Do you want all maples or a mixture

[Johnjenner]

Looking at a piece of property for sale. Went out and looked it over today. Real nice maple bush. About 70% maples and 30% mixture of beech,oak,and aspen. Question is if I end up buying do I go in initially and cut out everything except the hard maples or is a mixture of preferred?

[TapTapTap]

How many acres? It might be worth hiring a forestry consultant to walk the property and tell you what he sees. Up here in Vermont, we have Fish & Wildlife scientists that will come out for medium and large parcels to tell you about wildlife habitat and invasive plant species on the property.

Generally speaking, you want diversity in your woods. In fact, my forestry management plan is very specific about limiting the culling of non-maples. The exception might be your aspen which are highly susceptible to blowdown and when they do can cause a lot of damage to other trees.

[DrTimPerkins]

A 25% mix or more of other species will significantly reduce insect and disease problems.

[Johnjenner]

Great information. Thank you

[Johnjenner]

Great thank you

[buckeye gold]

I agree with the forester suggestion. I have a 50/50 mix in my woods and have harvested most of the larger non maples. It's about basal density. If you have a high stem count then thinning will let the crowns open up and help maples produce sugar, but be aware your under-story will explode if you let a lot of light in. I agree also, the aspens should go, they have little value. If your woods is relatively open and you have some large diameter oaks and non maples a select harvest will give you some capital to develop you sugar bush. Just remember, logging without damage is a myth. You have to decide what you want and what your goals are. A forester can help you find a low impact logger if you decide to cut. I have logged my woods three times in 32 years and am very satisfied with it's structure, but I have a lifetime of managing forest behind me and a wildlife mngt degree to boot. I am lucky, my wife's cousins are low impact loggers and only log with small dozers. They know I charish ny maples and will do everything possible to not damage them.

[BAP]

As Dr Tim said well, having a mix is much better in the long run for forest health. If you go the forester route, which is a good choice, make sure that it is one that understands maple sugaring goals. Not all do and some will steer you wrong by only choosing trees for maximum lumber value.

[Maple River Sugar]

Do you have an estimate on tap count per acre?

[Johnjenner]

I went out yesterday afternoon and did some physical counts. The south side of the property is much better than the north side. On the southside I was averaging about 130 taps per acre. I believe the Northside will be somewhere in the 50 to 60 taps per acre range.

[maple flats]

Often Beech can be a problem in a maple woods. Beech are an invasive! Beech can be hard to reduce the % you have. Read some info on reducing beech in the maple sugar bush. The big issue is when you cut down a beech, the expansive root network for it, send up a large number of shoots off the under ground roots and you can end up with a dense grove of beech. Beech is great firewood but it needs to be thinned properly. Dr Peter Smallage of Cornell has written about it.