Red Maple any good?

[neverbilly]

I have identified a tree on my (new to me) land, red maple, that is everywhere. I have a bazillion of them. I have read up and I think I read that it is the most common tree in the eastern USA. Which surprises me. I don't know why I was not totally familiar with this tree. Info says it is bordering on 'invasive' status -- so prolific that it is and will overtake other species such as oak, hickory and pine. Wow!

I wonder how fast it grows. I also wonder how big they get? I have a mature forest, but I have not seen any over about 15" DBH, maybe 40-50 feet tall.

Right now, the trees here are producing 'samara,' which looks like two seeds with wings. This tree produces seeds in the spring? That's odd. I haven't found much info on that.

Do you like this tree for anything? Firewood? Lumber? I have a couple that fell down due to wind, I suppose. Plus, I need to thin some out in certain areas.

 

[TedyOH]

It's above average firewood....I don't pass it up

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[peakbagger]

I use a lot of it, its average BTU wood. I split it by hand. It usually grows in clumps and I usually pick the best stem in the clump and then clear out the others. Dries quick compared to oak and sugar maple.

 

[baseroom]

Agree, burns similar to Silver and Norway maple. Decent wood!

 

[kennyp2339]

When maples go to seed early in the season it means there stressed / diseased

 

[ValleyCottageSplitter]

I also have tons of Red Maple behind me. I like it quite a bit. It seems to split very nicely; better than ash in my experience. If you are looking for max BTU's it's the not the best, but it burns nice and bright.

There are some large ones behind my place. I've got one on the edge of my property that is about 30" DBH and splits off to two trunks about 18" diameter. There are definitely some pushing 60'+.

It's easy to identify. Most of the winter they have red buds and then they have the 3 point maple leaves during the summer. It has opposite branching with smooth bark that sometimes gets vertical cracks at the base on older trees.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

When maples go to seed early in the season it means there stressed / diseased

Or it means that February was 8 degrees above averag, days are longer and it thinks its the end of march and its time to leafout

 

[lost in the woods]

Do you like this tree for anything? Firewood? Lumber? I have a couple that fell down due to wind, I suppose. Plus, I need to thin some out in certain areas.

we saw a fair amount of red maple (aka soft maple) at our mill. . . RR ties, grade lumber, pallet lumber. . . my parents have a hardwood floor out of soft maple. . . and I think basketball gym floor and bowling alleys are maple

 

[Longstreet]

Gym and bowling alley floors are generally maple, but at least in my area they are almost exclusively hard maple. Hard maple is much higher on the btu charts than their softer cousins.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I also have tons of Red Maple behind me. I like it quite a bit. It seems to split very nicely; better than ash in my experience. If you are looking for max BTU's it's the not the best, but it burns nice and bright.

What he said ^ !

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Good info as we have 4 species of maple on Cheap Acres.
Different barks and leaf color but all maple.

 

[HisTreeNut]

+1 on a good wood to to have in the stockpile. Growing up, my folks bought wood from a neighbor of ours and maple was the dominant species we received. Although, apple and cherry were my Mom's favorite to burn.

 

[Knots]

I don't seek out soft maple but I don't pass it up either.

 

[Firefighter938]

I always like to have a cord or two of maple on hand. It is good wood for ambiance fires. It dries quickly, starts well, coals okay, and is easy to split. I think red maple is equal to cherry in BTUs

 

[Wood Duck]

Red Maple is good firewood - mid-range in the BTU charts. It is a common tree all over the eastern US. It isn't really invasive in the way non-native plants can be, but it spreads readily under the right circumstances. In Pennsylvania it is one of the trees that can tolerate relatively high levels of deer browsing as a seedling. That results in forests that have had too many deer for too many years having mostly Red Maple and Black Cherry as the current generation of large trees, and also the most common saplings in the forest. That makes Red Maple and Black Cherry look invasive, but really they are the only large trees that have survived the deer. Deer will eat Red Maple, but they'll eat other things first.

 

[Oldman47]

Red maple is decent firewood once it has been split/stacked and given a chance to dry. Start processing it .

 

[firefighterjake]

I burn a fair amount of red maple ... like most of what I burn it's in middle of the pack BTU wise which is fine for me.