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

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

Word History

First Known Use

1735, in the meaning defined above