black maple vs. sugar maple

11 years ago

I posted this on the Maple forum, but nobody responded all week...

Comparing Black Maple (Acer nigrum) to A. saccharum...

Does black maple do better in hard, neutral to slightly alkaline soils than does the Sugar maple?

Should black maple be used more, and perhaps some cultivars selected? It seems the fall color on black maples is more yellow (albeit a nice yellow) than the orange to orange-red with yellow mix of the Sugars...but also seems "tougher".

Are there cultivars of black maple available in the nursery trade?

Featured Answer

DarylJ

9 years ago

We have one black maple and three sugar maples in our lawn. The black maple was purchased from a local nursery here in West Central Minnesota, with the understanding it was a "green mountain" sugar maple. As it was the first maple we had ever planted, we didn't realize that it was different from typical sugar maples until 20 years later when we decided to plant some more sugar maples. Now, 15 years after the sugar maples were planted, we can clearly see the difference between the two species (some experts prefer to call black maple a subspecies of sugar maple). The black maple has much larger leaves that are rather leathery and always look drooped. Initially, we thought that the droopiness was due to its location in a full sun, rather windy spot. But, after 35 years, the droopy leaves are always like that, and they are always leathery too. The large leaf size always receives comments from visitors. Fall coloration probably isn't all that much different than our sugar maples, but I feel the colors have more punch/vividness to them. Also, the leaves hang on much longer than on the sugar maples, having begun to change color at least one week before the sugar maples, and keeping it at least a week longer as well. It is worth noting that the black maple begins to turn color rather slowly and progresses throughout the tree over a span of about 4 weeks. As I write this in mid-October, there are still some green leaves on the north side of the tree's crown, while the vibrant reds and oranges that first appeared on the south side have now been blown off the tree in the past 3 days when 30+ mph winds came through. All of our sugar maples were purchased with the "Green Mountain" tag affixed to them. They have smaller leaves and all seem to turn color about the same time, and rather quickly at that, from green to full orange color in about a week's time. The sugar maples we have have grown much more rapidly than the black maple. The first 10-15 years, the black maple grew very slowly on our yellow clay, well drained soil. After 15 years, it seemed to pick up the pace somewhat, perhaps due to having a well established root system. Then again, it may simply be characteristic of black maple to grow slowly. We have wanted to intentionally purchase another black maple or two to grace some added space we have in our lawn. However, no nurseries have been found that offer it. Strange, as the black maple is an outstanding shade tree! What I have reported is based only on our personal experience with one specimen. Maybe others with black maples would care to offer some of their experiences to this thread as well.

DarylJ

Comments (8)

sam_md
11 years ago
This is Acer nigrum 'Green Column'
I think that the black maples are pretty much interchangeable with the sugar maples.
{{gwi:470519}}
Smivies (Ontario - 5b)
11 years ago
A. nigrum is generally said to be more tolerant of wet clay soils than A. saccharum but less so than A. rubrum & saccharinum. It is also more tolerant of higher pH soils than Sugar Maple and of urban conditions (heat, drought, air pollution, etc.)
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hairmetal4ever
9 years ago
Black maple is less common, and has a smaller range, so it simply has not been as commonly desired or planted.

Forestfarm does sell small ones by mail-order, however.

I do like them and they are in some ways more interesting than sugar maple, if only for their relative rarity.

They're not native to Maryland (except a small area around Frederick County) AFAIK, but Sugar Maple is.

However, there's one maple that I'm 99% sure is a black maple planted among a bunch of Sugar Maples on a street in my town. It has the thick, droopy, three lobed leaves. The bark is only slightly darker than typical Sugar Maple. The leaves turn later in fall than the surrounding sugars and are an apricot-yellow-orange color. Pretty nice. I drove by it yesterday, it's still 100% green but the surrounding maples are turning orange. Last year, if I remember right, it was green until a few days before November 1.

I'll try to snap a pic.

As a side note, there is also a native stand of black maple about 30 miles from here in Fairfax County, Virginia, along the Potomac. I'd love to collect some seed from those trees one day, if I legally can since I believe they're on NPS or Federal property of some sort.
edlincoln
9 years ago
Sugar Maples have a lot going for them, but they are difficult trees to grow in suburban lots. I've long thought someone should try to cross them with something else and create a hybrid cultivar with more urban tolerance. Would Black Maple be a good candidate?

What is it's zone tolerance? Can it be used for maple syrup?
whaas_5a
9 years ago
As mentioned above the native black maples around here (and there are 1000's of them) turn color later, peaking now, vs peaking a couple weeks ago. They also turn a vibrant yellow. The sugar maple turns shades of yellow, orange and/or red. Not the pure yellow of black yellow.

Its well draining, sandy loam with a ph ranging from neutral to slightly alkaline around here.
hairmetal4ever
9 years ago
As far as zone tolerance, it's about the same as sugar maple - generally 4-7b or so, probably OK in 3B with a northern seed source, and 8A if a good location (not too hot, good but not excessive moisture, etc).
wisconsitom
9 years ago
Ed, any maple can be used for syruping. It's just down to sugar content, and that is controlled in the end by amount of boiling. Even silver maple is sometimes tapped.

Maybe
i'm biased because of where I live, but sugar maple is just so common, with literally millions of them coming up in the woods in these parts, I'm always thinking-why not just use the local type? But as a plant enthusiast, I can see working with nigra.

BTW, the only place I generally know of where black maple is the dominant type is that portion of Iowa just across the Mississippi from WI, basically, the area around McGregor IA. Unique area-if you don't look closely, you might think you're in N. WI, but everything is just shifted slightly. There's birch, but they're river birch, there's maple, but they're black maple...etc. Quite interesting.

+oM