By Ryan Trapani
The maple sugaring season is knocking on the door – especially with all this mild weather we have been experiencing recently. When temperatures begin to rise above freezing during the day and fall below freezing at night – sap flow begins. Last year, this type of weather pattern occurred earlier than normal in late January and early February. Typically, maple producers throughout the Catskills tap in late February and early March.
Last year’s sugar content seemed below normal – at least where I tapped in central Ulster County. Sugar contents barely rose above 1.5%. At this percentage it takes 56 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup! Typically, sugar contents will be around 2.0% or 42 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of syrup. Although sugar content was low, discussion about the topic always remains high. Some believe that it was the lack of winter. They argue that an old-fashioned, cold Catskill winter is a prerequisite for a good maple season. Somehow, the sugar concentrates more in the sap after colder winters. Others believe it was because the maple trees had allocated so much of their energy towards making seed the summer before – essentially stealing the tree’s energy away from the sap. Academics argue that sugar content is mostly governed by the growing season – when a tree ascertains carbohydrates through photosynthesis. A few years ago, sugar contents were low allegedly due to summer defoliation by the forest tent caterpillar – leading to low photosynthetic rates. Similarly, a crowded stand of maple trees will supposedly have lower sugar contents than a thinned stand since less sunlight is available to complete photosynthesis. The others will admit they haven’t a clue as to why the sugar content is high, low, or normal and are happy with what they get. One maple producer told me, “It’ll be what it is when it happens.” Fair enough.
Unlike last summer, the trees did not go to seed. In addition, there was no forest tent caterpillar damage or any other significant damage either. There does not seem to be any reason I can think of that would cause a poor maple season due to low sugar content. However, we have been having an extremely mild, winter season – so far. We’ll just have to wait and see if a hard winter is necessary to produce a good maple season, or not. In the mean-time if you’re thinking about boiling down some sap from the backyard maple trees into a few quarts of syrup, give CFA a call. We can help answer any of your forest-related questions – forest health; maple sugaring; forest edibles; firewood; timber; finding a Forester; wildlife management; etc. Many of these questions are not as difficult as the ancient maple sugar content dilemma. But if we’re stumped, we’ll work hard to find an answer for you. www.catskillforest.org
