I'm guessing these came down in the high winds we had here on Monday. It appears that the larger tree split and toppled the two smaller ones on the way down. The other half of it is snagged in larger red. I've had 2 other red maples come down in this section since this fall. This is the lowest point on my property, and it stays pretty swampy most of the year. I had a massive honey mushroom outbreak back here late summer, and I think at least two, including this larger one, were probably casualties of it. In the center of this pic is a railroad tie from an old overgrown trail. One of the other trees fell right across that - although that one was already dead and had been snagged in a sugar maple. I walked closer to the railroad tie for this pic. To the left of it is the last 4' of that tree, and in the background, the fallen tree is the last 16' of the other maple I mentioned. I've got bark beetles eating my pines, bark disease attacking my beech, EAB is set to start wiping out my ash, and now this. I'm under attack on all fronts!
man, it's crazy all the challenges trees have.EAB is terrible here and a few miles south of here they are fighting the asian longhorn beetle. the asian beetle supposedly was imported here in wooden skids from somewhere it is native. there are bans on moving firewood out of the township to try to stop it's spread. it's not really working i'm afraid.
Wowsa that one looks rotted out inside pretty bad. We have a huge maple adjacent to the yard that's almost completely hollow with rot, been waiting 15 years for it to crash down but yet there it stands.
It's a shame to lose trees to insects, disease and the elements, but on the up side they were not sugar maples. I don't know much about red maple, do they produce much sap? Probably a lot lower sugar content though.
I don't tap them; I hear they produce a larger quantity of sap, but its only 1/4 the sugar content. Once I build my wood fired arch / BBQ pit I might try but I have a hard time keeping up with my current system just tapping the sugars. I call these ones my "swamp maples". The sugars don't seem to want to grow down there but the reds love it. But it seems they get too big and rot out at the stump. This is what I signed up for - and I enjoy a good challenge. I didn't buy all these chainsaws for nuthin.. I've been getting some really great lumber out of them, so I guess I can't complain too much...
Red Maples are commonly referred to as "swamp maples" around here, they will produce large amounts of sap usually 60-65:1 as opposed to sugar maples which can be as high as 35-40:1
I keep thinking about tapping some of them but so far have resisted the temptation. Same goes for birch.
Pretty nice day today so I thought I'd go play in the woods and get some of this cut up. But upon closer inspection of the work site I found this: It's hanging directly over the work site. Looks like the only thing still holding it together is a bit of attached root still frozen into the ground. I considered putting just a kerf in it for a notch and boring in behind it. But thanks to the multi-year plan I'm not in any kind of hurry. Instead I think I'll work on the log pile I've already got at the house and make some room for all the maple.
Yeah, guys red maples throw sap but it much darker and lower sugar content and grade than sugar maples in sap for if you mix it with sugar it will darken your syrup considerably. I would suggest if you want to try it do it separately as low grade syrup will follow. After boiling it's thickness is closer to molasses than syrup but in between both. As it takes more work in boiling due to sugar content and less value in sales most larger operations try to avoid it
