The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Wildlife => Topic started by: Fleecewife on April 16, 2025, 11:38:14 pm
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We had very heavy rain today, which left a layer of tiny bits of Birch catkins over every surface - car, cold frame, paths, soil surface. Did anyone else have this? Does it happen every year or is this a mast year?
And did they come in the rain itself like cats and dogs, or were they blown by the wind? Anyone know?
Whatever, we are due to become a birch forest this year :tree: :tree: :tree: :tree: :tree: :tree: :tree:
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I had that last year - no idea what causes it but it's a damn pest. :'( I was pulling seedlings up all summer - in the rain mostly! Even Tom and Missy had got the hang of it and were pulling them out with their front teeth :roflanim:
What is a mast year?
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We always have lots of baby birch trees appearing all over the garden, especially anywhere with a gravel mulch. Total pain! We have dug up lots to transplant into our tree areas, but there is a limit and it looks as if we'll reach it next year ::)
A mast year, presumably named after beech mast ie seeds, happens for different tree types in different years as I understand it. It's when that tree species produces an overabundance of seeds in an apparent effort to swamp the ground with their seeds, presumably to increase the chance of more of their species taking root.
It was either last year or the year before that Sycamores had a mast year and social media was full of people asking for ID of seedlings found throughout their gardens. Just as I'll be finding next year.
Your dogs helping with removing the seedlings is brilliant 8) It reminded me of the year our Heinz 57 wonderful dog Calli helped us to remove the old stalks of brassicas such as Purple Sprouting Broccoli and brussels Sprouts. She was really good at it, but of course the following year she was found joyously ripping out our new crop :tired: How to explain?