Planting Maple Trees

[DonMcJr]

Well I know they will probally never get to Tapping Size in my lifetime but I can get 100 Sugar Maples, 12-18" for $70. I know it will make someone Happy when I'm an old Man!

I can also get Red Maples for the Same Price. Do they grow faster and are they worth planting so I can maybe Tap them in the next 20 years?

Sure wish I could do something to plant some bigger sugar Maples I could tap in 12 years as I can retire early in 12 years...ANything?

[heus]

Don, Red maples grow much faster than sugars. They also are more tolerant of moist (wet) soil.

[DonMcJr]

So... No matter how fast they Grow I am gonna plant 100 Sugar Maples, Maybe 200. I'm going to have a Sugar Shack eventually and when I'm old an grey if I don't have a relative to leave it to my will is gonna say it has to be sold to someone that is gonna continue the Maple Tradition.:cool:

As far as the Red Maples... If I plant 100 of them in a few rows when could I expect to be able to Tap them (years)?

[boondocker]

I own 16 acres and 8 of it is open field. I was going to do the same thing and from what i gather its about 30-35 years on a sugar maple. They avarage about a ft. per year. where did you find that deal on the trees?

[spencer11]

if you maintain them well and everything, the reds probably 10-15 yrs depending on what size you start with, sugars if maintained well about 15-20. there was a thread on sbi about someone who planted maples in a field and was tapping then 20 yrs later

[FDA]

Well I know they will probally never get to Tapping Size in my lifetime but I can get 100 Sugar Maples, 12-18" for $70. I know it will make someone Happy when I'm an old Man!

I can also get Red Maples for the Same Price. Do they grow faster and are they worth planting so I can maybe Tap them in the next 20 years?

Sure wish I could do something to plant some bigger sugar Maples I could tap in 12 years as I can retire early in 12 years...ANything?

12-18" , tap them now man ! That is plenty large enough for at least one tap.

[DonMcJr]

The Trees are Saplings 12-18" Tall...

Local Conservation District for my County in Michigan. You order them now and pick them up in April...

[happy thoughts]

Well I know they will probally never get to Tapping Size in my lifetime but I can get 100 Sugar Maples, 12-18" for $70. I know it will make someone Happy when I'm an old Man!

I can also get Red Maples for the Same Price. Do they grow faster and are they worth planting so I can maybe Tap them in the next 20 years?

Sure wish I could do something to plant some bigger sugar Maples I could tap in 12 years as I can retire early in 12 years...ANything?

Ha! I knew you'd get around to it! :lol:

[DonMcJr]

I asked them last year to get Sugar Maples this year...and they DID!:cool:

[spencer11]

The Trees are Saplings 12-18" Tall...

Local Conservation District for my County in Michigan. You order them now and pick them up in April...
i was also looking for some trees, do they ship?

[Maple Hill]

Make sure you plant them at least 150ft away from your sugar house.

[DonMcJr]

Not sure... I'll check.

[unc23win]

Here is another option for some people become a member and get Sugar Maple seedlings 3'-4' tall for $7.98 which is $79.80 for 10 or pay $10.98 each for a potted one. Silvers are cheaper $4.98. http://www.arborday.org/Shopping/Trees/TreeDetail.cfm?id=14&trackingID=156&gclid=CM__5L_robUCFcef4AodhRsAEQ

[DonMcJr]

Here is another option for some people become a member and get Sugar Maple seedlings 3'-4' tall for $7.98 which is $79.80 for 100 or pay $10.98 each for a potted one. Silvers are cheaper $4.98. http://www.arborday.org/Shopping/Trees/TreeDetail.cfm?id=14&trackingID=156&gclid=CM__5L_robUCFcef4AodhRsAEQ

I like your Math:cool: That's $798 for 100 though I think...:o

[unc23win]

Oops little heavy on the keys today. But they are also bigger seedlings 3-4' tall.

[bowtie]

i'm an arbor day member and they do have good deals on bigger trees, i think planting a mix is best. even if plant 100 seedlings you can only expect a certain % to survive i bet less than 50% and with bigger trees you have a better chance of sucess. so if you buy 10 bigger trees and 100 smaller would be agood mix. i will try to plant 300-500 trees again this year (mix of oaks,maples and fruit ). i will defiantely be putting tree tubes around them. also when planting small trees you can use an root gel mixture to help with the "shock" of transplant, it is really cheap and provides the ground with benificial microbes to aid with root establishment. i have a local coservation club that began selling fruit trees last year for $5, and i purchased 25, this year if possible i am going to try to get 75-100 trees. it is such a good deal i will plant them anywhere i can. also just a thought to you guys that are going to plant a bunch of trees this year, make sure you plan on a day of planting at least especially if you are digging by hand, if you have soils anything like i have here you will spend a substaintial time going around rocks. if you know somebody that has a tractor and a 3pt auger it works well, i purchased an auger last year just for this purpose and it saved me untold hours.

