Description
Sugar maples are an attractive maple that can be used for shade, beautiful lumber and maple syrup. Also known as rock maple or hard maple. In open areas, sugar maples form a large round crown with many branches that go nearly to the ground. In the woods, the trunk can be 50 or more feet long before the first branches appear. This makes them very valuable veneer logs.
Preferring moist, well drained soils these maples thrive at our farm. They do have the ability though to adapt to dryer conditions. Even on our sandy hilltops, they do well here on the farm.
The leaves of the sugar maple are serrated and have 3-5 lobes. Overall, the length of the leaf is about 3-5″. The color can vary from a bright, light-yellow green to a deep green. They seem to develop the best colors in the cool, northern states.
Sugar maple wood is heavy and very hard, with close grains. It is pale buff white to pale brown buff in color and weighs 43 lbs. per cubic foot. Abnormal conditions of growth cause the sugar maple to produce irregular and interrupted grain known as curled and bird’s eye. As a youth I cut into a maple that was curling with my chainsaw, not realizing that I had a valuable tree. Splitting the wood was nearly impossible by hand and a lesson was learned. Sugar maple lumber is used for cabinet work, flooring, interior finish and firewood. It is not suitable for moist environments as my father-in-law could testify. He used kiln dried maple on the deck of his cabin cruiser to save big bucks over mahogany. Within one week on the water, it had curled up and had to be removed. He then bought the mahogany.
The major maple issue is known as maple decline. It is a group of symptoms and includes dieback or loss of vigor. This is caused by many things, including root damage, nutritional deficiencies, environmental stress, vandalism, and prolonged drought. Usually, it is a problem with trees that are planted in urban settings.
Sugar maples are a valuable addition to any property. They have stunning fall colors in red, orange and yellow, produce sap that makes amazing syrup.
