Tree identification

[Round Mtn Mapler]

I am expanding my operation this season
and have been finding alot of maples in new area
what is a good way to mark the trees for tapping in spring?

[Gary R]

Try using spray paint. Loggers use it to mark trees. Ribbons may fall off in a year or two.

[KenWP]

From my experience once you figure out a maple they look the same anyway you look at them. My bush looks dumb as I have orange tape around then all and they look like maples in amonst the grey birch and cedars. I even figured out last spring the trees that turn out to be something else but look like maples. Mark them and one spring comes you will know for ever what a maple looks like.

[red maples]

I stil get them mixed up when there's no leaves. I have a few ash trees that look just like maples when the leaves are gone. I marked mine with green ribbons and a few blue because the store that I get it from ran out or green. you can still see them but don't standout like red and orange.

[mapleack]

When I'm laying out a new area I put spots of white paint on every tappable maple so I can identifiy them from a distance. Then I mark out mainline routes with orange spots.

[KenWP]

Wonder if these are ash trees I have also. If so I might take one down for hobby wood. I will have to check the tree sites.

[maple flats]

Your trees must be much different than mine, I have not seen an ASH that looks like a maple.
Identifying is easy. All maples have opposite branching but you must look in the canopy to see it because most times one is broken off early on. If you have any opposite branches it is a maple. Then look at the winter buds, sugar maple is pointed, no others with opposite branching are pointed. The red maples are not as easy to explain but they still have opposite branching (remember, look in the smaller branches in the canopy, binoculars work best) Red maple buds are rather blunt and get real fat just before breaking. As you identify trees you may want to mark them in the early stages of learning them but as you progress you will know a sugar from 30-40 ft away. After determining the sugars look at the bark to become familiar with it. You will notice that as the trees mature the bark changes appearance, being almost smooth when young with a pebbly roughness to it and changing as it matures so at maturity the bark color has changed from a greenish gray when young to a med grey when mature with vertical peels where the outer bark seperates and curls outward on one edge of each bark plate. This characteristic gradually appears as the tree matures, starting very slight at early middle age and progressing as it matures. These vertical plate peals are still very well attached to the trunk and would be hard to flex by hand (don't try) Start not with the leaves still holding on and look at these charactistics, but the easiest by far is the sharp pointed bud on the tip of each twig.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Not ash, but there is trees in my woods that i do get confused sometimes with. I dont know what they are but the bark is very comparable. The leaves are kind of round. The crown even looks almost the same. Does anyone know what these are?

[C.Wilcox]

Not ash, but there is trees in my woods that i do get confused sometimes with. I dont know what they are but the bark is very comparable. The leaves are kind of round. The crown even looks almost the same. Does anyone know what these are?

The form of the tree is noticeably different, but you might be looking at basswood trees. Basswood have very tall, straight, branch free trunks. Leaves are very large, and round/heart-shaped. The bark is more finely segmented than mature sugar maples.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Yes thats what it looks like. Its probably that. Never heard of that kind of tree before. thanks

[KenWP]

The trees I am talking about have trunks just like the maples do. The trunk is real smooth and a light green like the maples but the leaves look like a ripple chip is the best way to discribe them. They are sharp pointed long and narrow. I tapped one and it never did run which was the first clue and then I was able to spot one leaf hanging off a branch and figured out what it wasn't. I have a bunch of maples have nice smooth bark and some pour sap like crazy and others never did run. I checked all the trees i tapped this spring to figure out if the duds were actually maples and there was only the one with the different leaves which I had figured out already. Wish I could run a camera to take pictures to put online.

[MartinP]

Ken,
Could they be beech trees. Google beech trees, they have similar bark to yourng maples and like to live in the same woods.

[BarrelBoiler]

smooth trunk wouldn't be ash.. ash has bark likr corderroy fabric only bigger cords my uncle had a double stem maplpe with an ash growing in-between so i got that id real quick
smooth bark long pointy rippled leaves sounds like beech they tend to gray or whiteish gray bark do the leaves hang on soomewhat during the winter espeically on the saplings? if so they are probably beech pics?

[red maples]

yeah I know but I tap alot of red maples and the bark tends to be similar to the reds, the reds are alittle more "loose" in comparison but the color is it a little more towards tan than the reds that seems to be very grey. I have a few sugar maples that have a very similiar texture to the ash I don't know why but they do.

[red maples]

it sounds like your describing beech trees ken.

[Round Mtn Mapler]

I marked about 30 trees today ( using green tape).
Almost all leaves are down now except for a few left on the sugar maples.
Did some clearing of dead trees for firewood.
So far the maples are sparce and spread out. Looks like I'm going to have alot of walking to do to tap and gather.

[Cardigan99]

Ken, definately Beech

Brad, I've seen Sugars in peoples yards in older neighborhoods ( I imagine they were planted up and down the street) with bark similar to Ash.

Todd

[red maples]

At my daughters elementary school they have several about 8-10 inches in diameter (when you got the maple bug you look at all trees all the time) and I thought they were ash but looked up and they are sugars.

