ST. CLOUD -- You may have noticed an increased number of those maple seeds that look like falling helicopters or maybe those small elm tree seeds blowing in the wind. It's not your imagination. It's a bumper crop this year.

Beth Berlin is a U-of-M Extension Educator in Horticulture. She says there are a couple of possible reasons there are more seeds this year.

Berlin says it's possible the trees are stressed from a dry fall, cold winter and dry spring and they are trying to reproduce at a greater rate. Another possibility is the immediate warm up after winter lingered...

I think that it is a sign that they were a bit dry or we just didn't have those cold temps which knock back the flowers a few weeks ago when they were flowering and setting seeds.  So, nothing to be overly alarmed about, just a nuisance this early summer that you'll have to get your brooms out and sweep them up.

She says the seeds will probably drop for a few weeks yet as those seeds continue to mature and fall off the branches.

Despite the recent rainfall, Berlin says we need to make sure to give the younger trees plenty of water so they can replenish what they failed to get last fall.

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