Last fall, the female tree had small yellow cedar flowers with blue-black fruit. Cedar is one of the earliest trees to bloom in Piedmont, usually at the end of winter. Southeast Texas, including the Houston area, also has eastern red cedars, which pollinate between December and January.
Cedar trees pollinate during the winter. They differ from most other trees in this regard. Cedar trees normally begin producing pollen after they experience their first frost of the year. The pollination season for cedar trees typically lasts for about five months and from November through March.
People often mistake cedar fever for a cold, flu, or even COVID because they have similar symptoms. There are several key symptoms that signal that it is more likely an allergy than COVID-19.
With the ongoing spread of COVID-19 in Oklahoma, many people with allergy symptoms are concerned about whether they have allergies or COVID. Sometimes cedar pollen can affect even those who are not normally allergic.
All native cedars release pollen after a cold front, when the wind is strong and the air is dry. Each pollen cone can be opened at the same time, giving the impression that the tree is on fire and exploding in smoke. The pollination period for cedars is the middle of the flu season, and people with cedar fever often confuse symptoms with seasonal colds or the flu.
How Cedar Allergies Work
Essentially, cedar fever is a seasonal allergy caused by an allergic reaction to mountain cedar pollen. Mountain cedar trees are pollinated during the cold winter months, and the distribution of pollen is so widespread that people in areas with mountain cedar trees have coined the term “cedar fever” to describe allergic reactions caused by exposure to this type of pollen.
Cedar pollen is considered one of the most allergenic pollens due to the high amount of pollen that trees can produce and the large size of the pollen. Allergy to cedar affects many people from November to March, but the heaviest periods of pollination occur in December, January and February.
While many trees pollinate in the spring, some produce large amounts of pollen in the summer, fall, and winter. Junipers and other evergreens release pollen during the winter, typically from December to March, with pollen spikes typically seen in January and February.
The worst time for cedar pollen is in the morning, especially on a hot, windy day after a cold. However, cedars tend to produce the most pollen from December to February. Cedar allergy affects Texans from November to March, but December, January, and February are peak periods.
This is when cedars pollinate, releasing countless pollen particles into the air that can be carried by the wind for hundreds of miles. Cedar trees pollinate between December 10 and March 1, with the highest pollination rate in the first three weeks of January. Unlike many other allergenic trees, mountain cedar begins pollinating during the winter months of November to January. Ash and elm start pollinating around mid-February, while oak starts pollinating in March, with peak levels typically around April 1st.
How Pollination Works
Most trees are pollinated in the spring when allergies are expected, with the exception of juniper. The easternmost parts of the state also have eastern red cedars, which pollinate around the same time and can cause a similar response in people’s autoimmune systems. Since the pollen is dispersed by the wind, cedar fever can affect people away from areas with high concentrations of juniper. Pollen from other winter-pollinated junipers, such as western red cedar and Rocky Mountain cedar, can also cause cedar fever.
Allergy to cedar can cause swelling of the nasal mucosa and sinuses, leading to nasal congestion and increased mucus production. After inhaling pollen, a person begins to experience allergic reactions. While pollen itself is harmless, your immune system mounts an inflammatory response to stop invaders it deems to be potentially dangerous.
This also applies to indoor pets, as their fur tends to attract pollen, even if they are not often outdoors. It is not recommended to remove juniper trees from your property, mainly because pollen is in the air, and because they often wait to release pollen until it is cold, dry and windy, pollen can be carried for miles.
Ash’s juniper pollen isn’t particularly allergenic or harmful — it’s so concentrated that even if you’re not generally allergic, it can still affect you, according to Carl Flock, a forest ecologist with the Texas A&M Forest Service. However, cedar pollen is not limited to these areas, as dry winter winds can carry grains hundreds of miles in any direction.
In the south-central states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, mountain cedar, also called juniper, is the main source of tree pollen-related allergy symptoms. Male cedar trees are covered in small brown cones that open on dry, windy days to release pollen. The highest pollen levels ever recorded in the world occur every year when these trees break down.
The Pollen Issues Associated with Cedar Trees
Cedar trees release large amounts of pollen into the air and have different pollination patterns. Insects often play a role in pollinating the flowers from the petals, but in the case of cedars, the wind helps pollinate the cones, resulting in the formation of seeds. Female trees do not produce pollen, instead they have berries full of seeds.
Texas tree pollen is so heavy that even if you are not normally allergic, you can still be severely affected. In the mid-Atlantic states of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, major tree pollen problems come from oaks that pollinate primarily in spring and mulberries that may pollinate in winter and spring. No matter where you live, tree pollen can cause allergies.
For example, date palms can produce large amounts of allergenic pollen, but royal palms are not considered a significant source of allergens. While ragweed pollen and mold spores can cause allergies in the fall, very few plants pollinate in the winter. At least 10 other autumn weeds and elms are pollinated at the same time as ragweed, adding to the suffering of allergy sufferers.
The Effects of Humidity on Cedar
Cedar pollen in December was largely held back by recent cycles of light rain and fog, but rising humidity and dampness has caused a mold spore boom. Cedar pollen remained at acceptable levels in December, mostly below 50 grains per cubic meter, according to our meteorological partners KVUE-TV. Some Austin lovers may have already noticed that cedar trees have begun to pollinate, but higher levels of pollen in the air are expected in the coming weeks.
The pollination season for cedar usually lasts from December to March. What sets Austin apart from other places in the United States is the winter cedar pollen season. For people new to the Central Texas region, or unfamiliar with cedar fever in general, this can also be confusing, as mountain cedar trees have a pollination period just in the middle of cold and flu or pandemic season.