10 yr old maples

[Mike in NY]

Maybe 12-14 ft tall and an inch or 2 diamater. We clear cut some junk trees and it all came back as maples growing right on top of each other. how close should they be thinned out? I am thinking 10 ft apart? and then go back and thin 1/2 of em again when they start crowding each other?

[sugaringman85]

start thinning slowly, give them to much space and they can get sun scald or bend over cause they are used to the support of other trees. as my forestry professor once said on thinning..."if you touch my crown, i cut you down!"

[spud]

In a good woods with the right soil how fast will a sugar maple grow from 5 inch to 9 inch? I measured some of my trees in the spring and I plan to check them once a year to see the growth rate. Has anyone else done this?

Spud

[GeneralStark]

In a good woods with the right soil how fast will a sugar maple grow from 5 inch to 9 inch? I measured some of my trees in the spring and I plan to check them once a year to see the growth rate. Has anyone else done this?

Spud

This past spring I measured DBH of about 150 trees in my "study area" which is a portion of the woods I am tapping and expanding into that is composed primarily of 6-12" 50 year old sugar maples. There are some red maples as well, but less than 10%. The red maples are growing in some slightly wetter areas where ground water surfaces. This whole area was a "sugar and apple orchard" that was also pastured and some of the old maples are still hanging on, but it is generally dominated by these smaller maples. Next spring I will begin measuring sugar content of these trees as well.

The majority of the trees I have measured are not tapped but will be in the future. About 15% are tapped, and I use a mix of buckets and vacuum tubing for those trees. In addition to determining the overall growth rate in this area, I am also interested in comparing the effects of tapping on the overall growth rate over the long term. I am curious about impacts of tapping with high vacuum, and it seems like this could be an interesting thing to examine in this area as the trees are all of similar age, and the soils are relatively similar throughout this area as is the slope and aspect.

I am also slowly thinning this area as the trees are very tightly spaced and I am interested to see how their growth rates respond. I know their growth rates will increase as they are released as I have seen this in the last several years and it is quite dramatic on this site. As a scientist though I am curious to actually determine quantitatively their increased growth rate. This may also help in determining which trees to favor in the future as I slowly continue thinning.

The forester that wrote the management plan for this lot seems to think that this is a very good site for sugar maple. The soil is mostly calcareous gravel and broken bedrock with lots of groundwater moving through and surfacing in some areas. I look forward to overseeing the development of a productive sugar woods and providing more quantitative data for other sugarmakers.

[maple flats]

Remove only the competition that touches the crown on 1 or 2 sides, do not open all 4 sides at once. After thinning up to 2 sides, wait unitl those sides fill in, then open the other 2 sides. Thinning is best done in stages. If you go too fast you get several problems that are created, from wind throw, to sun scald and others. Do it in small steps and your trees will thank you with higher sugar content sap.

[tonka]

Whats the reason for only doing 2 sides now and do the other 2 a few years down the road?

[noreast maple]

To put it in plain english, MOTHER NATURE can get at them . Like maple Flats said, the wind can damage easyier and sun can burn quicker and bugs can get to them faster.

[cncaboose]

When we bought our bush in '06 there were lots of young maples growing thick as grass. We took out 80+% the first year and their crowns were still touching. Further thinning every other year has things looking great and they are growing like crazy. If you want to take the thinning to another level, test them for sap sugar content in the spring and write the numbers on the trees. Keep the better ones and cut the poor ones. Tree growth rates vary a LOT depending on conditions and tree genetics. Poor sites, like much of the NY Southern Tier with its shale soil, may only have 1/20th" annual growth rings resulting in 10 years to add an inch diameter. We have a good site with good trees and most young trees average 1/4" annual growth rings for an inch every 2 years. Some individual trees do better than that with 1/3" annual growth rings. With last summer's drought most all the trees growth was down 20-30%. I measure circumferences on about 100 trees every fall and write the data, circumference and year, on the trees with a cow ear tag marker, available at farm supply stores.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

From experience I can say that thinning to much hurts. I lost 7-8 maples I was tapping last year to wind in areas where I completely released the crown. Now I am using the 2 side, wait 3 years method of thinning. When choosing the two sides to cut, I suggest leaving the 2 sides where the prevailing wind comes from.