Is it coming to an end so soon?

[jstaples]

Just wanted to check with everyone on bud status....A few of my red maples have already started swelling their buds....does this mean that it's coming to a end???

[abbott]

Nope, just getting started.

My best guess is that you're imagining things and the buds aren't swelling yet. Unless you've got a really strange set of circumstances, nothing should be happening yet.

Keep boiling that sap!

[gmcooper]

No sign of anything ending here for quite some time. The buds on the reds are always bigger than on sugars. Also silvers tend to look huge at this time of year compared to sugar maples.

[Revi]

I was down in Virginia 2 weeks ago, and the Reds down there were flowering and getting ready to bud. We still have about a month to go before ours start to bud, but it could be sooner if we have warm weather.

[PerryW]

Just wanted to check with everyone on bud status....A few of my red maples have already started swelling their buds....does this mean that it's coming to a end???

I think red maple buds look like they are swelled all winter long.

[Revi]

I saw some Silver maples that were already flowering. You may be on to something. They usually bud early, but it seemed a little too early. Now I am looking at the Red Maples and they do seem a bit swollen. They even have a reddish tinge to their buds already. Now I am nervous! Is it going to end soon? It's been going like mad, maybe that means we'll have an early end. We are going to have some cold weather at the end of the week, so we'll see what happens.

[dufftj]

not to hijack this thread but in a post Revi posted that the reds are flowered and are getting ready to bud...This will be my second season so please forgive my ignorance...So if you see flowering you still have time to collect sap before it gets buddy? Just need clairification, I saw flowering last year and stopped collecting off my reds and silvers even though the sap was still clear.


Tim

[DrTimPerkins]

My suggestion to anyone who is concerned about buds.....unless you look at tree buds regularly (weekly or better throughout the winter), then STOP looking at them. Sap turns buddy at the very first stage of bud expansion (when bud expansion is barely noticeable)....so when it turns buddy, you'll know it.