Do you want all maples or a mixture

[Johnjenner]

Looking at a piece of property for sale. Went out and looked it over today. Real nice maple bush. About 70% maples and 30% mixture of beech,oak,and aspen. Question is if I end up buying do I go in initially and cut out everything except the hard maples or is a mixture of preferred?

[TapTapTap]

How many acres? It might be worth hiring a forestry consultant to walk the property and tell you what he sees. Up here in Vermont, we have Fish & Wildlife scientists that will come out for medium and large parcels to tell you about wildlife habitat and invasive plant species on the property.

Generally speaking, you want diversity in your woods. In fact, my forestry management plan is very specific about limiting the culling of non-maples. The exception might be your aspen which are highly susceptible to blowdown and when they do can cause a lot of damage to other trees.

[DrTimPerkins]

A 25% mix or more of other species will significantly reduce insect and disease problems.

[Johnjenner]

Great information. Thank you

[Johnjenner]

Great thank you

[buckeye gold]

I agree with the forester suggestion. I have a 50/50 mix in my woods and have harvested most of the larger non maples. It's about basal density. If you have a high stem count then thinning will let the crowns open up and help maples produce sugar, but be aware your under-story will explode if you let a lot of light in. I agree also, the aspens should go, they have little value. If your woods is relatively open and you have some large diameter oaks and non maples a select harvest will give you some capital to develop you sugar bush. Just remember, logging without damage is a myth. You have to decide what you want and what your goals are. A forester can help you find a low impact logger if you decide to cut. I have logged my woods three times in 32 years and am very satisfied with it's structure, but I have a lifetime of managing forest behind me and a wildlife mngt degree to boot. I am lucky, my wife's cousins are low impact loggers and only log with small dozers. They know I charish ny maples and will do everything possible to not damage them.

[BAP]

As Dr Tim said well, having a mix is much better in the long run for forest health. If you go the forester route, which is a good choice, make sure that it is one that understands maple sugaring goals. Not all do and some will steer you wrong by only choosing trees for maximum lumber value.

[Maple River Sugar]

Do you have an estimate on tap count per acre?

[Johnjenner]

I went out yesterday afternoon and did some physical counts. The south side of the property is much better than the north side. On the southside I was averaging about 130 taps per acre. I believe the Northside will be somewhere in the 50 to 60 taps per acre range.

[maple flats]

Often Beech can be a problem in a maple woods. Beech are an invasive! Beech can be hard to reduce the % you have. Read some info on reducing beech in the maple sugar bush. The big issue is when you cut down a beech, the expansive root network for it, send up a large number of shoots off the under ground roots and you can end up with a dense grove of beech. Beech is great firewood but it needs to be thinned properly. Dr Peter Smallage of Cornell has written about it.

[bigschuss]

Beech are an invasive! .

Are you talking about American Beech? Not invasive. Vigorous...but not invasive. Around here they are all being killed off by Beech Bark Scale Disease.

[TapTapTap]

On the topic of invasive species - this is another good reason for hiring a forester to walk the property with you. They will educate you and flag invasive plants to help you iradicate them. Then, once you own the property you should consider a forestry management plan to provide a guide to maintaining a healthy forest. Our FMP is specifically focused on maple sugaring and identifies field processes and restrictions for organic certification.

[maple flats]

Beech (yes Amarican Beech) is okay until you cut one down that is still alive. Then in a year or two you will have a whole bunch of beech sprouting from the roots of the one you cut down. The bigger the one you removed the more new shoots you will get.

[maple flats]

Here is just one paper by Cornell about controlling Beech https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.cornell.edu/dist/d/5957/files/2015/03/american-beech-Fact-Sheet-2hzopzr.pdf
While it covers beech bark disease, it has pictures by Dr Peter Smallidge showing how a larger tree's roots sprout and create a dense grove of beech. I just read it again, I learned that the heavy root sprouting can also happen if the tree died, I had only remembered it being a problem when cut. A chart shows treatments based on trunk diameter.

[buckeye gold]

Beech are not a problem around me. Most of our woods are oak dominate anyway and you won't find many dense stands of beech/Maple. My own woods is 75% oak, hickory and beech. I have one area that is dominated by sugar maples and it isn't dense. I have cut many beech trees and I have never seen this mass sprouting of suckers from roots. I guess it matters a lot where you are and soil types/forest make up. We have logged the beech out with other trees and have cut some huge ones (4' diameter). They usually bring around $.30 a board foot, but a big clear log may have 500 ft in it. Clear beech logs around 12-14" sell as railroad tie logs. You won't find anyone killing them here. Of course Maple sugaring isn't big here either.

[bigschuss]

Beech (yes Amarican Beech) is okay until you cut one down that is still alive. Then in a year or two you will have a whole bunch of beech sprouting from the roots of the one you cut down. The bigger the one you removed the more new shoots you will get.

No, I know how they can spread. You threw me on the use of the word "invasive." That's normally reserved for non-native species. But I do get your point.

Besides sugaring, I also manage my land for whitetail deer and grouse habitat. The root sprouting response of trees like beeches and poplars work wonders for creating thick deer and grouse habitat very quickly.

[maple flats]

No, I know how they can spread. You threw me on the use of the word "invasive." That's normally reserved for non-native species. But I do get your point.

Besides sugaring, I also manage my land for whitetail deer and grouse habitat. The root sprouting response of trees like beeches and poplars work wonders for creating thick deer and grouse habitat very quickly.
True, and deer love beech nuts as do turkeys and many other critters.