# The Acorn Ledger

> The Acorn Ledger is an independent guide to mast-producing trees and wildlife habitat. It explains irregular seed crops, compares hard and soft mast, and helps land stewards match diverse native plantings to real sites. It sells no seedlings and promises no instant acorn buffet.

The Acorn Ledger publishes original, long-form guides about mast trees & wildlife habitat. Every article opens with a concise direct answer, is structured with clear headings and FAQs, and reflects mainstream expert consensus.

## Habitat Planting

- [Best Mast Trees for Deer: Choose Before You Buy](https://mast-producing-trees.org/best-mast-trees-for-deer/): The best mast trees for deer are species suited to your region and planting site, selected as a mixture rather than a universal winner.
- [How to Plant Mast Trees for Wildlife Habitat](https://mast-producing-trees.org/plant-mast-trees-wildlife/): Plant mast trees for wildlife by inventorying existing habitat first, then choosing several locally native species matched to soil, drainage, light,…

## Tree Profiles

- [Hard Mast vs Soft Mast: Build a Longer Food Calendar](https://mast-producing-trees.org/hard-mast-vs-soft-mast/): 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,…
- [Oak, Hickory, and Beech Mast: A Field Comparison](https://mast-producing-trees.org/oak-hickory-beech-mast/): Beechmast means the beechnuts produced by beech trees, from one tree's fallen nuts to a stand's wider crop.

## Mast Science

- [How to Predict a Mast Year: A Field Method](https://mast-producing-trees.org/how-to-predict-a-mast-year/): You can estimate a mast year by identifying the tree species, watching spring flowering and fruit set, scanning the same crowns in late summer, and…
- [What Is a Mast Year? Why Seed Crops Boom and Bust](https://mast-producing-trees.org/what-is-a-mast-year/): Mast production is the amount of fruit or seed produced by a tree, stand, species, or population.
- [When Is Mast Season? Species and Regional Timing](https://mast-producing-trees.org/when-is-mast-season/): For eastern North American trees, hard-mast season is mainly autumn, but timing depends on species and location.

## Full text for LLMs

- [llms-full.txt](https://mast-producing-trees.org/llms-full.txt): every article as plain markdown in one file
- Each article is also available as markdown at https://mast-producing-trees.org/<slug>.md

## Site

- [About](https://mast-producing-trees.org/about/): editorial approach and standards
- [All articles](https://mast-producing-trees.org/all/)
- [Contact](https://mast-producing-trees.org/contact/)