[Spolcik]

Don I found a site online for bare root trees ( coldstreamfarm.net) Sugar maples are $0.97 if you buy 100 for 1 to 2 foot and $2.17 for 3 to 4 foot for 100 or more. A little more but double the size. they also have red maples for a little cheaper not much though. Do you have to live in your county to buy those trees? I live i Genesee County but work in oakland county wouldnt be to bad of a drive from work.

[maple marc]

I would think long and hard before planting a stand of red maples. See this document from U. Kentucky:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/KYWoodlandsmagazine/Vol6_No1/FHpg8-9.pdf

Red maples are considered "invasive natives" in many part of the country. Red maples out-compete other hardwoods, including oaks, hickories, and other maples. They produce massive amounts of seed in as little as 12 years. I am fortunate that I have good stands of sugar and black maple here--no reds. Many maple producers tap red maples and apparently have good production. But it might be worth it to invest several more years and plant the "good stuff."

[theschwarz1]

Hey Folks!
Everyone here needs to learn about these! They are sold exclusively at St. Lawrence Nursery Catalog.

Maple Syrup producers lake note!
Sweet Sap Silver Maple - 3 to 4 ft. trees $17.00 each.
10 or more $ 15 each, 100 or more $12 each
Our Sweet Sap is a special selection of Acer saccharinum that
produces sap with a sugar coefficient of 3 to 5%. (Sugar maples run
about 2 to 2.5%.) The advantage to the syrup maker is less time
collecting, hauling and boiling down sap. Silver maples will grow on
wetter soils than sugar maples and they are much faster growers,
becoming tappable in 8 to 10 years. They are also tolerant of clay
soils. Discovered in Canada by Cedric Larson , and propagated via
tissue culture.
trees@sln.potsdam.ny.us
www.sln.potsdam.ny.us

[Revi]

I would think long and hard before planting a stand of red maples. See this document from U. Kentucky:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/KYWoodlandsmagazine/Vol6_No1/FHpg8-9.pdf

Red maples are considered "invasive natives" in many part of the country. Red maples out-compete other hardwoods, including oaks, hickories, and other maples. They produce massive amounts of seed in as little as 12 years. I am fortunate that I have good stands of sugar and black maple here--no reds. Many maple producers tap red maples and apparently have good production. But it might be worth it to invest several more years and plant the "good stuff."
We planted some reds, but just down in the wetter area of our land. It's not a good area for sugars, so the only tree that can hack it are reds. It's not like there aren't any reds around here anyway. Red maples are thriving because they are more adaptable. I like our sugars, but I think the red maple is going to be the maple tree of the future. With the way things are changing, it makes sense to plant a tree that will still be alive in 50 years. We try to limit them to one stem, since reds like to sprout out with 5 or 6 stems. We have a bunch of red maple bucket trees that have grown into tappable size on the wetter areas of our woodlot, which also happen to be close to the sugarhouse.

[theschwarz1]

Well hopefully folks will plant the Sweet Sap Silver Maple instead....=)

[DonMcJr]

Hey Folks!
Everyone here needs to learn about these! They are sold exclusively at St. Lawrence Nursery Catalog.

Maple Syrup producers lake note!
Sweet Sap Silver Maple - 3 to 4 ft. trees $17.00 each.
10 or more $ 15 each, 100 or more $12 each
Our Sweet Sap is a special selection of Acer saccharinum that
produces sap with a sugar coefficient of 3 to 5%. (Sugar maples run
about 2 to 2.5%.) The advantage to the syrup maker is less time
collecting, hauling and boiling down sap. Silver maples will grow on
wetter soils than sugar maples and they are much faster growers,
becoming tappable in 8 to 10 years. They are also tolerant of clay
soils. Discovered in Canada by Cedric Larson , and propagated via
tissue culture.
trees@sln.potsdam.ny.us
www.sln.potsdam.ny.us

8 to 12 years they are tappable...hmmm...might try a few!

[Kngowods]

I bought a few super sweet silver maples last year from st Lawrence seem like good trees. I watered 3 days a week to help them out. None of them died

[Run Forest Run!]

I am currently tapping trees that I planted when I was in my mid twenties. They were only 18 inch high sticks at the time and I had no idea that they would be providing me with such a great hobby 20 years later. Two years ago I planted a large $ugar maple - about 20 feet high and close to six inches in diameter. Hopefully in another ten years or so I might be brave enough to tap him if he's ready. I also have another sugar maple that I rescued from a bulldozer's path while working as a teenager on a survey crew. I put him in my coffee cup and 30 years later he's looking tempting. I resisted the urge to tap him last year because I think his crown needs to fill out a little more.

So Don, buy some trees and plant them up. You'll be both shocked and amazed at how quickly time flies. Everybody wins when you plant a tree.

