3/25/11 RISING SAP AND A TOUGH MORNING WORKOUT

NASTY CRACKS ON YOUNG MAPLE TREE TRUNK

OLDER SUGAR MAPLE BARK

MORNING WORKOUT

Friday, 9:00 AM.  24 degrees, wind SW, calm.  The sky is mostly clear and the barometer predicts the same.  It is a chilly but nice day, and the sap may run latter as it warms into the mid-thirties, but not yet this morning.  The maple sugar crew will arrive today, having been delayed by the blizzard.  It will take a few day s to get organized and get the trees tapped, so sap collection can’t start 'till then, and then it depends on the weather; below freezing at night, and warm and sunny during the day.
    The bark of young maples often develops nasty looking cracks, as the sap migrates up the tree and then  freezes and expands at nght.  These cracks are often on the south side of the tree, but can occur anywhere.  Normally these cracks heal over naturally, and they should not be wrapped or painted.  Eventually, as the tree grows and the bark develops, the healed cracks become a part of the bark pattern.
    Maple trees are thin-barked when young, but so are red oaks and many other species, which are not as prone to cracking because their sap does not rise so early in the spring.  Thin bark is easily damaged, whether by frost cracks, rapid growth, or the winter sun reflecting off the sno, and also by rodents. For these reasons newly planted trees young trees should normally  be protected by tree wrap, particularly if, as is usually the case, they have been grown in nursery rows where the trunks have been shaded and are not  used to the sun.  Tree wrap (whether paper, plastic or other material) should be removed after the first year and the bark allowed to toughen up during the second growing season after planting.
    The ferry is now running, laboriously plowing through fresh ice in the “track” every morning.  It is a tough morning workout.