[vermaple]

Bark on mature Norway Maples is very similar to White Ash.

[Starting Small]

So is it safe to say that Norway Maples are alright to tap? Is their sugar content much less?

[buckeye gold]

Hmmm, I never saw a maple I would confuse for ash. I just know from look. A hint is if you see moss on the bark it's one to look at closer.

[sjdoyon]

So is it safe to say that Norway Maples are alright to tap? Is their sugar content much less?

Norway Maple

Hardiness Zones: 3-7, habit: deciduous, growth rate: moderate, site requirements: Sun; range of soil types (sand, clay); tolerates hot dry conditions. Texture: Medium to coarse Dense; rounded, symmetrical crown; spreading. Height: 40 to 50' but can reach 90', width: 30 to 45', leaf: dark green simple, 5 lobbed leaves with sharp points; yellow fall color.

Flower/Fruit: Small yellowish green flowers in early spring.

Comments:

Shallow roots make it difficulty to grow plants underneath; easy to transplant; tolerates air pollution; sensitive to 2 4-D herbicide.

History:

The Norway Maple was introduced in the US in 1756 and is native to Europe. It has been available as an ornamental tree sold in nurseries since its introduction into the United States.

The Norway Maple is similar to the Sugar Maple except where its seed wings are on a 180 degree angle and the Sugar Maple's seeds are on a 120 degree angle. Also if you break a leaf stem (petiole) on the Norway Maple its sap is milky white where the Sugar Maple's sap is clear.

The Norway Maple tree's bark is regularly grooved where the Sugar Maple's bark has irregular grooves/plates.

The Norway Maple has become invasive in forest through the northwest and northeast and has the ability to shade out native species and thus out compete them.

[sjdoyon]

The trees I am talking about have trunks just like the maples do. The trunk is real smooth and a light green like the maples but the leaves look like a ripple chip is the best way to discribe them. They are sharp pointed long and narrow. I tapped one and it never did run which was the first clue and then I was able to spot one leaf hanging off a branch and figured out what it wasn't. I have a bunch of maples have nice smooth bark and some pour sap like crazy and others never did run. I checked all the trees i tapped this spring to figure out if the duds were actually maples and there was only the one with the different leaves which I had figured out already. Wish I could run a camera to take pictures to put online.

Ken,

In Southern Quebec and Northern Vermont, we have a lot of beech trees which when they are young can be mistaken for a maple but just look at the leaf and bark.

3x10 Inferno Arch
4,000+ Taps
7,5 HP Vacuum pump
Lapierre 600gph RO
3 SS 1500 gallon tanks
24x32 Sugarhouse

[English River Maple]

Not ash, but there is trees in my woods that i do get confused sometimes with. I dont know what they are but the bark is very comparable. The leaves are kind of round. The crown even looks almost the same. Does anyone know what these are?

I've become pretty confident in maple identification, especially the difference between a muture sugar and a mature red. Although, my 2 biggest culprit's in the past, especially in a young stand was young aspen mixed in with the maples, only in the winter time. The only way I could tell was by studying the canopy and branch growth. My second biggest challenge with tree ident in another sugarbush we have is with bitternut hickory in the winter. The younger sugar maples show amazingly similar bark, except the sugar maples develop extremely deep and long furrows as they age. Most of them (hickory) show a very distinct difference, but some we were confused with unless we stood back and studied the tree from trunk to canopy. We'd get a patch of 4-5 trees and 1 would be hickory and the rest maples. Without having much info on what your trees could be, my "out on a limb" guess would be bitternut hickory (they have rounded type leaves)

[Kngowods]

How Could you tell the difference between a Norway and a sugar and are norways "sweeter" than reds and silvers I ask because I was walking thru a new woods and there was all kinds of what I thought was sugar maple leaves on the ground but looking around the bark was very similar to ash or Norways and there's a bunch of them. It is gonna be ALOT of work getting the sap outta the woods and if it's no sweeter than silver and reds I might not bother.

Thanks

[happy thoughts]

are norways "sweeter" than reds and silvers

I don't think so. A few years ago there was a plan to tap Norways in Toronto's parks. Sap to syrup ratio was said to be around 60/1 though I imagine that will likely depend on the individual tree.

http://www.notfarfromthetree.org/archives/1184

I have also read that Norway syrup's flavor is comparable to box elder which many people say is stronger than standard maple syrup and more like sorghum. Still there's nothing like trying it out and deciding for yourself. A friend of mine has tapped maples in the past and has been happy with the results.

As for tree ID get a good tree field guide. Now is the perfect time to start Id'ing trees as there are many more vegetative clues during active growth.

[Michael Greer]

I tap a few Norway maples, just because they're close to my path. Last year was a good year and they ran fine. This year, with the odd weather we had, two of them didn't run at all...not early, not late...not at all. I had a couple of Red maples that quit early too. One day they just stopped...nothing. The Sugars kept on for another week, even at 75 degrees.