Transplanting maples

[DaveB]

My 13yo son and I had a lot of time this spring to think about things we could do to improve our operation. Most of it's concentrated in one part of our woods and he asked about running lines elsewhere but I told him that there weren't as many maples and that they were scattered elsewhere. That's when we both had the same idea to transplant saplings from where they are to where there aren't. We are going to concentrate on the sunniest areas first and then do some thinning elsewhere to expand the crowns of the existing maples.

My question would be, what is a good practice for how far apart the trees should be. I'm thinking 20-25'. Is that reasonable?

I'll try and post some progress as we go along but I told my son that I was giving him a 35th birthday present of a new sugarbush. After all, the best time to plan a tree is yesterday!

[littleTapper]

Great idea! I don't know the correct spacing, but we did the same when we bought our property. Getting rid of all the buckthorn in the woods, thinning dead ash and boxelders, and transplanted a lot of sugar maples that have taken well. Also reclaimed lots of pointless yard with seedlings and saplings that are doing well.

My dad and an uncle considered putting in a plot of sugar maples in a logged section of woods at the farm when I was a toddler ~40 years ago. He's mentioned that it would sure be a nice piece of woods to tap right now.

Have fun and I look forward to a progress post or two :)

[DaveB]

My dad and an uncle considered putting in a plot of sugar maples in a logged section of woods at the farm when I was a toddler ~40 years ago. He's mentioned that it would sure be a nice piece of woods to tap right now.

Have fun and I look forward to a progress post or two :)

I've been doing this for over 30 years, you'd think I would have thought of this sooner. I too would have had the trees that I'm looking to tap. I know a few years later we logged the woods and pulled out of pine and oaks but my Dad as adamant about keeping the maples. I guess I thought that the maples would spread more and some did. I know I had other priorities but now that he and several of his friends are the right age I have the manpower to do it!

[maple flats]

About 20' is good, but you might want 10' then tin to keep the strongest ones.

[PCFarms]

We got pretty serious about improving the trees on the farm a few years ago. We rented an excavator, and pulled out all the buckthorn around all the fields - they made an impenetrable barrier between the woods and the fields. Next we rented a skid steer and and a tree spade attachment (we got it from the local tree nursery for a week) We filled about 4 acres of fallow fields with maples from the understory of the maple woods, about 400 trees, all between 8 to 20 feet tall (so that the deer cant get to them) and usually only 1" in diameter. The fields were too steep for big tractors and have been empty for 10 years now. We also moved about 60 white pine to line the concession road - all the ash along the road side died so we replaced them.

About a dozen or so of the maples and 1 white pine died, the rest are all alive and growing. There have been 2 growing seasons, the trees are getting stronger and stronger. We are hoping to to it again in a year or two to fill in some gaps and once some more saplings start up in the bush to transplant. There are 2 things I will do differently - the health of the tree before the transplant is important, we got some somewhat sickly looking crowded trees from the understory, they are struggling to become vigorous in the open - we will see how they come along. Also some very slender trees that were supported by other trees in the forest all drooped over to the ground once the leaves came out (the deer subsequently defoliated them) - I would cut off the tops to reduce the top-heaviness before they leaf out.

[DaveB]

While we work on the transplanting later this spring (I'll probably start later in April), I was talking to a friend of mine who also suggested trying to collect seeds from the sugar maples to scatter in other areas of the woods where the maples aren't as prominent. I'll do that this fall. If they take, I can use those in subsequent years. Just wanted to add that to the discussion about expanding the number of maples for the future.