Had to look these bugs up, evidently we have them in VA but if I've seen them I didn't realize what it was. Not many boxelders around here that I'm aware of, but we do have RM and ash... Do they kill or harm the tree? Or are they just a nuisance?
It also dries a little easier without going straight to rot/powder, but they are very similar. Red maple and Norway process much easier than SM/BE. I’d much rather process silver maple/boxelder than spruce/pine. Spruce is actually a pretty tough wood to process for as soft as it is. It all burns better than a snowball though.
Yep, they don’t even have mandibles to bite with. A weak solution of dish soap and water (3 tablespoons to a gallon) in a pump sprayer murders them by the thousands here at my house. I probably have a few dozen box elder trees here.
I hope I can find some SM before next heating season to try, its dried up for me right now, I have a little but not much, I really want to try some in the new stove. Box elder is gone from this area as far as I know.
What a coinkidink I happened to be working some boxelder today: Chains sharp that red makes for fun projects like bowls, spoons, file handles, knife scales, etc.
I know right! Look at all them crooked bastages in there. Believe it or not there are some nice baby trees in there trying to grow. Walnut, mulberry, hard maple, cherry… the goal is to clear that boxelder out of there and make room for a small shop while preserving as many of the nice trees as possible.
I have had a couple interactions with Boxelder: one: I was 6 years old and the neighbors had one that was great for climbing...but always covered in bugs two, I was 26 yeas old and headed to an event with a friend who had 2 in his front yard, left the windows open on the tow rig and the truck was ....covered with bugs. As a sugarmaker I hear I could tap them for more sap like a maple, but the bugs just gross me out, took 2 weeks to get them all out of the truck
Yep that’s my little do everything tank. It’ll lift nearly a 1000 pounds. Boxelder (Acer negundo) isn’t like.. omg… just um like a maple (valley gurl accent implied) it is a maple or member of the Acer family. The bugs are harmless, easily removed with a shop vac, and certainly not present during sugar season. if I didn’t already have too many hard maple available to tap I would most definitely tap the plentiful boxelder trees I have here. Although their sugar content is roughly half what my hard maple trees produce ( 3% out of the hard and 1.5% out of the boxelder).
If you would tap a boxelder, would you tap a Norway maple? A quick Google search says you can, not that you should... When I process Norway maple, it's got an unpleasant synthetic chemical smell to me. Makes me wonder if the syrup made from the sap would taste like a latex glove or something
Basically if you are sugaring, it is my understanding you tap ALL maples. We are lucky we only have hard (Sugar) Sugar maple, so I have no real answer...
Pretty hard to run a shop vac to the "back 40" LOL What part of the mitten are you? I am around TC, but lived a few spots...
not really this is a weapon of mass bug destruction currently live in the Lansing area but grew up south of Grand Rapids.
As long as the sap tastes good the syrup should too. Never tapped Norway maple, but I wouldn’t hesitate to try it. I’ve sugared sycamore and more recently at our current location walnut.
