Drought conditions and sugaring

[Bemis]

Any thoughts on how this drought is going to effect sugaring this year? Trees are already dropping leaves like crazy. Sounds like a few more weeks at least of this weather pattern. Record low rainfall all summer.

[red maples]

Well it time for leaves to start dropping anyway. We have had a very dry summer out here too. I read somewhere that droughts are not too good for sugaring but at the same time the sugar content is a bit higher beacuse there was alot of sun. But I am coming to believe that it really comes down to the spring weather and those roots suck in water like crazy in the spring so what ever carbs are they are changed into sugar, mixed with root filtered water and spread throgh out the tree.

Hope I am right on that one!!!

[maplecrest]

no lack of water here the rivers are over there banks this morning and still raining.got 2 months of rain in a few hours

[maple flats]

The weather throughout the maple region of North America sure has been extremely varied this year. You had a drought and except for a 6 week mini drought in early summer, we had far above average rain. Back on 8/22 we had 8"+ over a 36 hr period and yeaterday we had 4.5". The last 2 weeks have brought some rain every day so the 4.5 had little place to go and caused low lying areas to have some bad flooding.
This all being said, I have always thought much more of the outcome of the upcoming season was related fairly closely to a few factors in the mix. One, the amount of sun the leaves got this year, the amount of winter ground moisture, and the number and depth of the freeze thaw cycles next spring.
If your trees had dropped their leaves in August because of stress it might be cause for concern but late Sept and early October in most of the maple region is quite normal. I don't think you need worry. A drought has to be very severe to greatly affect maple production. The maple roots go fairly deep and have the ability to suck up moisture quite well.

[red maples]

Last year most of the trees that tap dropped their leaves in early to mid sept. I think it was due to the lack of sun most of the summer and the a brief heat wave at the end of the summer caused sun scotched leaves and they dropped early. but early in the spring my sugar was quite good then with lack of cold night the level fell very quickly and never really recovered.

With all the rain we had last year I notice very quick growth in the diameter of the trees. I don't keep track but I had trees that I wasn't expecting to tap for a few more years may be ready to tap as early as this spring I will re measure them to see.

[Goggleeye]

I've been wondering about the same here in SE MO. We had average rainfall until mid September and now it's been 7 weeks without any rain to speak of. The trees dropped their leaves about a week or two early, with very little color. Would this be any cause for concern, or should things be OK if wintertime moisture picks up? This is only my 3rd year in, so I would appreciate some thoughts from those of you who have seen a few more maple seasons than this green hand.