ERIE COUNTY (W.K.B.W.) — Experts say the maple trees across Western New York are in a mast year this year, meaning they are producing a massive amount of "helicopter" seeds.
"In a perfect world, the helicopter would dissolve, and three would sprout a new tree," said Steve Castrogiovanni, ISA Board Certified arborist with Bella Terra WNY.
Castrogiovanni told 7 News Reporter Jaurdyn Johnson that the recent warm weather and mild winter are causing the maple trees to reproduce the "helicopters" faster this year.
"When a tree is stressed, it focuses its energy on reproduction, and so every helicopter that you see fall actually has seeds in the, and so the reason why you see this bumper crop of production is that the tree is trying to live on," said Castrogiovanni.
With the increase in the nuisance seeds, those in Western New York with a pool have had to increase cleaning.
Chris Musshafen, the Director of Recreation and Aquatics for the Town of Aurora, says cleaning has to be top-notch to prepare the community pool each day for up to 200 people.
"We have the guards regularly skim, and we have a nice pool vacuum that picks up a lot of them, just a lot of regular maintenance that comes along with it," said Musshafen.
Castrogiovanni wants homeowners to know that trees can die from this overproduction of leaves.
"When you look at a tree, and there are all of these dead tips to the tree, that means the energy isn't making its way out to the branches," said Castrogiovanni.
Castrigiovanni says if you are concerned about your trees, call a local arborist to take a look.
