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Thread: Leaves falling quickly off a few trees

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Cheshire, CT
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    Default Leaves falling quickly off a few trees

    I'm curious if there is any health issues with 2 of my 80 year old sugar maple trees. I have about 70 on my property, but these two by the house dropped all their leaves within a couple of days well before the rest of the trees. They barely had a yellow color and no orange like the majority of them.

    Does anyone else have trees that drop quickly?

    41.457 x -72.907 148 elevation
    2x4 wood fired evaporator with the "Hercules Blower"
    hybrid pan and backflip preheater by Smoky Lake
    103 taps. 44 on gravity
    All sugar Maples
    7" filter press
    10 x 12 sugar shack
    two very helpful kids
    a wife that thinks I'm nuts

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  2. #2
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    Apr 2019
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    northwest CT
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    i have all reds but , a couple are almost bare while the rest still have half their leaves yet

  3. #3
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    Jul 2021
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    Parry Sound Area, Ontario
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    My experience is that it is just an individual genetic tree thing. Each year the same trees are the first to either lose their leaves or hang onto their leaves. I have some maple trees that hang onto their leaves well into winter.
    2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
    930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
    DYI Vacuum Filter
    2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.

  4. #4
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    Apr 2019
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    Nashville, MI
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    I have one that is at the corner of the house that is almost completely void of leaves, but I think that is because it is also in the open where the wind can get to it more and blow them off easier. Some of my other yard trees still have leaves and are close to full, they are also closer to the woods.
    2004 - 2012 2x3 flat pan 25 to 60 taps
    2012 2x3 new divided pan w/draw off 55 taps
    2018 - didn't boil surgery - bought new evaporator
    2019 new SML 2x4 raised flue high output evap. 65 taps
    made 17 gal. syrup
    2020 - only put out 53 taps - made 16.25 ga.l syrup
    2021 - Didn't work out
    2022 - 25 taps on bags / 8 taps on 3/16's line - late start

  5. #5
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    Jul 2021
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    Parry Sound Area, Ontario
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pdiamond View Post
    I have one that is at the corner of the house that is almost completely void of leaves, but I think that is because it is also in the open where the wind can get to it more and blow them off easier. Some of my other yard trees still have leaves and are close to full, they are also closer to the woods.
    90% of the leaves are off almost all of the trees here, although the rare tree almost has all of their leaves. The colours this year were spectacular.
    2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
    930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
    DYI Vacuum Filter
    2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Location
    Nashville, MI
    Posts
    939

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    They are dropping fast now here with all the wind we are having. I still have several that are pretty full though.
    2004 - 2012 2x3 flat pan 25 to 60 taps
    2012 2x3 new divided pan w/draw off 55 taps
    2018 - didn't boil surgery - bought new evaporator
    2019 new SML 2x4 raised flue high output evap. 65 taps
    made 17 gal. syrup
    2020 - only put out 53 taps - made 16.25 ga.l syrup
    2021 - Didn't work out
    2022 - 25 taps on bags / 8 taps on 3/16's line - late start

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Location
    Nashville, MI
    Posts
    939

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    Yes, the colors were very nice here too. My hickory trees were beautiful. The beech trees are just starting to turn, but they are always the last ones around me to get brown and the leaves will hang on most of the winter, at least some of them.
    2004 - 2012 2x3 flat pan 25 to 60 taps
    2012 2x3 new divided pan w/draw off 55 taps
    2018 - didn't boil surgery - bought new evaporator
    2019 new SML 2x4 raised flue high output evap. 65 taps
    made 17 gal. syrup
    2020 - only put out 53 taps - made 16.25 ga.l syrup
    2021 - Didn't work out
    2022 - 25 taps on bags / 8 taps on 3/16's line - late start

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Weston, CT
    Posts
    473

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    Quote Originally Posted by lafite View Post
    I'm curious if there is any health issues with 2 of my 80 year old sugar maple trees. I have about 70 on my property, but these two by the house dropped all their leaves within a couple of days well before the rest of the trees. They barely had a yellow color and no orange like the majority of them.

    Does anyone else have trees that drop quickly?
    My leaves dropped very quickly and relatively THOROUGHLY within a tight timeframe during the last week of October. Some Norwegian Maples, as they usually do, still hold some leaves. And so do some oaks.

    We have had EXCEPTIONALLY tranquil weather, with little to no wind driven rain this year. And that is clearly one of the factors that allowed the leaves to stay attached and all just say "I have had it" at about the same time.

    Additionally, I think the drought over the summer is a factor somewhat too. With your two trees near your house, I suspect they may have more open space around them, and that ground even dried out more than other ground covered by leaves in the woods. So, the fashion in which they said "I have had it" may have been different.

    Otherwise, if I am wrong, I send my sincere condolences.
    Last edited by Sugar Bear; 11-08-2022 at 08:36 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.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Weston, CT
    Posts
    473

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    Quote Originally Posted by Swingpure View Post
    My experience is that it is just an individual genetic tree thing. Each year the same trees are the first to either lose their leaves or hang onto their leaves. I have some maple trees that hang onto their leaves well into winter.
    The term for trees holding onto leaves into the winter is called marcescence. It is caused by early season hard frost relative to the typical time a tree loses its leaves. Around here at our Lat Long we get it in Beech trees and Oak trees. Not very common in Maples of any kind at our Lat Long. But at your Lat Long I surmise the Maple may be the tree of choice for marcescence, probably because your Lat Long and or altitude is more likely to have a hard early season frost relative to the time the Maple typically loses its leaves.

    I did a quick run to the top of Camels Hump last Friday and noticed I could not find a tree anywhere in the region that still had a leaf on it. No sign of any marcescence anywhere either. And not much of any really hard frost anywhere in that region yet this year either.

    So marcescence this year looks like it will take place at a minimum.

    Let me know what you see on your maples this winter. I would be curious to know.
    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.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2021
    Location
    Parry Sound Area, Ontario
    Posts
    1,345

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sugar Bear View Post
    The term for trees holding onto leaves into the winter is called marcescence. It is caused by early season hard frost relative to the typical time a tree loses its leaves. Around here at our Lat Long we get it in Beech trees and Oak trees. Not very common in Maples of any kind at our Lat Long. But at your Lat Long I surmise the Maple may be the tree of choice for marcescence, probably because your Lat Long and or altitude is more likely to have a hard early season frost relative to the time the Maple typically loses its leaves.

    I did a quick run to the top of Camels Hump last Friday and noticed I could not find a tree anywhere in the region that still had a leaf on it. No sign of any marcescence anywhere either. And not much of any really hard frost anywhere in that region yet this year either.

    So marcescence this year looks like it will take place at a minimum.

    Let me know what you see on your maples this winter. I would be curious to know.
    This is one of the maple tree I was talking about that hangs onto their leaves well after all of the other maples.

    This was last year on November 19th
    https://share.icloud.com/photos/0026...Sm1XjBg6QwgUxw

    This is this year, not quite as many leaves, but this picture was just taken, in moonlight, so not as detailed.
    https://share.icloud.com/photos/09bI...Z2hEu0g5Iy60ig

    This is another maple (on the right) that hangs onto it’s leaves, about 25 feet away from the other, taken last year on December 10th
    https://share.icloud.com/photos/0ecb...HQ-ODx1SFW0ftg

    The Oak trees always hang onto some of theirs well into the winter. (Although this year a number of them have lost all of their leaves already.)

    Our forests have a lot of maple, but also a fair amount of Oak, mixed in with yellow and white birch, beech, basswood, ironwood, white pine, hemlock and cedar and others.
    2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
    930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
    DYI Vacuum Filter
    2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.

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