The oak harvest in Buggenhoutbos, Flanders, has been an exceptional success this year, with 15,000 kilograms of acorns to be collected.
At the moment there are large nets strung between the oaks to catch the nuts that fall off. The nets will stay in place until the end of October.
The big harvest is fantastic news as Buggenhout sessile oaks are of the highest quality. The harvest is distributed in Flanders, and the acorns are planted. Once grown into small trees many are sold abroad.
"I think we will certainly get 15 tons of acorns of the sessile oaks here,” says forester Reinhart Cromphout. "That's a huge number of acorns that will grow into new sessile oaks. And that number is important because sessile oaks are more resistant to drought. There is also a lot more demand for the species, so we also need a lot of parkland."
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Cromphout explains why this year appears to be a good harvest year for the acorns: "In nature, there is a kind of cycle, and every few years there is a 'mast year', a peak, then there is an exceptional number of acorns. Last year there were almost none, but this year there are an incredible number of acorns."
"The trees that grow from these acorns have an exceptional vigour and an exceptionally straight trunk,” he adds. “These trees from Buggenhoutbos are therefore also slightly more expensive."
The trees are sold to associations and to organisations such as the Agency for Nature and Forests which use them to plant new forests. "A large amount of the harvest is planted in the Parkbos in Ghent. But some of it is even sold abroad because of the high quality."
