I have a question about tree identification. I have a couple sugar maples in the front yard. They seem to have a rough bark on them. Now there are some maples in the woods behind my home. They have a bark that is smooth in texture. I know they are maples from the leaves on them in the summer. The trunk size seems to average around a max of 12-16 inches. Are these possibly sugar maples too or maybe a soft maple? Thank you. Ken

They could very well be soft maples. You can still tap them and boil it down. The sugar content will be lower so you'll have to boil a little more water off.
If its cold enough over night, you can let the sap freeze and throw the ice away in the morning. The sap that's left will be of higher sugar content and take a bit less boiling.

Thank you. I will get some pics tomorrow.

Sugar maples have smooth bark when young, the bark becomes loose and appear shaggy as they get older. Are the trees in your yard larger than the ones in the woods?

Yes they are. Quite large compared to the ones in the woods

Likely red maple. Also known as soft maple. Lower sugar content than sugar maple but still worth tapping.

Ken,,pick up some leaves and post them and we can figure it out more than likely.

Sugar maples 12-16 inches should show a few vertical lines in the bark where its getting loose. Look at a leaf on the ground under the tree, sugar maple is rounded (“U” shaped as in the word sugar) between the lopes. Red maples will appear red in there upper branches from a good distance. Red maple leaves have sharper looking lopes and are “V” shaped between lobes. Like said before it’s ok to tap just a lower Sugar content.

if it's a yard tree, might could be a silver maple.

Definitely not a Silver. I know what those look like. We had those in the yard when I was a kid.

I will get pics of the bark and of the leaves and post them tomorrow. Thanks for all the input.

Red maples get what appear to be bullseyes in the bark.
Red maple leaves wider than long.
Norway maple also have wider leaves than long.
When fresh plucked a Norway leaf will ooze a white milky substance from the stem.


If there are any branches that hang low enough get a picture of the buds and leaf scars.

you can easily tell a Norway maple in the summer...just pull a leaf off the stem at the stipule...there will be a milky white sap.

Just go ahead and tap it. It will make fine syrup.

OK. Got a few pics today. First 3 pics are of the same tree. Pics 4 and 5 are of the smooth type I mentioned. The last three are of the maple in the front yard. I think the first two trees must be Red Maples. I cant promise that the leaves pictured belong to the trees that I found them under since there are so many trees around. I did pick them up from right under each tree. Your opinions? Thanks Ken

Already got them tapped! They made good syrup last year too. Just trying to ID what Im tapping. Thanks

norway?

research here.

http://garden.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Maple_Tree_Identification

Looks like red maple on all counts.

Clark

I concur!

second that. reds tend to flow later then others too.