Sugar Maple

Acer saccharum

tree

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is the great hardwood of the northern forest, 40 to 80 ft or more in the open, with a dense rounded crown and the most brilliant fall color of any tree - sheets of orange, scarlet, and gold. Above all it is the maple syrup tree: its sap, run in the brief thaws of late winter, is boiled down into syrup, taking about 32 to 40 gallons of sap for a single gallon of syrup. It is slow-growing, long-lived, and casts deep shade. Grown for its sap and its inner bark, and treasured as a shade and specimen tree, it is the backbone of the sugarbush and the autumn landscape.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Wild Ginger — A shade groundcover that thrives in the rich, cool soil beneath the dense canopy
• Trillium — A spring woodland wildflower suited to the maple's deep shade and leaf-mould soil
• Ramps — A woodland edible that grows naturally under sugar maples in moist forest ground

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Tar spot →

  Black spots on leaves are cosmetic; rake and remove fallen leaves to reduce the fungus

• Verticillium wilt →

  A soil fungus that wilts branches; keep the tree unstressed and prune out dead wood

• Aphids →

  Drip honeydew but seldom harm the tree; predators and a hose keep them in check

🌾 Harvest & storage

Tap for sap in late winter and very early spring, during the magic window when days rise above freezing and nights drop below it, which makes the sap run. Drill a shallow hole on a sound, mature tree, set a spile and bucket, and collect daily; boil the sap down promptly to syrup. Stop when the buds swell and the sap turns "buddy" and off-flavored. One or two taps per healthy large tree does no harm. The inner bark was also a traditional sweetener source.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Sugar maple is grown for its sap, the source of maple syrup and maple sugar - one of the few sweeteners that can be made at home from a tree in the backyard. The inner bark was a traditional sweetener and famine food. Beyond the kitchen it is a magnificent long-lived shade tree famous for the most vivid fall color in the northern landscape.