How can I identify Maples in CT in winter?

[ryansclzo]

I'm new to this and wanted to try... but I am having a lot of trouble figuring out which ones I should be tapping. Are any of these maples? And how can I identify maples besides opposite branching? It seems like there's a lot of other trees here that do opposite branching.

Thanks!

Link to full pictures https://imgur.com/a/82txdZq

[ecolbeck]

With the possible exception of the second to last pic, none of those look like maples to me. More like a mix of oaks, white ash, and perhaps big tooth aspen. The opposite branching is a good start but more is needed. There are probably ID resources on the internet that can help. More time in the woods helps too.

[ryansclzo]

With the possible exception of the second to last pic, none of those look like maples to me. More like a mix of oaks, white ash, and perhaps big tooth aspen. The opposite branching is a good start but more is needed. There are probably ID resources on the internet that can help. More time in the woods helps too.

I keep reading the same techniques and half of them involve leaves unfortunately lol. In the link theres 2 photos of that 2nd to last tree you can zoom in on

[TapTapTap]

It's hard telling from photos. But I'm going to say they're all maples. Bark can look different depending on age. Opposite branches are the tell. Maples have fine twigs at the tips. Ash look like long fat fingers. Look for a young 6 ft ash and the tips can be a foot long and might be as fat as your finger. Maples are much shorter and finer. Once you compare the two it is easy to differentiate.

Soft maples are like hard but the twig tips are more curled with noticable buds. Bark on soft maples tend to be smoother.

[Sugar Bear]

But I'm going to say they're all maples.

NO WAY ... NO HOW!

Oak trees do not make great syrup!

PERIOD!

[HauntedHills]

Younger sugar maple trees will have a smooth bark appearance with branches that often leave the trunk at a 90 degree angle (not always) and very small buds at the tips of the branches. See the first picture
Screenshot_20210220-230926_Gallery.jpg

Middle aged sugar maples will start to show vertical lines in the bark that will eventually turn into plates that separate from the tree (like shag bark hickory but less drastic) See second picture.

Screenshot_20210220-230948_Gallery.jpg

An old sugar maple looks like the last picture.

Screenshot_20210220-223727_Google.jpg

[Sugar Bear]

[QUOTE=TapTapTap;390811]It's hard telling from photos. But I'm going to say they're all maples.
QUOTE]


As they say in New Yawk .... "Ya don't know what you are talkin bout"

I'm not offended, but rather angry that you are encouraging a neophyte to drill holes in Oak Trees.

I should have added that if you micromanage two cups of sap in a small pot you can reduce it effectively enough for a taste test. I have done it several times in the past and I am sure even you can do it.

I am not certain that the maple is the only tree in these parts (Connecticut) that will run any significant amount of clear sap at this time of year. I believe it is but I am not certain. I suppose you are, even though you can not tell a oak tree from a maple tree in a reasonably decent photo.

[TapTapTap]

[QUOTE=Sugar Bear;390964]

It's hard telling from photos. But I'm going to say they're all maples.
QUOTE]


As they say in New Yawk .... "Ya don't know what you are talkin bout"

I'm not offended, but rather angry that you are encouraging a neophyte to drill holes in Oak Trees.

In the woods I'm able to look at the whole tree starting with the bark because it's easier to see up close. This is usually all I need. If I can't decide from the bark then I go to the branches. Many times the bark has a different appearance even on a single tree (as anyone should know). A photo of one section of tree does not give a true 3-d perspective and may confirm nothing. The opposite twigs (as I've said from the beginning) is the tell regardless of the look of the bark. Ryanscloz indicated that he knew about opposite branches and presented the photos as possible maples.

On the boiling down of 2 cups of sap to a tablespoon - I say there is no way it can be done without a serious melt-down, particularly someone who has never boiled. And, it's not necessary. So don't go scolding me about misleading anyone.

[MapleCreekFarm]

I would agree that none of those pictures look like maples. People ask me how to tell trees apart and I usually can't give much help. I tell them it's like knowing a face. The tree just looks like a maple, oak, ash, etc. And that only comes from spending time in the woods during all seasons for a few years. Your best bet is to get someone to come and verify and explain the differences.

[Sugar Bear]

I see what appears to be a Red Oak and White Oak strong hold.

first row 1st pic is a Red Oak. You can see the reddish brown streaks of the phloem on it.

second row 1st pic is a Red Oak. Again you can see the reddish brown streaks of the phloem on it.

second row 3rd pic is a white oak and not a ash. The fissures in it are not contiguous enough to be a Ash and it would also have "Tanning" in it as 99% of the Ash trees in our region now do.

second row 4th pic hints of being a red maple, but my money would also go on a White Oak for this one.

second row 5th pic is too out of focus and covered by foliage to make a call on it for anything.

None of your canopy shots exhibit the silhouette of a sugar maple. The shot with the big tree that still has leaves clinging to it well into the off season is a "Screaming Oak", screaming I am an oak with some of my leaves still on. Beech do that also but this tree is not a Beech.

Your large photo of trunk appears to be a English oak, which is on the white team of the oak family. If the scaling were thinner it would be a Black Cherry.