The Growth of a Maple Tree

In the summer we notice the growth and life in all the plants and trees around the Maple Farm. This includes our lovely Sugar Maples in front of our gift shop, which keeps looking stronger and more imposing with each year.

A fun fact about the Sugar Maple is that they are a slow to medium growth tree. That means that they only grow less than 13 inches up to 24 inches a year, depending on age, location and environmental factors. These trees require 30 to 40 years to reach maturity which could result in a height of 60 – 75 feet.

Above is the bark from one of our maple trees. If you notice there are little holes running up the tree. The holes are the locations of past year taps for Maple Syrup! Once the tree heals the tap location and they grow you will be able to see tap markings up the tree for all the years of its growth.

A close up of the tap markings!

The next time you are out walking in a bush area that might have Sugar Maple Trees you should see if you can spot any signs of the tree being used  in the past to collect Maple Syrup!