I've noticed several japanese maples around town that do not seem to produce any seed at all. Do some cultivars just not produce seed? Or, is it some sort of cyclical thing where some trees take time off? Are there "male" vs. "female" trees? Maybe the seed gets nipped by frost in the spring and fails to set? Bryan
I'd like to know a little more about this, too. All of my maples are fairly young, <10 years, and don't produce seed yet, but I've noticed that seed production on older maples can be quite variable. Just like my ancient White Oak that last made decent acorns three years ago, and this year none at all. I assume that it has to do with environmental variables that may not be fully known.
Some cultivars produce more seed than others. Also nature has a way of producing offspring the most efficient way. Many times the strategy is to produce more seed than the things that eat the seed can consume. Yet producing large amounts of food for such vermin only produces more vermin. Thus the strategy of producing seed in large quantities only every few years so that the vermin population doesn't explode and the tree can build up food stores in the off years. The vermin tend to die off in poor years. Thats the way that oaks help control the squirrel population so that a few acorns survive. Dale
