Cone report
2024 was a strange year for cone crops. In the first place, cones were very late. Here in Edmonton, spruce buds emerged on May 14th, and cones did not mature until late September. Ordinarily, buds emerge in April, and maturity is reached in August. Most likely, the delay in production was caused by the late frost. Snow remained on the ground well into May, and overnight temperatures of below freezing stayed just as long.
A white spruce tree beginning the process of bud formation. Taken in Edmonton, May 14th, 2024
The collection window didn’t open until October, and wasn't open completely until midway through the month. The overwhelming feeling across all the zones I checked was one of disappointment: it just wasn’t a good year for cone production. In my attempt to find productive crops, I visited a number of sites across the Rockies and prairies. With few exceptions, the conifers were mostly barren.
The major exception was pine. Every species of pine I checked - native and imported - was experiencing a somewhat decent production year. Jack, lodgepole, ponderosa, and the five needless all had a decent crop. The imported pines also had impressive showings - mugo, scots, and Austrians were speckled with cones wherever they were planted.
The biggest disappointment was spruce. White spruce production was mostly non-existent. In the lower foothills, it was hard to find a single crown with cones. The situation was somewhat improved further north, where it wasn’t hard to find a few masting trees, but not enough for a solid collection.
Douglas fir was just as bad, if not worse. I didn’t see a single mature douglas cone. This isn’t all that surprising, though. Douglas fir is super-cyclical from what I can tell, and it’s natural range barely protrudes into Alberta.
Among the imports, many species were doing quite well. Blue spruce was great in Edmonton. It was hard to find a single blue that didn’t produce some number of cones. Very many of them produced near-mast yields. A neighbourhood squirrel collected an impressive volume of blue spruce cones under my uncle’s front porch:
A hefty squirrel cache of blue spruce cones under a masting colorado
As the post-season winds down, I’ll spend some time compiling my field notes by species and area. Leave a comment with your crop notes!
