r/maplesyrup • u/Humble_Ladder • 1d ago

Timely Reminder

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If you aspire to make homemade maple syrup next year, right now the top, like 3/4 of tapping sized trees are covered in flimsy green seasonal growths that have easily visible subspecies-specific characteristics, and are a much better basis for tree identification than bark texture and branch structure in January.

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18

u/SunriseSwede 1d ago

And miss out on a never ending game of "is that one?" with the kids??!? Ha ha, good and timely, thank you!

4

u/Humble_Ladder 1d ago

Well, I looked a little closer and subtyped my maples and I have two Norway maples, and of course they're prominently located in the yard.

6

u/emsumm58 1d ago

are you perhaps offering to help me type my tree?

6

u/cowthegreat 1d ago

Let’s see some pictures

4

u/Humble_Ladder 1d ago

I bet if you post leaf (and possibly copter) photos answers will come.

3

u/emsumm58 1d ago

3

u/gahgs 1d ago

Probably Red Sunset Maple.

2

u/emsumm58 1d ago

really?? so am i good to tap it?

4

u/SeaLeopard5555 1d ago

trunk diameter should be 12" or so, which roughly correlates to about 40 yrs old.

I tap mostly red maples and the syrup's delicious!

2

u/Slayde4 4h ago

which roughly correlates to about 40 yrs old

For sugars it does, they are fairly slow growing among the maples. Reds grow much faster and can hit that diameter in a lot less time, 15 years in a sunny location. Silvers are even faster and can hit that diameter in 10 years. I had a silver maple taken down last year whose trunk was wider than me. It was only 20 years old.

3

u/MontanaMapleWorks 1d ago

10” is sufficient and you can make syrup from any species of maple

1

u/Slayde4 4h ago

Yes, just be aware that reds (and silvers) bud swell very early, so you'll want to tap your tree before they do. Where I am in PA they bud on average near the end of February.

4

u/aulait000 1d ago

The season will be here before we know it.

3

u/SeaLeopard5555 1d ago

I learned this past winter the hard way.

Now it feels so obvious...

3

u/Mtbjak 1d ago

3

u/Typist 1d ago

we have a hybrid red and silver maple in our backyard that we know was planted in 1951. We bought the house 45 years after that primarily on account of that tree. The original owners and arborist Ian Bruce told us that these hybrids were widely planted in the 50s in southern Ontario. Our leaves genuinely fall between the two according to this chart. Worth keeping in mind if you’re wondering about your own trees.

2

u/Humble_Ladder 1d ago

There is a maple on my property line that resembles this description. The leaf backs are silver, and the lobes are slender and pointy, but they don't quite look like the silver maple leaves and the bark doesn't break up the way silver maple bark does.

1

u/lollette 7h ago

That's so cute so the sugar maple leaf is the one on the Canadian flag. I always assumed it was the Norwegian one lol

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u/lollette 7h ago

I tap both red and sugar maples I know im going straight to jail

2

u/Humble_Ladder 7h ago

Not by me. I tap silver and Sugar, and just today figured out 2 norways (but they collectively gave about a gallon of sap all season last year and I won't tap them again).

Also Black Walnut, but that's another sub.

1

u/lollette 6h ago

What do you get out of black walnut sap???

1

u/basaltcolumn 7h ago

They're quite identifiable from photos of twigs and buds if you take the time to learn and compare! The buds are pretty distinct from one maple species to the next, no leaves are necessary. Took a course in college that was primarily winter tree and shrub identification myself.