Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and and Making It Grow. If I were collecting acorns to plant, I sure wouldn’t pick up the ones that had been gnawed or pecked at by squirrels or blue jays. Turns out I’d be wrong! Thank goodness a group of scientists decided to study the germination rates of acorns that were partially eaten or left intact by squirrels or jays and found that the sprouting rates were equal or even higher among the nuts that had been damaged.
It turns out that the proteins responsible for causing that bitter tannic acid are concentrated in the apical portion of the nut, around the actual embryo. The basal portion of the acorn the animals ate was sweeter – when they got a nibble of the bitter part, they stopped eating! This process actually opened up the hard coating of the acorn, allowing moisture to enter and sparking the germination process – natural scarification.
