Thinning The Maple Stand

[TRAILGUY]

When I started I said is there enough maples to make it worth it. Now it's do I want to remove some maples to. Two acres done and planning another 5 acres. What a little thinning can do to change the look of the woods.

[Dennis H.]

I agree with you there, The woods right behind the house doesn't have many maples in it partly because there is a bunch of pines growing. So the last 2 years I have been cutting out the pines and downing a few oaks and This year it is amazing how well the woods looks today. The amount of green on the ground is amazing.
I have a few oaks that I cut rings around to kill them off so that should open up some next year or the following.

I never was one to cut down a growing living tree but I am a believer now that to have a good healthy stand of trees you need to get out there and cut a few select trees to allow the remaining trees to get large healthy canopies.

[maple flats]

The concept is to open up the canopy where the crop trees are being crouded. Do not open too much too fast. Generally the practice of opening 2 sides and waiting until the crop trees respond by filling in the opening before opening the other 2 sides. Many times this might mean removing one maple to benifit another. However, it is not good practice to remove all non maples. A diversified stand is healtier for the woods.

[adk1]

Need to get going on this myself! sometime this summer!

[red maples]

maple flats is right. make release cuts first. like I said some where else here it is a slow steady process. not just because its just me and a chainsaw but choosing what trees to take out and where and how many. but you will see a difference pretty quickly. Diversity of trees ceates different fertizer for the trees as oak, ash, beech pine whatever leaves rot creates a balance of bases and acids in the soil.

[adk1]

yeah, I need to thin pretty hard though, I will first thin out all the smaller pine/hemlock that is underneith. I will then thin out the larger stuff that is choking the maple crowns. Just the smaller pine alone I am talking pushing a hundred in a 3 acrea area

[Revi]

We thinned our lot about 5 years ago and are beginning to see the results. Every time I turn around I find another maple that we didn't tap because it was too small, and has now grown to 10 inch diameter. I think opening up the woods really benefitted the maples that are now spreading their crowns out into the new space.

I think I would thin hard before putting any tubing up next time. It was a pain to move it all the time for the logging.

[ADKMAPLE]

Yeah, I ahve the ideal setup for tubing, all gravity. But, have so much thinning to do to the area it will be years before I get it all done. Once I consider it pretty much done, I might put in tubing. I plan on tapping in two seasons, using 5 gal buckets and sacks and a small evap

[brookledge]

I use to get all kinds of slabs so I never needed to cut much in the woods. Then I put in a wood furnace at my house. So I started cutting hardwood and have been thining around some of my maples. But I still didn't want to cut pine and hemlock etc.since I would have plenty of slabs. Now that I'm using the softwood for the evaporator I have been cutting enough each year to keep the house and sugarhouse supplied and it forces me to thin my woods. I have seen a major growth in some that were thinned a few yrs ago.
I'm glad I still use wood for boiling because it is going to keep me thinning the orchard for many yrs to come.
Keith

[red maples]

I put up the tubing anyway. If I have to lower it when I cut trees oh well.

A friend of mine who just built a house, small lot but, left up a bunch of small maple in the front yard when he cleared the land. and these little whispy poles with witha few leaves in top are now filling out 3 years later and are headed to be beautful trees. its amazing what a little sun will do!!!

[adk1]

We bought our house back in 2005. The prior owners had planted a sugar maple in the front lawn. It was at that time about 3" dia and now is about 5" dia I would say, havent measured it technically, but has gotten much taller and has filled out. Maybe I will post some pics of it. I plan on tapping that tree someday.

[stephen wheeler]

I read the all of the posts on this thread and I didnt see any mention of thinning small maples. As an example, I looked at one tree today - it forks into three. The largest trunk is 14" in diameter, it also has a 6" and 4" that fork about a foot from the ground. All three forks seem pretty healthy. Would you cut any of the three or leave them all.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

In my bush, I would probably leave them if they are that size. Perhaps remove the smallest one. Do they lean way out or are they fairly strait?

[stephen wheeler]

yes. they are fairly straight, I wasn't sure if they (especially the small ones) act like suckers and take away energy from the larger forks.

[TF Maple]

I read the all of the posts on this thread and I didnt see any mention of thinning small maples. As an example, I looked at one tree today - it forks into three. The largest trunk is 14" in diameter, it also has a 6" and 4" that fork about a foot from the ground. All three forks seem pretty healthy. Would you cut any of the three or leave them all.

24 years ago when I built my house I dug a silver maple out of my cousin's garden and planted it in my backyard. It has 4 trunks coming out of the ground and is a nice decorative tree. The main trunk is 12 inches DBH and the other three are 8 inches each. Last year I tapped the main trunk for the first time. This year I plan to tap the main trunk and one of the smaller trunks. Each year I plan to tap a different small trunk so they only get tapped once in three years along with the main trunk.

So, to answer the question, in my opinion, you have to decide if there is enough room for all the trunks, then leave them be and maybe do a tapping pattern like I'm doing on my tree. If you think the main trunk could use more room to get at the sun, then thin away and the main trunk will certainly grow faster than if it has to support all three trunks.

[BryanEx]

My experience has been that you are fine with multiple trunks until the tree starts to age. Once you have a large tree, the steep crotches suffer from "crotch rot" (to use an un-technical term) and you start losing sections during wind storms and the like. If you have a choice between a straight tree and a multi-tree competing for the same canopy space... choose the multi-tree for culling, otherwise enjoy it as long as it lasts providing it does not pose a risk to people or property.

[Parker]

If you are planning on keeping some of that tree, keep it all,,,its all growing from the same set of roots ,,when you cut one trunk you create any entry pointy for pathogens and greatly speed the end for the rest of the tree.....if it is a question of keeping this tree over a singel stem smothie,,keep the smothie...imo

[stephen wheeler]

Just wanted to say thank you for all the information, this is really a great place to come and ask for advice on a particular topic or just read the conversations and learn. :)