Posted by Ed Chmura on October 23, 2003

Q: Is there a correlation between the weather and the number of pinecones on a spruce or pine? We seem to have more pinecones on the trees this year than in previous years.

A: Plants can vary a great deal from year to year in their reproductive output. In some years, there are lots and lots of Queen Anne Laces in bloom, for example, and in the next, just a few. I've seen this "boom and bust" over and over with many different plants - some years seem to be especially good for a given species and not for many others. It seems to me that weather plus many other variables influence these reproductive flucuations in plants. Some trees (and I assume this is true of other kinds of plants too) will not produce a large number of cones or fruits in consecutive years even though conditions seem optimal.

Of course, trees live for many years so they can stretch out their reproduction over many years. An especially bountiful year, reproduction-wise, does put a stress on a tree so they need a year or more to "recover". On the other hand, trees that are especially stressed have often been known to produce a bumper crop of cones/fruit. It's as if the tree knows it's on its last legs and wants to insure it will pass on its genes to future generations. Let's hope your trees are just in the bountiful time of their cycle.

John Wiessinger ( October 29, 2003)