What are Norway maples used for?

Asked by: Cara Burns

The Norway maple is a common tree throughout much of Europe, including (not surprisingly) Norway. It is an important commercial species there just as sugar maple is here in North America. It is used for furniture, flooring and musical instruments. In fact, the Stradivarius violins are said to be made of Norway maple.

What are the benefits of Norway maple?

Much better suited to life on the street than most trees, Norway maples can tolerate air pollution, drought, soil compaction, road salt, and high soil pH. In this sense they are pretty much the opposite of sugar maples, which should never, under any circumstances, be planted along busy roads.

Can you make syrup from Norway maple?

Norway maple leaf and bud. All of these maple species can be used to produce syrup. With sugar maple, it takes about 43 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup. The lower the sugar content of the sap, the more gallons of sap that are needed to produce a gallon of syrup.

Is Norway maple poisonous?

The European Norway maple has a similar leaf shape and often gets mistaken for the sugar maple. The difference is its leaves contain a toxic latex that harms insects and pollinators.

Why was the Norway maple brought to America?

Many Norway maples made their way from Europe to the United States by being transplanted as ornamental specimens or by having individual seeds escape cultivation. These trees produce ample amounts of winged seed which are dispersed readily in the wind and germinate quickly.

Does Norway maple make good firewood?

Like oak, it’s heavy and burns slowly, once seasoned properly. Different types of maple that can be used for firewood include red maple, sugar or hard maple, black maple, Norway maple, and silver maple.

Is Norway maple edible?

Edible parts of Norway Maple:

The sap contains a certain amount of sugar and can either be used as a drink, or can be concentrated into a syrup by boiling off the water. The syrup is used as a sweetener on many foods. The concentration of sugar is considerably lower than in the sugar maples (A. saccharum).

Can you eat maple syrup straight from the tree?

Absolutely! But, take caution. It’s always best to boil sap and make syrup first. You can eat raw maple syrup (sap) as it is sterile inside the tree and does not come in contact with any bacteria or harmful substances.

Is Norway maple a hard maple?

Norway maple sits ambiguously between hard and soft maple. (Properly, it is neither. The hard and soft maple division is primarily a North American categorization meant to distinguish hard maple from the various other species of softer maples.)

Can you tap any maple tree to make syrup?

Maple syrup can be made from any species of maple tree. Trees that can be tapped include: sugar, black, red and silver maple and box elder trees. Of all the maples, the highest concentration of sugar is found in the sap of the sugar maple.

Who eats Norway maple?

The branches grows up to 70 feet causing native plants below the Norway maple to die out.
Norway Maple, Acer platanoides.

Should I remove Norway maple?

A shade tree that could be removed is Norway maple. Its seeds fall onto the forest floor and dominate. Then the slower-maturing, more desirable species listed above can’t get a foothold. With that said, if a cultivated Norway maple is planted on your property and is doing well, don’t cut it down.

Why is the Norway maple harmful?

Norway Maples have severe environmental impacts: They grow faster than native maples and other forest trees and its dense, shallow root system makes it difficult for native seedlings to get established. They create a dense shade, under which other species cannot survive, hence my naked garden beds.

Do Norway maples poison soil?

Norway maple has a dense, shallow root system, which releases poisonous chemicals into the soil that kill other plants.

Is Norway maple a sugar maple?

One way to tell them apart is by their barks. The bark of Norway maple has regular grooves while an older sugar maple’s bark has thick, irregular plates. For a less subtle identifier, look at a maple’s fruit, the “airplane” familiar to everyone.

What grows under Norway maple?

Hostas, wild ginger, deadnettle (Lamium maculatum), variegated yellow archangel (Lamium galeobdolon ‘Variegatum’), and barrenwort (Epimedium) are just a few of the plants you could try. Use caution when planting these around established trees. Do NOT add soil around the tree.

How long does a Norway maple live?

250 years

Under ideal conditions in its native range, Norway maple may live up to 250 years, but often has a much shorter life expectancy in North America, sometimes only 60 years.

Is Norway maple allelopathic?

The Norway maple tree’s final fatal blow is its allelopathy. Allelopathic plants emit chemicals that prevent other plants from germinating and growing. Another advantage that helps Norway maples outcompete its plant neighbors but also endears it to me, is that it blooms and leafs out early.

How deep are Norway maple tree roots?

With small maples, like the Japanese maple, the roots are typically only 3 feet deep. For larger varieties, including sugar, red, silver, and Norway maple, expect the maple tree root system to reach 10–20 feet in depth when the tree is mature.

How close can a maple tree be to a house?

Most trees should be planted at least 30 feet (ca. 9 m) away from your house to avoid roots bulging into your space. Like the Silver Maple, some larger species should be planted 100 feet (ca. 30 m) away from any building.

Does Norway maple have invasive roots?

Norway Maples are not native to North America and are considered invasive trees. Not only are their roots dangerous, but they can claim territory and threaten native tree populations.

Are maple trees good to plant?

Maples are easy to grow.

They thrive in a wide range of climates, growing happily in U.S. plant hardiness zones 3 or 4 through 9. While they prefer moist, slightly acidic soils and partial shade, they accept a wide range of conditions.

What maple tree is the strongest?

The Norway Maple

One of the toughest Maples, the Norway has the ability to grow in a variety of poor conditions. Poor soil, rocky soils, soil that’s heavy in clay, sandy soil, etc. The Norway Maple will also stand up to smog and air pollutants in urban areas.

What maple tree has helicopter seeds?

Red maples trees, silver maple trees, Norway maple trees and Japanese maple trees produce the most “helicopter” seeds, also called samara fruit. Helicopter seeds grow throughout late spring to early summer. Once they’re mature, the helicopter seeds are usually blown off by the wind similar to leaves.

How do you harvest maple syrup?

You only need a few trees to collect enough sap (aka tree water) to boil down to syrup. If your maple tree is at least 10” in diameter, you can tap it to collect sap. Tapping trees when they are younger and smaller can damage them. You can add one additional tap for every additional 5” in diameter.

How long do you boil sap to make syrup?

We do the bulk of the boiling outside, and then the last finishing (requires monitoring the temperature) in the house. Boiling 10 gallons of sap down to 1/2 gallon took 3 hours (using 3 pans).

What month is maple syrup harvested?

There’s a season for maple syrup

Tapping begins in late January and February and is dependent upon the weather. If the temperature is 15F or below, the drill could crack the wood. Sap flows as the days warm up, which begins to happen in March.