Weird Maple Tree issue...

Ok so both the maples I tapped this year are 27+ Diameter. During the "Summer of March 2012" when it was 70-80 F the one had red buds and they all opened then fell off. The other Maple I never really could see any buds. Got 130 gallons of SAP from them together in 3 weeks.

Well now all the trees in my woods incuding maples I didn't tap have leaves growing and the two big trees I tapped have nothing!

Is it normal for trees to get leaves later after being tapped or are they dead?

I sure hope they are ok...

I never noticed that, but the tree that had red buds and dropped them is likely a red maple and the other could be some other. If it is a sugar maple, they bud later, but mine are all budded now. Occasionally a tree will have a delay, but the sap you removed is not the cause. Even a tree with major damage from a chainsaw or storm damage which causes it to lose a huge volume of sap, the remaining limbs or stems will still bud and leaf out.
The red may have had it's buds freeze after the "early summer" but it is likely OK, as is the other, as long as you know both gave sap. If you used one line of tubing to tap both into a single container, it is possible the one was dead, if you know both gave sap it is alive.

Yes they both gave alot of sap...

The one with the red buds dropped the buds and there isn't anything where the buds are now...

The other tree never seemed to have buds, gave ALOT of sap. The only thing I noticed in during the warm up on that tree is long skinny small "stems" with what appeared to be a small ball at the end. Now I see nothing. All the leaves and buds on this tree are pretty high for me to get a good look...

It's just weird that every other tree all around have green leaves now and these two that I tapped seem to have NOTHING!

But they both did give alot of sap...

The tree with "red buds" is likely a red maple, and the "buds" you saw that fell off were flowers. The bud scales and petals fall off after flowering....that is normal. The other tree is likely a sugar maple, and the buds are probably still closed or just partially open. Maples tend to leaf out somewhat later than many other trees. It is still about a month earlier than normal (at least here) for leaves, but our red maples have already flowered and dropped their bud scales/flowers too, but no leaves yet. It'll just take some time.

Possible negative consequences of this early bud opening and then the delay in leaf emergence.....pear thrips. The little buggers emerge from the soil, crawl into the buds when they start to open, and feed inside the developing leaf. If leaf emergence is slow, pear thrip damage (if they emerged during the warm spell) could be high. The second possible negative impact would be frost damage. Fortunately most sugar maple buds are still fairly closed, and they are somewhat more "hardy" at this stage than after the leaves emerge. Time will tell though whether either of these problems happen.....keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks Dave and Dr. Tim! Time will tell and when I know I'll reply back!

What worries me most is the one with the red buds (could it be a silver maple?) Has another tree I didn't tap 10 feet from it that is the same kind of maple and it has leaves...

How do the box elder maples look ???????

BTW not to sound stupid but what is a box elder maple ?

All my box elders have leaves too...

I'll post a link later to box elder maples...

You should post a video of the dead looking maples so we can see.

Box Elder is also known as Ash-leaved-Maple. It has a compound leaf and grows like kudzu. They're a pesky invasive that drops seeds like rain. You can tap them, but you should burn them instead.