Identifying Trees in the Winter

[ChaskaSap]

It simple to ID trees when the leaves are on, but winter a whole other thing. Does anyone know of a good reference guide that looks at bark and limbs? I have a few old timers in back that I forgot to log....the only thing I know is that they're not oaks...

[fisheatingbagel]

You can always drill them and see if sap comes out - really. If they look anything like a maple tree, i.e. not obvious that it's an oak, I would go for it. Next summer you can mark them when it's easier to identify by the leaves.

After a while it becomes pretty easy to identify by bark, especially when driving around trying to scout out trees in the summer and you notice the bark.

[ChaskaSap]

Interesting.....didn't even consider that. Thanks for the tip!


Update: they're both dripping

[tgormley358]

Look for sugar maple leaves on the ground near the tree. Bark is pretty smooth. Unless they’re old and bug around. Branches is upward more than out. Test the sap with a sap hydrometer as non maples will have lower sugar content.

[TheNamelessPoet]

what happens if you DO tap one that's not a Maple and then it runs into your collective bucket? I have a couple trees that run into a 5 gallon bucket

[Michael Greer]

Chances are you won't get any sap from other species.

[fisheatingbagel]

what happens if you DO tap one that's not a Maple and then it runs into your collective bucket? I have a couple trees that run into a 5 gallon bucket

If it's running sap, then it's likely a maple, or nut tree of some sort. In any case, I would go ahead and boil it if you're just making syrup for home use.

[Ed R]

Look for opposite branching in maples if you cant tell from the bark. Ash trees are probably the only other opposite branching tree in your area.

[Sugar Bear]

When the leaves are off the trees, Sugar maples are as distinct and unique a profile as any common tree in its range. The only other hardwood tree that is less difficult in its identification would be the American Black Cherry tree.

Those that disagree with this, disagree with it because they are not using the profile of the upper half of the Sugar Maple in identification. Any other tree that closely resembles the lower half of a sugar maple can be easily excluded by the upper canopy of the Sugar Maple and its tell tale characteristics.

Trunks are straight and move straight towards the sky and branches are straight and steeply angle towards the sky.

Sugar Maples like mammals have one thing on their minds in their younger years and that one thing is making sugar. They know where they need to go to do it. Red Maples are not so sure and it shows in their curly limbs and in their 1% sugar content.

When you have identified a sugar maple by leaf in the summer, study its distinct canopy characteristics and you will always pick off sugar maple near and far.

Limbs and outer branches never roam and curl or curve as if they do not know which way they want to go ( unlike the soft maples or white oaks )

When I used to walk through forest identifying American Black Cherry Trees for milling I would do it by looking up for their canopies and then come down the tree to the bark to confirm. Even though the lower bark of the Black Cherry is the most distinct of all our eastern hardwoods it was still easier to locate them in the forest by searching for their distinct canopies.

[maple flats]

First look for opposite branching. All of the limbs start as half of van opposite set, however most of them, one gets broken off, so to check you need to use binoculars and look at the upper limbs or the outer sections on any limb to verify if it has opposite branching. Then to know if it is a sugar maple or black maple you need to see a bud that can be seen but not yet opened, a sugar maple and black maples have buds that come to a point, reds and silvers have buds that have a flat top. The bark on a sugar maple starts when young almost like it has a pebble finish, as it matures the bark starts to have plates that peal away vertically. Also, on a sugar maple limbs coming off the trunk have a fairly large swell at the base of the limb, likely more than many other trees.
Once You've identified them for a couple of years you will be able to identify them from a distance in the winter.
Red maples have a fairly rough bark, almost similar to a black cherry but not as pronounced. One thing that can help also is to know what type of ground they like to live in, sugars do not like their toes in water, reds and silvers can grow in wetter areas, often on a little rise like a small island in areas that are seasonally wet but not under water most of the year.