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Thread: How can I identify Maples in CT in winter?

  1. #1
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    Default How can I identify Maples in CT in winter?

    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





  2. #2
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    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.
    60ish taps on buckets
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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by ecolbeck View Post
    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

  4. #4
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    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.
    Ken & Sherry
    Williston, VT
    16x34 Sugarhouse
    1,500 taps on high vacuum, Electric Releaser & CDL Sap Lifter
    Wood-Fired Leader 30"x10' Vortex Arch & Max Raised Flue with Rev Syrup Pan & CDL1200 RO
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  5. #5
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    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.
    Last edited by Sugar Bear; 02-20-2021 at 09:59 PM.
    If you think it's easy to make good money in maple syrup .... then your obviously good at stealing somebody's Maple Syrup.

    Favorite Tree: Sugar Maple
    Most Hated Animal: Sap Sucker
    Most Loved Animal: Devon Rex Cat
    Favorite Kingpin: Bruce Bascom
    40 Sugar Maple Taps ... 23 in CT and 17 in NY .... 29 on gravity tubing and 11 on 5G buckets ... 2019 Totals 508 gallons of sap, 7 boils, 11.4 gallons of syrup.
    1 Girlfriend that gives away all my syrup to her friends.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by TapTapTap View Post
    But I'm going to say they're all maples.
    NO WAY ... NO HOW!

    Oak trees do not make great syrup!

    PERIOD!
    If you think it's easy to make good money in maple syrup .... then your obviously good at stealing somebody's Maple Syrup.

    Favorite Tree: Sugar Maple
    Most Hated Animal: Sap Sucker
    Most Loved Animal: Devon Rex Cat
    Favorite Kingpin: Bruce Bascom
    40 Sugar Maple Taps ... 23 in CT and 17 in NY .... 29 on gravity tubing and 11 on 5G buckets ... 2019 Totals 508 gallons of sap, 7 boils, 11.4 gallons of syrup.
    1 Girlfriend that gives away all my syrup to her friends.

  7. #7
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    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
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by HauntedHills; 02-20-2021 at 11:35 PM.

  8. #8
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    I'd agree with the others. Hard to tell for sure from pictures but I dont think any of them are maples.
    2023 - 130 taps, 90L from 4,000L as of mid March
    2021 - 84 taps, 50L from 2100L
    2020 - 100 taps on buckets, 21L syrup from 2700L so far (FEB 26-Mar 13) and then the pandemic hit! End of our season!
    2019 - 62 taps on buckets, 95L syrop from 3215L sap
    2018 - 62 taps, collecting by hand, 90L syrop from 3200L sap
    2017 - Lapierre Waterloo Small mini pro with 40 taps
    2014 - 2016 40 taps making one or two batches on a 2x6 flat pan over an open arch as it would have been done in 1900

  9. #9
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    Photos are never enough to me for a verification but if they are opposite branches then I'd say they're maples. None of them look like ash and no other hardwood would have opposite branches. I assume Ryansclzo verified them as opposite branches since he indicated his knowledge of that characteristic.

    I will also say that verification of opposite branches is sometimes tricky. From the ground at maybe 60 ft away its a little hard to tell and can take a fair amount of study. Binoculars would help but I don't typically carry them in the woods when I'm working.

    The other tell I use in winter is deer. They know their oak trees and they will paw up the snow looking for acorns.
    Ken & Sherry
    Williston, VT
    16x34 Sugarhouse
    1,500 taps on high vacuum, Electric Releaser & CDL Sap Lifter
    Wood-Fired Leader 30"x10' Vortex Arch & Max Raised Flue with Rev Syrup Pan & CDL1200 RO
    https://www.facebook.com/pumpkinhillmaple/

  10. #10
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    Deer sometimes dig up acorns in the snow but that is only sometimes. If there are no footprints around your trees, that is NOT an indicator of any meaningful measure that they are maple trees.

    I am certain that most of the pictures you are showing are oak trees and I will jokingly say that if you make syrup from them and pore it on pancakes, the pancakes will jump off of the plate on you, go get a lawyer and sue you for punitive damages.

    There are two or three photos that could be soft maples, but only one has a possibility of being a sugar maple and that is the one out of focus and behind foliage ( White Oak Foliage by the way ).

    If you would like I can come down next week ( I do plan to tap today and tomorrow ) from Weston to Fairfield ( If that's where you are) and tell you nearly every tree on your property. In about 3 minutes or less.
    If you think it's easy to make good money in maple syrup .... then your obviously good at stealing somebody's Maple Syrup.

    Favorite Tree: Sugar Maple
    Most Hated Animal: Sap Sucker
    Most Loved Animal: Devon Rex Cat
    Favorite Kingpin: Bruce Bascom
    40 Sugar Maple Taps ... 23 in CT and 17 in NY .... 29 on gravity tubing and 11 on 5G buckets ... 2019 Totals 508 gallons of sap, 7 boils, 11.4 gallons of syrup.
    1 Girlfriend that gives away all my syrup to her friends.

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