Did the earthquake shake the acorns off your tree? If so, the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) would like you to bag them up and donate them to a worthy cause, namely maintaining Virginia’s forests. Every year VDOF encourages property owners and anyone who has acorn-bearing trees in their yard to collect the mature seeds during early autumn and donate them to the continuing effort to maintain Virginia’s native hardwoods.

In actuality the earthquake that shook the leaves on our oak trees on Aug. 23 was a few weeks premature for choice ripe acorns, but there’s a good possibility that many acorns were already mature enough by that date thanks to the warm weather we’ve experienced this summer. Mature acorns are easily identified since they are brown as opposed to the unripe green acorns. The cap on a ripe acorn can be easily removed. Mature acorns will usually fall from the tree naturally although a good shake of the branches like we experienced recently can produce a downpour of ripe acorns.
Seeds collected by VDOF are used to grow seedlings that are used to replant forests cut for timber by the landowner or for decorative landscaping. The seedlings are needed for public land, private forests and urban areas. This year VDOF is most interested in the various oaks that are most popular as shade trees, lumber, and for firewood like pin oak, white oak, black oak, willow oak and chestnut oak. Some other varieties that are in demand include Alleghany Chinkapin and Black Walnut.

There is also a concerted effort to restore the chestnut tree to Virginia’s forests. The American chestnut was once the tallest tree in our forests, growing to heights of 100 feet or more. These native hardwoods have been devastated by a blight that arrived in the United States from the orient around 1900. Ironically the blight-resistant Chinese chestnut is now being planted but there are also efforts afloat to inoculate the trees with blight resistance. Chinese chestnut seeds are in high demand for this ongoing effort by VDOF and Virginia Tech.

Forestry officials emphasize that the most effective acorn collection is done in urban areas where a single tree is isolated in an open area, such as a lawn, park, church property or other landscaped area where there’s little doubt that the acorns under the tree fell from that tree. Collecting from the forest is not recommended. Acorns collected should be stored in a bucket or breathable container, such as a burlap sack. Do not put acorns in plastic zip-lock bags. Identify the type of tree and be sure not to mix trees in one container. Seeds should be delivered to your local forestry office in less than 10 days.

Families with young children can make an afternoon event of seed collecting. It gives the children a chance to learn how to use garden tools, such as rakes and leaf blowers, before the leaves start to fall while making a contribution to maintaining Virginia’s forests and helping to offset carbon emissions.

For more information, see the VDOF website at http://www.dof.virginia.gov/mgt/acorn-collect.htm.