We note with some concern that very few Sugar Maple trees produced any seed in 2014.
This has the potential to impact on the numbers of seedlings and saplings our supplying nurseries will have available in the near future. The production of seedlings requires at least two years to grow a seedling of sufficient size for field planting. Saplings require an even longer period of growth.
With Canada’s 150th birthday approaching in 2017, many organizations may have a difficult time finding sugar maple seedlings or saplings for their special events.
How can this happen? What went wrong?
Where it all begins… Like most crops, growing sugar maple seedlings starts with “seed”.
Immature sugar maple seed
Photo credit: City of Toronto – Parks, Forestry and Recreation
The production of seed begins with pendulous clusters of yellowish flowers that appear over the entire crown of mature sugar maple trees in late April to early May, depending on geographic location. This timing is usually just before leaves start to develop.
Cool, wet weather or a late frost at this time can affect the blossoms and prevent pollination, resulting in few, if any, seeds developing.
The period between good seed crops ranges from 3-5 years across most of sugar maples range in Ontario and Quebec. Good seed crops occur as often as four successive years, but successive poor crops rarely extend more than two years.
The bad news – seedlings may be in short supply in 2017. There could be several years of reduced seedling and sapling availability if there is a successive poor seed crop in 2016.
The good news – it is unusual to experience a seed failure across Maple’s broad geographic range but it happened in 2012. Nurseries report very few seedlings available for 2015. There was a good seed crop in 2013 and nurseries should have good inventories of seedlings for 2016. Nurseries could manage some of these seedlings to have some Sugar maple seedlings for 2017.
Call the nursery in advance to check availability if you are considering planting seedlings.
Sapling availability isn’t impacted in the same manner as seedlings supply, provided growers manage their seedling supply from the nurseries. Sapling Culture can be modified to regulate the supply so as to ensure inventories of saplings is available to meet customer demands.