Twin towers?

[ADK_XJ]

Some (even most) of our largest maples grow in these "twin tower" pairs, as I call them. Anyone want to venture a guess why this might happen?

I know our property is the remaining parcel (house and barn) of a much larger farm dating back to the 30s-60s. But the county DEC tree guy tells me my big maples like these are approaching 150 years old and the overall mix of our forest acreage suggests former farm fields going back at least that long.

But, considering maples are supposed to grow best spaced out, how is that so many of these pairs grew together to such huge proportions? Each of the trees is 80-90+" in circumference...

[maple flats]

Poor woodlot management and lots of time.
I have some similar to that but not very many, however I do have some rather large trees, those also are in low numbers too.

[ADK_XJ]

Poor woodlot management and lots of time.
I have some similar to that but not very many, however I do have some rather large trees, those also are in low numbers too.

So, just coincidence? It's strange that these pairs survived - in fact thrived - being so close together. I have at least a half dozen pairs of HUGE sugar maples like this. Their canopies have grown into perfect hemispheres around their outward facing limbs...

[Daveg]

Trees that started growing in 1866 in pairs like yours were celebrating the end of the Civil War by giving each other hugs and got stuck together.
Actually, sugar maple keys fall to the ground in connected pairs. You have instances where both "siamese" keys germinated and grew close to each other.

[Michael Greer]

I have a few of these and they are among my very best trees. They're happy, I'm happy.