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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Sweet Sap Sugar Maples

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  • From: Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Sweet Sap Sugar Maples
  • Date: Sat, 8 May 2010 18:09:16 -0400


"Did I miss something?"

Maybe the "i"?  :-)  I thought you were suggesting that the "Acer saccharinum,  C. Larson selection" was a sugar maple, but maybe I just misread your post.

I've had syrup made from red maple.  It's not very different from syrup made from sugar maple, maybe a little mustier.  I think it's real disadvantage is that it has a lower sugar content than sugar maple.  Also the trees are smaller, so you probably don't get as much sap per tree, either.

I think the disadvantages of silver maple are mostly that it's a shorter-lived tree that's more prone to structural problems (big limbs blowing down in storms), and maybe the unselected types aren't quite as sweet as the unselected sugar maple.  Or maybe it's just that there are vast forests of sugar maple, and silver maple tends to line the rivers, so it was easier to set up production of sugar maple.  It would be an interesting historical investigation.

Ginda

On May 8, 2010, at 5:08 PM, Richard Harrison wrote:

I agree that A. saccharum is sugar maple. Did I miss something?  Silver maples do grow here, too. I have seen old trees near old houses in town that were perhaps 75' tall and huge diameter. Red maples are the ones that tend to grow in the wetter areas here, although the silver does, too.
I found it strange that red maple syrup would be preferred over sugar maple, though.
Good luck.
                               Richard

--- On Sat, 5/8/10, Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us> wrote:

From: Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Sweet Sap Sugar Maples
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Saturday, May 8, 2010, 3:28 PM

No, acer saccharinum is silver maple, sugar maple is acer saccharum (I translate loosely as "sweet maple" and "sugar maple" from the Latin.)  (Oops - almost sent out the wrong thing, as my computer "corrected" saccharum to saccharin).  Silver maple likes to live along river banks and other wet places, although I've seen it in plenty of back yards, as well.  It grows faster than sugar maple, but has softer wood and is more likely to lose big pieces in a storm -- don't plant it where it overhangs your house.  It's very pretty in the summer, with it's silvery leaves, but has less brilliant fall foliage than most maples, usually just an ordinary yellow.

Wikipedia says it grows 25' to 50' wide, which sounds about right.  It's a little more upright than Sugar maple, in my experience, although it will lean to follow the sun.

As for whether 16 trees will give you enough sap, it depends what you are using it for.  When I was a kid the next door neighbor made sap from a single sugar maple every year.  I doubt it made a lot of syrup, but they enjoyed it.

Ginda Fisher
eastern MA, zone 6

On May 8, 2010, at 4:05 PM, Richard Harrison wrote:

Sarah,
   Those prices are ridiculous----by my standards. I used to be a nurseryman. If I remember correctly Acer saccharum IS sugar maple rather than silver maple(I grow sugarcane which is Saccharum species----hence "sugar"). I have a "yankee" acquaintance who tells me that even red maple makes good syrup----she prefers red over sugar maple syrup! 
   Good luck--and happy waiting! I doubt that 16 trees would make much syrup, though, frankly. Sorry, don't mean to be discouraging---I make sugarcane syrup. We get about a 7:1 cook down ration from juice to syrup--from good cane. Sorghum is grown for syrup in some parts of Canada. It cooks down about 12:1 maybe and is an annual crop.
                                                                   Regards,
                                                                   Richard, NW FL

--- On Sat, 5/8/10, Sarah Kehler Ewing <skkewing@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Sarah Kehler Ewing <skkewing@yahoo.com>
Subject: [NAFEX] Sweet Sap Sugar Maples
To: "NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Saturday, May 8, 2010, 2:37 PM

I bought 16 of these Sweet Sap sugar Maples from T&T Seeds this year.  Iā€™m very happy with the trees: straight 3-4ā€™ trunks with some branches and ok roots (look like they were in gallon pots before having the dirt washed off them).  I'm a little worried about them liking things wetter than normal sugar maples as wet is not a normal problem for us Albertans.

So anyone have any planting advice like how far apart to put them?  And does anyone have any other information about them or sugar maple stuff in general... like a good website with tapping info?

I googled them and copied this info from St. Lawrence Nursery www.sln.potsdam.ny.us

Thanks

Sarah
zone 3
Edmonton, AB

Sweet Sap Silver Maple ā€” Acer saccharinum,  C. Larson selection
3 to 4 ft. trees $22.00 each, 100 or more $15 each
A special selection of Acer saccharinum that produces sap with a sugar content of 3 to 5%. (Sugar maples run about 2 to 2.5%) The advantage to the syrup maker is less time collecting, hauling and boiling down sap. Silver Maples will grow on wetter soils than sugar maples and they are much faster growers, becoming tappable in about 8 to 10 years. They are also tolerant of clay soils. Discovered in Canada by Cedric Larson, and propagated via tissue culture.





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