[Tithis]

I'd be iffy about planting tons of those sweet sap silver maples. While good for syrup production all those trees are clones of each other and thus a population of them would have no genetic diversity.

[JSEDLAK]

What about walking through your current sugarbush and digging out some of the smaller trees that will get choked out anyway? You will save yourself some money and possibly score some trees that are much older, maybe being able to tap in 10-15 years.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

I was wondering about the transplanting option. I have thousands of little rock maples often in large clumps that can't all make it. What is the best way to transplant them?

[JSEDLAK]

I'm more of an idea guy...execution is up to you.

[happy thoughts]

I was wondering about the transplanting option. I have thousands of little rock maples often in large clumps that can't all make it. What is the best way to transplant them?

This is what has been successful for me when transplanting things dug up around here including a couple of small maples. They will transplant best when dormant. That means early spring before the buds break and when the ground is soft enough to dig, or fall, after the leaves have dropped. Maples tend to be shallow rooted with spreading surface roots. Try to get as much of the roots as possible. You can dig a wide circle around the tree with a sharp shovel and root prune. How wide to dig is going to depend on the size of the tree and how much of a root ball you can handle. Don't let the roots dry out or expose them to wind. You can cover them with wet burlap or newspapers. Then get them in the ground as soon as possible.

It helps to dig the transplant hole first to minimize the time they're out of the ground. You can amend the soil with some compost and peat moss if you have it. The hole should be wider and deeper than the rootball. To help overcome transplant shock if spring planting, I usually like to water at planting with a weak liquid fertilizer solution, usually half strength Miracle Grow. Then just keep them well watered for the first year or so. and keep them protected from deer if deer are a problem.

[DonMcJr]

What about walking through your current sugarbush and digging out some of the smaller trees that will get choked out anyway? You will save yourself some money and possibly score some trees that are much older, maybe being able to tap in 10-15 years.

You got a great Idea there! There are alot of small Maples in my woods too!

Doh why didn't I think of that!

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Thanks for the info. I can do that I think. Now I need to find places to put them. I hate to cut them. It pains me a little. Is there a market for Transplant Rock Maple's? I would guess you would have to pot them successfully for a year before they would be worth anything.

[lpakiz]

Some people cut the roots with a sharp shovel and do it a year ahead of time MOL. Then the remaining roots inside the circle expand to make up for the shortfall without the trauma of a move. When it's moving day, the roots have already recovered somewhat.....

[JSEDLAK]

Thanks for the info. I can do that I think. Now I need to find places to put them. I hate to cut them. It pains me a little. Is there a market for Transplant Rock Maple's? I would guess you would have to pot them successfully for a year before they would be worth anything.

You see a lot of maples bordering driveways and farm roads for ease of access, and they tend to be more open allowing for better crown development which translates to higher sugar content...or so I've been told.

[Rhino]

Back in 1992 when we bought our house, it was surrounded by alot of tall/big Norway pine. Being that we are close to a lake and we get alot of wind, the thought of one of those monsters comeing through the house made me nervous, so we cut all of them down. After i destumped everything and had the whole yard looking like hell, i decided to try and dig larger red maples from our woodlot and transplant them. The first fall i just tried five trees that were 12' to 14' tall. When i hand dug them i did have to cut a good amount of roots, but for the most part the roots were shallow. I totally had my doubts about this working but in the spring time i had 100% life to them. The leaves were small that first year. The next fall i went crazy and dug and planted alot of 12' red maples. I lost 2 so far due to weak areas in the trunks/forks of the main branches. The growth that they put on was amazeing after they got established both in trunk size and crown size. So if you want a head start on growth and don't mind wrestling with planting larger trees it does work. (up here anyway).

[RyanB]

I guess I'm lucky....my county has a tree program where they give tree's to residents of the county for free! Last spring I had our bush logged (sold 35 HUGE old sugars and a bunch ash) just to kick start the regeneration as the bush had not been logged in 30+ years and the large tree's were severly crowding out the young ones. Anyway, when I applied for my logging permit I asked about re-planting and the told me about this program. I landed up getting 750 cedars, 250 white pines, 250 tamerak and 150 elm's all for free! Turns out because I ordered so many they wanted to know if I would like a local class of grade 8's come out and plant as many as they could for me! I took them up on the offer and they planted all the cedars/tamerak's in my swampy area ( I didn't want to go in there anyway:) ) I then planted the pines thru out the rest of the 14 acres. This year I have ordered a bunch of pines again and cedars and hemlock's. They have Sugar Maples available but I was amazed after the logging how many maple seedlings had popped up. 1 year later and with 18" of snow on the ground...all I see when I walk in the logged area's are little sugar maples poping up. As much as I would love to have only sugar's on the property...a diverse forest system is a good thing and will make the maples fight a little for sunshine!

Ryan