anyway.
 
Nothing to do with Bees, Oaks are wind pollinated.

weather will play a part, but it is probably more down to the quality/health of the tree. if they are crowded out they are probably fighting for water/light nutrients.
 
Hee hee, glad it made you smile LiR. Had to have a good look though, as was paranoid I was just not really noticing them or something, and don't want ponies poisoned courtesy of my dubious eyesight or other gormlessness.
Tree is all on it's own, so no danger of it being crowded out and not getting enough light. A big limb came off it in high winds last year though, so maybe it's actually slowly dying and that's why no acorns?
 
Not all of them, where I used to keep my neds there were 2 oak trees and one year one tree fot them and the othe didn't and the following year vice versa.
 
lol-I too have spent quite a bit of time staring up into the enormous oak in the paddock, checking for acorns! some of the locals must think me very odd. there seem to be very, very few as there are on a smaller oak nearby. acorn crops go in cycles and are affected by spring weather.
 
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