Acer saccharum, commonly known as sugar maple is a deciduous flowering tree native to North America. Sugar maple’s xylem sap is used for making maple syrup – a popular food condiment and sweetening agent in North America. The most notable quality of this plant is its bright leaves, which turn deep red during fall.
| Common name | Hard Maple, Leucoderme, Northern Sugar Maple, Sugar Maple |
| Botanical name | Acer saccharum |
| Family | Sapindaceae |
| Species | saccharum |
| Origin | North America |
| Life cycle | Woody |
| Plant type | Edible |
| Hardiness zone | 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 |
| Sunlight | Full Sun |
| Maintenance | Medium |
| Soil condition | Clay |
| Soil ph | Acid |
| Drainage | Well-Drained |
| Growth rate | Slow |
| Spacing | 24 – 60 ft. |
| Harvest time | Fall |
| Flowering period | Spring |
| Height | 4- 120 ft. |
| Width | 4- 120 ft. |
| Flower color | Gold, Yellow |
| Leaf color | Green |
| Fruit color | Brown, Copper |
| Stem color | Brown, Copper |
| Fruit type | Samara |
| Fruit benefit | Edible |
| Leaf benefit | Showy |
| Garden style | Children’s Garden |
| Uses | Lawn |
I. Appearance and Characteristics
Acer saccharum, the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the primary source of maple syrup and for its brightly colored fall foliage. It may also be called “rock maple,” “sugar tree,” “sweet maple,” or, particularly in reference to the wood, “hard maple,” “birds-eye maple,” or “curly maple,” the last two being specially figured lumber.
Acer saccharum is a deciduous tree normally reaching heights of 25–35 m (80–115 ft), and exceptionally up to 45 m (150 ft). A 10-year-old tree is typically about 5 m (20 ft) tall. As with most trees, forest-grown sugar maples form a much taller trunk and narrower canopy than open-growth ones.
The leaves are deciduous, up to 20 cm (7.9 in) long and wide, palmate, with five lobes and borne in opposite pairs. The basal lobes are relatively small, while the upper lobes are larger and deeply notched. In contrast with the angular notching of the silver maple, however, the notches tend to be rounded at their interior. The fall color is often spectacular, ranging from bright yellow on some trees through orange to fluorescent red-orange on others. Sugar maples also have a tendency to color unevenly in fall.
In some trees, all colors above can be seen at the same time. They also share a tendency with red maples for certain parts of a mature tree to change color weeks ahead of or behind the remainder of the tree. The leaf buds are pointy and brown-colored. The recent year’s growth twigs are green, and turn dark brown.
The flowers are in panicles of five to ten together, yellow-green and without petals; flowering occurs in early spring after 30–55 growing degree days. The sugar maple will generally begin flowering when it is between 10 and 200 years old. The fruit is a pair of samaras (winged seeds). The seeds are globose, 7–10 mm (9⁄32–13⁄32 in) in diameter, the wing 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1 -1⁄4 in) long. The seeds fall from the tree in autumn, where they must be exposed to 45 days of temperatures below 4 °C (39 °F) to break their coating down.
Germination of A. saccharum is slow, not taking place until the following spring when the soil has warmed and all frost danger is past. It is closely related to the black maple, which is sometimes included in this species, but sometimes separated as Acer nigrum. The western American bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum) is also treated as a variety or subspecies of sugar maple by some botanists.
The sugar maple can be confused with the Norway maple, which is not native to America but is commonly planted in cities and suburbs, and they are not closely related within the genus. The sugar maple is most easily identified by clear sap in the leaf petiole (the Norway maple has white sap), brown, sharp-tipped buds (the Norway maple has blunt, green or reddish-purple buds), and shaggy bark on older trees (the Norway maple bark has small grooves). Also, the leaf lobes of the sugar maple have a more triangular shape, in contrast to the squarish lobes of the Norway maple.
II. How to Grow and Care
Sunlight
Sugar maple trees are best planted in a spot that receives full sun. Because they are often the largest specimen in the landscape (or will eventually be), it’s unlikely that they will remain in partial shade for long unless they’re in a forest environment. Still, they can survive in partial shade as well, as long as they get at least four to six hours of direct sunlight a day.
Temperature and Humidity
As long as it’s grown in the proper hardiness zone, you should have no problem maintaining the right temperature requirements for your sugar maple tree. However, there are a few instances where temperature plays an important role in the sugar maple trees’ success. The trees are best planted during the cool weather of the fall or winter, and the successful harvesting of sap relies on an oscillating climate of cold nights (around 20 degrees Fahrenheit) and warmer days (around 40 degrees Fahrenheit) in late winter/early spring. This rise and fall in temperature creates internal pressure within the tree that causes the sap to flow.
Watering
As you may suspect, the exact water needs of the sugar maple tree depends on how big it is at that stage of its life. Consistent watering is especially important as the tree is getting established in your landscape—about one to two times a week generally works best. Beyond that, you can expect your sugar maple tree to need around five gallons or more of water a week. While it may be hard to tell if such a large specimen is getting enough water, you can look to clues like browning or wilting leaves as an indication that the plant needs more water.
