Book with a plant that released its seeds every couple of years that corrode everything they touch

Question

Back when I was young, I recall a interesting sci-fi novel. I recall the book as lacking a title, perhaps due to damage. If I remember right, the book was an antique (cloth cover, stained pages, etc) so odds are it is old. I've been digging for the title of this book but nothing has come back.

Here's a rough outline of the plot:

A bunch of colonists end up on a foreign world after some prospecting. They quickly learn about a problematic aspect of the pine trees that coat the planet. Every couple years, the plants release their seeds. These seeds float down like snow. They are like billions of spiders clinging to strands. Anything they contact is corroded. Due to this, the survivors end up stranded in their shelters until the event passes. Since these seeds look like threads, they are aptly called 'the Thread'. Well, the Thread is the name I remember for them.

I don't believe I ever finished the book. I only remembered it because I was thinking of horror concepts. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Per the OP's comment above, this book was Dragonsdawn (1988) by Anne McCaffrey, part of her Dragonriders of Pern series.

Per the plot summary available at Wikipedia:

The planet Pern seemed a paradise to its new colonists—seeking to return to an agrarian-based simpler way of life, Admiral Paul Benden, Governor Emily Boll and the rest of the colonists had selected Pern as a place to leave their recent wars and troubles behind. Shortly after arriving on the planet, however, a new threat appeared – Thread.

With time running out and the colony's destruction imminent, geneticist Kitti Ping Yung and her granddaughter Wind Blossom set out to bio-engineer Pernese lifeforms that appear to instinctively react to the Thread – the dragonets that colonists have adopted as pets. In order to ensure the survival of the newly designed species, as well as reduce the possible threat they may have to the colonists by going rogue, they are created with an ability to bond with humans. By the end of the book, Sorka Hanrahan and Sean Connell and a few other young colonists become the first of the dragonriders.