Missouri Ice Storm Damage-What to do next?

[Goggleeye]

We just experienced the worst ice storm in 45 years in our area. We had about 3/8 to 1/2 inch of ice. Most of the maples are still standing, but 50%+ have missing and splintered branches. Some only a small branch or two, others have dropped 3-6” branches. For those of you who have experienced this, how did you proceed? Did you still tap? How did it affect yield? What is the best practice for a situation like this? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

[Brian]

That happened around here in 1997 some never recovered from it. I am sorry, that is bad news to hear. If the lines are there,might as well tap them and get what you can. Some won't be worth tapping after this year. I hope you can recover from this.

[BAP]

I echo Brian’s thoughts. I still can tell which trees were damaged in the past 2-3 major ice storms we have had. Cut down trees that were damaged to the point that they never recovered. Tap them this year and try to get back during the late summer before the leaves drop off, to look at them and see how well they are doing.

[buckeye gold]

I agree, we had this happen to us and I still tapped them. Most that lost a significant amount of their crown declined over the years. I cut some for logs and left some. Of the ones left most have bow fallen or are standing mostly dead. It's sad but you just have to deal with what weather brings you. I would tap them now and watch later. If they show signs of poor health I'd cull them out.

[Goggleeye]

Thanks for your input. I’ve decided to go ahead and tap and see what happens. Got about 400 taps out and in those areas so far I think about 5-6 trees were total losses. The rest of the damage wasn’t as bad as I thought on my initial assessment.

[DrTimPerkins]

Research after the 1998 ice storm in the northeast showed that most trees recovered fairly well, even with 50% or more crown loss. So don't be too quick about salvage cutting. Go ahead and tap as normal...you aren't going to hurt them any more than they've already been damaged and hold off on any cutting decisions for a few years, except for those trees/large branches that have already fallen. You're likely to see lower sap yields from highly damaged trees through.

https://mapleresearch.org/search/?_sf_s=ice%20storm

[ADK_XJ]

Maple (and all kinds of other) trees are shockingly resilient...there is a large one near our collection tote that looks like it was shattered half-way up years ago due to another tree falling on it. The remaining cambium layer on one section continued to grow outward and it also shot up a new leader, it now looks like a giant letter "F."

All to say, I put a bucket on it every year just to see and it runs great.

[Goggleeye]

Just wanted to give an update on our season after the ice storm.

First of all, thanks to those of you who responded to my initial question and encouraged me to go ahead and tap. Although some trees (5-10%) had sustained major damage, most of the damage was to branches 3" or smaller, and some trees had no noticeable damage when the season was over. We tapped nearly every tree in our sugar bush. We averaged barely under 1 quart of syrup per tap, which is about average for us. (All on gravity tubing). We are now hoping for a good growing season so the trees can begin the healing process.

Thanks again for the advice.

Mark