Despite your best intentions, the urge to tap trees might hit you in the winter after all the leaves have fallen, making it difficult to know what trees to tap. In addition to maples, native black walnut trees are also commonly tapped, especially outside of New England in the US. Here in the NE corner of Oklahoma, the sap from maples and walnuts flows at the same time, making it practical to tap trees of both species and combine the sap. They also both cook down to a 40:1 sap:syrup ratio.

IDENTIFYING MAPLE TREES

There are many types of maple trees, and all can be tapped. The sugar maple has the highest sugar content in the sap, and is more productive where we live. Once the leaves fall off, maples can be identified from their branching structure. Maples are one of the few species of trees where the branches grow opposite from each other.

The same is true of it's leaf buds:

There are some small trees with opposite branch patterns, such as dogwood and viburnum, but rarely do their trunks get large enough that you would consider tapping them. Most experts recommend tapping trees that are 10-inches in diameter or larger. If you have identified a large tree with an opposite branch structure, you've narrowed the field to just maples and ash trees.

Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to distinguish maples from ashes. Maples generally have smooth bark. Red maples are very smooth, but sugar maples are fairly smooth as well. Ash trees, on the other hand, have highly textured bark that appears comprised of lots of little squares:

The other way to identify a maple tree is to look at the terminal (branch tip) leaf bud. Ash trees always have one leaf bud at the end of each branch which is medium-sized and flattened. Maple trees often have a terminal bud in the shape of a trident, with the center bud most elongated - see maple bud below:

Additionally, if the leaf buds and new growth are reddish, you have a red maple. If they are more brown-to-grey, then it may be the coveted sugar maple.

BLACK WALNUTS

Identifying black walnut trees may be made easy by the presence of, well, walnuts still hanging on the branches. Unfortunately, this cannot be a relied upon means of identification in January. Again, looking at the bark and buds plus last year's leaf scars can aid in proper identification.

Walnut bark is grooved with vertical furrows. The bark is often darker than that of other trees, sometimes even appearing brownish.

Looking up into the canopy, the branches are thick and well-spaced, not delicate or frilly. This is due to walnut's compound leaf structure. A compound leaf is comprised of one long leaf stem with two rows of smaller leaflets attached to the stem on either side. While it looks like a collection of many leaves, this is one leaf that attaches to the branch at one point at the base of the compound leaf stem. The branches of a tree with compound leaves appear more stocky, and they are - to support these larger leaves.

Lastly, walnut trees have distinct leaf buds and leaf scars.  Taken with the bark and canopy appearance, the leaf scars can help lead to a positive identification.

The walnut's terminal leaf buds are large and grey in color with a slight fuzzy appearance. The lateral leaf buds (those along the branch), also grey, stick out from the branch and are oriented above last year's large heart-shaped leaf scar. The scar is where the leaf stem attached to the branch.

Now that you can spot the trees you want to tap, we'll discuss how to drill and place taps in part two.

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