mast year

noun

plural mast years

: a year in which a tree or shrub (such as an oak, hickory, or hazel) growing in a particular region produces an unusually large number of fruits, seeds, or nuts : the periodic production of a greater than typical amount of mast (see mast entry 3)

After a mast year, acorn production the following year is much lower, probably because the tree expended a lot of energy putting out all those acorns and is taking it easy the next season.—

Joan Morris

There is a good reason for mast years: Because of consumption by wildlife, as many as 500 acorns are needed to produce a single seedling. Flooding the forest floor with acorns is the oak trees' way of ensuring reproductive success.—

Li Shen

Studies of beech in Britain have shown that up to 100% of beech seed is eaten by mice and birds in years when there is a poor crop but over 50% of seed may be left at the end of a winter following a mast year.—

P. A. Thomas

Examples of mast year in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Deer hunters know that keeping tabs on whitetails can be maddening when the acorns are falling during a good mast year, but nomadic flocks of turkeys can be even more hit and miss in the Eastern hardwoods based on the food preferences. —

Will Brantley, Field & Stream, 17 Apr. 2024 Was that snowstorm a coincidence, or was it related to the previous mast year? —

Kevin Ambrose, Washington Post, 29 Oct. 2023 During some years, there have been nut shortages — the opposite of a mast year. —

Kevin Ambrose, Washington Post, 29 Oct. 2023 Our last significant mast year was 2015, and an epic snowstorm buried the D.C. area the following winter. —

Kevin Ambrose, Washington Post, 29 Oct. 2023 But the real trigger for a mast year is the weather, Wood said. —

John Kelly, Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2023 And if a fat mast year is preceded by a lean year, acorn-wise, there may be fewer predators to begin with. —

John Kelly, Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2023