True Root Nursery
Sugar Maple Seedling
Sugar Maple Seedling
Species: Acer saccharum
History: Sugar Maples, native to much of southern Canada and the northern and central United States, hardly need an introduction considering they are such an important part of Canadian culture. Ecologically, they form significant portions of the forests in their native range. They are used for their wood and at one point were fairly commonly planted in urban areas, although they do not tolerate pollution well and the hardier Norway Maple is often planted instead. Most famously, Sugar Maples are the tree primarily used for producing maple syrup! Tapping the trees and boiling down the sap was a technique European colonizers learned from indigenous peoples who often made it into maple sugar for ease of transport. Today, of course, maple syrup remains one of Canada's proudest products.
Why We Grow It: The mighty maple! Slow-growing but stately, these trees are highly regarded for their production of sap for maple syrup. We also enjoy a spring tonic of pure sap boiled with Hemlock for 5-10 minutes for a wonderful sweet forest-flavoured tea. Hard maples also make great lumber and firewood.
Fruit Specs
Fruit Specs
Recommended Use: Maple syrup
Fruit Size:
Storage: Maple syrup keeps up to two years in the fridge once opened, otherwise lasts indefinitely
Harvest: Late February to March for syrup
Growing Specs
Growing Specs
Canadian Hardiness Zone: 3
Soil Preference: Prefers rich loam
Flowering Time: Spring
Bloom Colour: Green
Pollination Requirements:
Sun/Shade Requirements:
Full sun to partial shade (approx. 4-10 hours of sun daily)
General Growth Habits:
Tree reaches 25-35m tall on average but can grow up to 45m, slow growing. Sensitive to pollution and can be susceptible to defoliation by various caterpillars.
Shipping vs. Pick Up
Shipping vs. Pick Up
CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.
Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.
Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.
Size at Purchase
Size at Purchase
Sugar Maple seedlings are divided into the following grades:
-1 year plant - 15-30cm
-2 year plant - 45-70cm
There is some overlap in size since we are also taking the age of the plants into account. Some older plants may not have put on quite as much vegetative growth but will have larger root systems.
All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).
Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively.
Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.
Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.
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