Many of the species in our forests produce bumper seed crops providing the best seed for storage and germination. These bumper crops come in intervals and tend to follow a pattern. Knowing the history of the species and watching for bumper seed crop signs will aid in determining the potential seed crop. Some influences that affect forecasting are flowering habits, intervals of the seed production and climatic conditions. The flower-seed relationship is a very important factor to the forecasting process.
Female flowers are the cone or fruit producing flower and the male flower is the pollinating flower.
When flowers are unisexual or imperfect, the male and female flowers may both occur on the same tree. This is called monoecious. If male and female flowers occur on different trees, it is called dioecious. Every seed bearing tree and shrub has an irregular crop production from year to year. A pattern begins to form.