http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2012/09/07/dripping-cones/ A Bird Blog with Kate St. John Mon, 20 May 2013 04:25:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2012/09/07/dripping-cones/comment-page-1/#comment-18863 CarrolltonOh Mon, 10 Sep 2012 03:08:14 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=55741#comment-18863 I believe you had it correct with both #2 and #3, Kate….it is a repellant to both animal and insect while the seeds develop…
since it takes over a year for the cones (and seeds inside) to fully mature, it has to keep the pests away from the slow developing seeds until they have matured…
The seed that fall out of the ripened cone look like little maple “helicopters”…Most have released their seeds in Ohio already and there is a bumper crop of them (and the dried dead cones) from the perfect spring weather conditions back in 2010….

]]> http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2012/09/07/dripping-cones/comment-page-1/#comment-18826 Steve Valasek Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:53:06 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=55741#comment-18826 Could the dripping sap from the top of the cone catch pollen (I’m assuming they are wind and not pollinator driven plants) and carry it down the cone to the other parts?

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