Sugar bush management tour:
Page 3

Sugar maples with large crowns ("good crowns") are preferred for tapping. These trees are often faster growing, healthier, and more vigorous than trees with smaller crowns. A healthy maple is better able to heal the tap hole and generally produces larger amounts of sap with higher sugar content.

Maple producers may thin young groups of sugar maple to help the trees retain their lower branches and develop the full and deep crowns desired. Thinning removes some trees to allow the maximum growth of the highest-quality trees. Typically, trees are high quality if they are free of disease, have good branch structure, or have high sap sugar content. The best trees in a sugar bush may be marked as "crop trees" so future management efforts can focus on their success.

Sugar maples with numerous dead branches or with small, unhealthy crowns ("bad crowns") are not good candidates for tapping. Unhealthy trees that don’t show signs of improvement should be removed from the sugar bush to allow the better maples more room to grow. Unhealthy maples are also more likely to harbor insect and disease pests that might create problems for healthy maples.

Good Crown

Bad Crown