May be affected by scale insects, aphids, and verticillium wilt.Plant in an area where grass below it will not need to be mowed, so the roots will not be damaged by the mower. Roots are often shallow and reach the surface at an early age.Fertilize in spring before the leaves emerge. Common Name (s): Black maple, black sugar maple Scientific Name: Acer nigrum Distribution: Northeastern United States Tree Size: 80-115 ft (25-35 m) tall, 2-3 ft (.6-1.0 m) trunk diameter Average Dried Weight: 40. If pruning is necessary, prune during the dormant season and avoid pruning in spring when the sap is running. Low maintenance, this tree needs little pruning. It is extensively planted as a shade tree, although it is urban intolerant and should not be used in tree lawns. Sugar maple is susceptible to salt, excessive heat, and leaf scorch in drought. In the open, sugar maples have a symmetrical crown. It does not grow well on dry, shallow soils and is rarely if ever, found in swamps. Sugar Maple grows on sands, loamy sands, sandy loams, loams, and silt loams, but it does best on well-drained loams. A full sun or part shade lover, this plant is easily grown in fertile, moist, acid, well-drained soils.About 40 gallons of sap are required to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup. Native Americans taught the early colonists how to tap these trees to produce maple syrup. The sugar maple leaf is the national symbol of Canada. Long-lived and slow-growing, Sugar Maple also provides some winter interest, with its attractive, gray-brown bark, often ridged and furrowed with age. In spring, greenish-yellow flowers, borne in short, upright sprays appear before the leaves and are followed by two-winged samara. (7-15 cm) ranges from medium to dark green in summer, and changes to a brilliant palette of yellows, oranges, and reds in the fall. Its foliage of five-lobed leaves, 3-6 in. saccharum.) For more information, please see the article on the Differences Between Hard Maple and Soft Maple.Noted for its spectacular fall color, Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple) is a large, deciduous tree with a straight trunk, wide-spreading branches, and a dense, oval to rounded crown. (Though on average, black maple tends to be ever-so-slightly lighter in weight and softer than the closely related A. Its wood is stronger, stiffer, harder, and denser than all of the other commercial species of maple. Hard maple ought to be considered the timber “king” of the Acer genus. Also, as its name implies, mature bark on black maple trees tends to be dark gray or almost black. One way to tell the two trees apart is by the leaves: black maple will have three-lobed leaves with shallower notches between the lobes, (as shown below), while hard (sugar) maple will have five-lobed leaves with slightly deeper notches. Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices or on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.Ĭommon Uses: Flooring (from basketball courts and dance-floors to bowling alleys and residential), veneer, paper (pulpwood), musical instruments, cutting boards, butcher blocks, workbenches, baseball bats, and other turned objects and specialty wood items.Ĭomments: Black maple is very closely related to hard maple, and some authors simply treat it as a subspecies of Acer saccharum. Also, figured pieces such as birdseye, curl, or quilt are likely to be much more expensive. Pricing/Availability: Should be moderately priced, though slightly more expensive than soft maple. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information. Turns, glues, and finishes well, though blotches can occur when staining, and a pre-conditioner, gel stain, or toner may be necessary to get an even color.Īllergies/Toxicity: Black maple, along with other maples in the Acer genus have been reported to cause skin irritation, runny nose, and asthma-like respiratory effects. Maple has a tendency to burn when being machined with high-speed cutters such as in a router. As a result, it is surrounded by many species of organisms that are in competition with the Sugar Maple. But you definitely do not have to have a sugar maple to successfully make delicious syrup. The Sugar Maple is found in many forests of the United States and Canada. Our best producing sugar maples will give us 5-10 gallons of sap a day, on the best days, at 2-3 sugar content. Workability: Fairly easy to work with both hand and machine tools, though slightly more difficult than soft maple due to black maple’s higher density. Sugar maples offer the highest sugar content of any sap you can find, as well as a great sap production rate. Rot Resistance:Rated as non-durable to perishable in regard to decay resistance. The growth rings tend to be slightly darker and more distinct than in other species of soft maple. Grain/Texture: Grain is generally straight, but may be wavy.
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