Spreading and amending soils in the maple grove: when and why?

Fifth capsule, at the stroke of midnight before the announcement of the winners of the quota draw. Superstitious folks, do you have your rabbit's foot?

Advent calendar for new quotas: NC-1 day

Why lime in the sugar bush?

The spreading of lime has gained popularity during the summer of 2021, and Sylvain wanted to know the opinion of Michael Cliche, a forest engineer and co-author of the Sugar Bush Development Guide from APBB.

Is it because we clean our woodlands too much and thus remove more organic matter than before?

Is it due to climate change?

The initial fertilization experiments in the sugar bush have mostly been done with lime, and we know that the lime applied 25 years ago still has an effect today. Therefore, fertilization will probably occur much less frequently than in fields, where we often remove everything above the ground with each harvest, as in a cornfield; we take away many tons per acre. In the sugar bush, the amount we remove is much smaller, but combined with other factors, it eventually has an effect. If we don't react, we slowly deplete our soil.

Why do we need to amend the soil in a sugar bush in some cases?

"There are certainly climatic events that have impacts," says Mr. Cliche. The acid rains of the 70s are a good example. At the same time, more and more questions are being asked in the maple industry. It hasn't been 1000 years since we've been producing maple syrup in more than an artisanal way, but we can certainly look at crop farming to understand the principle at work in our sugar bushes. We know that in a cornfield, soybean field, we do it to fertilize our soils. Here, we cultivate maple syrup, and knowing that it'

"For more information, refer to Chapter 8 of the Maple Woodlot Management Guide:

Soil Amendment (Liming) - p.232

• The role of nutrients
• Effects of liming on the maple stand
• Spreading
• Important information about liming

The Maple Grove Management Guide, produced by the Association of Woodland Owners of Beauce, in collaboration with the Canadian Partnership for Agriculture Canada-Quebec