Bloody maple

Frax

Frax

Participating member
Location
Expat now in Chapel Hill, NC by way of Calgary, Al
We took down a fair-sized Manitoba maple last week. Every stem and right down to the trunk part of the heartwood was blood red. I've seen this before but I don't know what it is. Is it fungal?

Not my climb but grabbed the 570 to join in the cutting orgy to buck and rip the big sections once everything was down in pieces. When I first saw the blood red and Stihl-saw orange chips flying I had to do a double take because I wondered what I was cutting. It was like party confetti all over the place.
I was covered with the stuff from head to boot. Is it just me - what is it about the hot smell of the exhaust and sawdust anyway?

Anyway, here's a pic.


red maple by altacal, on Flickr
 
Just about to say that. Manitoba maple, boxelder - same thing to us bilingual types. Should use the botanical name I guess.
It's really the only tree-sized maple we have so I have nothing to compare it to.
..Oh wait I see you were probably seeing the tag 'red maple' - not a good description since there actually is a red maple which of course we don't have.
 
I think "Manitoba Maple" and "boxelder" both refer to Acer negundo.

The red stuff in boxelder are phenolic materials that are part of the host response to wounding. Very similar to the phenols in the "green zone" of red and sugar maples. I betcha they turned to mostly a muddy light brown with faint pink/rose highlights as the sample dried.

The color is not in and of itself fungal. It is tree-produced. However, infection may stimulate an intensification of phenol production, resulting in the color.
 
Once again Kevin, you stole the words right out of my mouth.

Kidding. Thanks for the always knowledgeable posts. You're right about the colour fade.

Frax, are you saying that you can't grow silver or red maples in calgary?

They're Manitoba maples here (acer negundo still), not box elders

v
 
[ QUOTE ]

Frax, are you saying that you can't grow silver or red maples in calgary?


[/ QUOTE ]

That is indeed what I'm saying. Actually you find a very few silvers if you look hard. It's always a surprise. I've never climbed one.
Wouldn't know a red maple if it fell over on my head.
I have seen 2 sugars here and I did get to climb them.
 
Are there many being planted in the area? Silvers grow really well here and i don't think our climate is any worse than yours. I've never been to Alberta (except in 1986, that doesn't count) so i'm pretty clueless.
 
We have a tricky climate here Vince. The usual explanation about why zone hardiness (we are 3) is not the only factor in play is that we are 4000 feet up in the Chinook zone. Periodic warm winds come over and if they are in winter they can change the temps 20 degrees easy in a matter of an hour. Most are usually less intense but the dry hot winds in winter plays havoc with tree dormancy. But we didn't get any Chinooks this winter it seems. This is the first week we have had daytime temps above freezing since late fall.
Nurseries are pushing silvers and also King Crimson Norways but I think they are hard to establish. Better luck with the silvers I think. I hope more get planted.
Another factor that I suspect but can't prove is that our soils were once shortgrass prairie and your soils were once eastern hardwood. Even though soils everywhere get trashed into oblivion in cities, I wonder if the lack of any appropriate hardwood fungal partners in the soils is a factor too. Just something I wonder.
 
Silvers pretty much stop where you are up in Thunder bay, maybe a little further north near like Wawa. I nearly jumped through the window of our truck when I saw one in BC (Home sickness Ha!).

Make sure you grind that stump or you will be back to remove the 20ft stems in 3 years... Bloody weed. And they spread so fast and grow in conditions where even rats say "Im out, man." Acer "No-good-a": They rot quick, the wood is weak for the maple species, and its heavy as sin. I'm pretty sure though once the wood dries up, it looses that red dye so you need to get them it fresh.

Silvers can be a pain when you come across a typical one... Tight unions, and sprawling (60ft wide and 40ft tall). But they can make for some challenging fun climbs.

Sugars... Sugars are good, I like sugars. :)
 
[ QUOTE ]

Make sure you grind that stump or you will be back to remove the 20ft stems in 3 years... Bloody weed. And they spread so fast and grow in conditions where even rats say "Im out, man." Acer "No-good-a": They rot quick, the wood is weak for the maple species, and its heavy as sin. I'm pretty sure though once the wood dries up, it looses that red dye so you need to get them it fresh.


[/ QUOTE ]

Ground that stump the very next day. Easy grind even though it was 3 feet at trunk flare, because it wasn't planted too gddm deep like most of the dead or dying trees we have to deal with!

And heavy is right. We had to rip the sections into pretty small pieces.

And the red did fade. Too bad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom