
Tree Profiles
Hard Mast vs Soft Mast: Build a Longer Food Calendar
Hard mast is nutlike tree and shrub fruit such as acorns, hickory nuts, beechnuts, and chestnuts; soft mast is fleshy fruit such as persimmon, cherry,…
A mast tree is useful only where it can grow, mature, and fit the surrounding community. Native range, soil, moisture, light, disease pressure, and mature size come before wildlife wish lists. Hard and soft mast complement one another; neither replaces cover, water, nesting structure, or diverse age classes.

Hard mast is nutlike tree and shrub fruit such as acorns, hickory nuts, beechnuts, and chestnuts; soft mast is fleshy fruit such as persimmon, cherry,…

Beechmast means the beechnuts produced by beech trees, from one tree's fallen nuts to a stand's wider crop.