2019 ASHS Annual Conference

The Canadian maple industry dates back to the 1500’s and now supplies the world with more than 80% of its maple syrup, making it vital to the Canadian culture and economy (grossing >$380 million, 2018). Quebec accounts for ~92% of the 47.3 million litres of maple product produced by the Canadian industry in 2017, while Nova Scotia supplies 1%. Nova Scotia’s production has continued to increase from ~72,000L in 2015 to ~216,000L in 2017, even though the average tap yield has decreased over the years. This study’s intent was to explore tree health and various environmental factors to determine relationships with sap yield and flow. One hundred trees, on ten sites, in major maple production regions of Nova Scotia, were chosen to represent Nova Scotia’s maple industry. Factors studied included site characteristics, tree growth, nutrient status, environmental conditions, and vegetative competition. Data was gathered from June 2015 to April 2017 and compared to sap flow and yield from the spring of 2016 and 2017. The focus of this investigation was on vegetative competition from other trees (>1.5 meters tall), and low vegetative growth (<1.5 meters tall). Vegetative measurements were taken with two large quadrats (10m X 10m) and 10 small quadrats (1m X 1m) for tall and low growth, respectively, in July 2016. Significant negative relationships were found between total tree seedlings and average sap flow in year 1 (R² value 0.20) and year 2 (R² value 0.34), and between the year 1 yield and total small plant stems (R² value 0.29). Overall, competition was found to have a small, but significant, negative effect on sap yield and flow, with no effects on sap brix. Additional years of study would be needed to gain a better understanding of the effects of vegetative competition in the sugar bush.