Soil
While sugar maple trees can thrive in a variety of different soil conditions, they’ll do best in a mixture that is rich in organic matter, well-drained, and very deep. Because the tree will eventually get very large, it’s important to plant it in a spot that will allow its roots to grow uninhibited—you should be wary of nearby sidewalks, home foundations, and driveways. Additionally, sugar maple trees will grow best in soil that is slightly acidic, with a pH level between 5.5 to 6.8
Fertilizing
Generally, fertilizer is not a must-have when it comes to growing a successful sugar maple tree. That being said, if the soil in your landscape lacks nutrients, younger trees can benefit from a bit of added nutrition. Feed your tree with a slow-release fertilizer blend that is specially formulated for shrubs and trees.
Planting Instructions
Plant Sugar Maple in spring or fall where possible – the temperatures are relatively mild at this time and the rainfall gets the tree off to a good start. The planting hole should be at least twice as big as the root ball. Use a garden fork to loosen the sides and bottom of the hole so that the fine roots can spread without any interference. It’s also advisable to support sugar maple by putting a stake next to it. Water the tree thoroughly after planting. To protect the roots from drying out, you can also apply a layer of Bark mulch under the tree as ground cover.
Pruning
Only prune your sugar maple tree if necessary (like if the branches are hitting a roof or are damaged), and do so only at the end of summer or in the fall to avoid problems with bleeding sap. Additionally, you should never tap a tree for sap once the buds appear. In general, you can expect an average of 10 gallons per tap, and a tree can have up to three taps depending on the trunk diameter. It usually takes up to 50 gallons of sugar maple sap (depending on sugar content) to make one gallon of syrup.
Pests and Diseases
Sugar maple trees can come in contact with many pests and diseases throughout their long lives. Most common are cosmetic diseases, which impact only the leaves of the tree, and not the actual health of the tree itself. These can include diseases like root rot, sapstreak, tar spot, powdery mildew, verticillium wilt, and lichen.
Additionally, there should not be too many noticeable pest problems besides the possibility of bud damage. Some potential pests include aphids, maple leaf-cutter, and sapsuckers, most of which can be removed from the tree using strong jets of water or treated using a horticultural oil like neem oil.
III. Uses and Benefits
- Garden Use
The sugar maple is an excellent street tree and landscape tree, which can be planted in gardens and courtyards. This common maple tree is planted for its shade created by its dense canopy, and it is prized for its sap contained within it as well as for the visual appeal it offers. It is a good fit for wildflower gardens and to line paths in landscaping, and is often planted with plants that grow well beneath it, like the Nettleleaf Sage and the Shrubby St. Johnswort.
- Maple syrup and other food use
The sugar maple is one of the most important Canadian trees, being, with the black maple, the major source of sap for making maple syrup. Other maple species can be used as a sap source for maple syrup, but some have lower sugar content and/or produce more cloudy syrup than these two. In maple syrup production from Acer saccharum, the sap is extracted from the trees using a tap placed into a hole drilled through the phloem, just inside the bark. The collected sap is then boiled. As the sap boils, the water evaporates and the syrup is left behind. Forty gallons of maple sap produces 1 gallon of syrup. In the southern part of their range, sugar maples produce little sap; syrup production is dependent on the tree growing in cooler climates.
The samaras which are the seeds can be soaked, and—with their wings removed—boiled, seasoned, and roasted to make them edible. The young leaves and inner bark can be eaten raw or cooked.
- Timber
The sapwood can be white, and smaller logs may have a higher proportion of this desirable wood. Bowling alleys and bowling pins are both commonly manufactured from sugar maple. Trees with wavy wood grain, which can occur in curly, quilted, and “birdseye maple” forms, are especially valued. Maple is also the wood used for basketball courts, including the floors used by the NBA, and it is a popular wood for baseball bats, along with white ash. In recent years, because white ash has become threatened by emerald ash borer, sugar maple wood has increasingly displaced ash for baseball bat production. It is also widely used in the manufacture of musical instruments, such as the members of the violin family (sides and back), guitars (neck), grand pianos (rim), and drum shells. It is also often used in the manufacture of sporting goods.
Canadian maple, often referred to as “Canadian hardrock maple”, is prized for pool cues, especially the shafts. Some production-line cues will use lower-quality maple wood with cosmetic issues, such as “sugar marks”, which are most often light brown discolorations caused by sap in the wood. The best shaft wood has a very consistent grain, with no marks or discoloration. Sugar marks usually do not affect how the cue plays, but are not as high quality as those without it. The wood is also used in skateboards, gunstocks, and flooring for its strength.
Canadian hardrock maple is also used in the manufacture of electric guitar necks due to its high torsional stability and the bright, crisp resonant tone it produces. If the grain is curly, with flame or quilt patterns, it is usually reserved for more expensive instruments. In high-end guitars this wood is sometimes Torrefied to cook out the Lignin resins, allowing the greater stability to climate & environmental changes, and to enhance its tonal characteristics as the instrument’s resonance is more evenly distributed across the cellulose structure of the wood without the lignin.
- Use by Native Americans
The Mohegan use the inner bark as a cough remedy, and the sap as a sweetening agent, and to make maple syrup following the introduction of metal cookware by Europeans.
