March 12, 1999

     Sugar Maples

Maple syrup and sugar are important spring crops on farms in Minnesota, and also in Vermont, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin and Canada.  Easy to grow and transplant, sugar maples are recommended for roadsides and landscape use throughout the Upper Midwest in moisture-retentive soils.

The name sugar maple refers to the spring crop of sugar that is boiled from its sweet sap.  Ordinarily, about 40 gallons of sap are boiled down to make one gallon of syrup.  Sap rises early in the sugar maple, occasionally at the end of February but almost always by early March.