Maple Tree
| Maple Tree | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Tree |
| Seed | Maple Seed |
| Growth Time | Variable |
| Tapper Product | Maple Syrup |
The Maple Tree is a common wild tree that grows from a Maple Seed. Its tapped product, Maple Syrup, is worth the most of the three everyday tree saps. The syrup goes into the Bee House recipe, the Maple Bar and the Chef's Bundle. A bottle also opens a meeting with a bear in the Secret Woods. Late in Fall, shaking a maple can drop a Hazelnut instead of a seed. Next to a Mushroom Log, mature maples tilt the harvest towards Red Mushrooms.
Growing
Maple Seeds come from mature maples once the farmer has Foraging level 1. A felled maple can scatter a couple of seeds, and a shake now and then drops one more. Through the second half of Fall, the shake gives a Hazelnut in place of the seed.
Planting a Maple Seed takes no preparation. The seed goes into bare, untilled ground, and the sapling never needs water. Paving, fences or water nearby make no difference to it. Away from the farm, the seed takes root in any tillable spot that has not been hoed.
The young maple grows through four stages before it reaches full size. Every night brings a chance of moving up one stage. The fourth stage takes about twice as long as the earlier ones. Without help, most maples are grown in about three and a half weeks, but the timing varies a great deal. Outdoors, unfertilised maples pause for the whole of Winter.
A dose of Tree Fertilizer on the planted seed speeds this up. The fertilised maple climbs a stage every night and is full grown within five days. It keeps growing in Winter as well. The fertiliser is crafted from Fiber and Stone once Foraging reaches level 7.
Each maple needs clear neighbours to finish growing. A sapling with a grown tree on any of its eight surrounding tiles stops before full size. Planting on every other tile solves the problem and keeps paths open between the trees.
Grown maples on the farm reseed themselves. At night, a tree may plant a seed on an empty tile up to three tiles away. Fields left bare near maples soon fill with saplings. Flooring on the empty tiles keeps the trees where they belong.
In Summer, small yellow spots on the leaves set a maple apart from an Oak Tree. This helps when choosing which wild tree to tap.
The Tapper is a Foraging recipe made from Wood and Copper Bars. Fixed to a grown maple, it takes nine days to fill with Maple Syrup. A Heavy Tapper brings that down to four days. The Heavy Tapper recipe is bought with Qi Gems in Qi's Walnut Room. Maples keep producing syrup through Winter. Hitting the Tapper once with an Axe or Pickaxe returns it to the inventory.
Maples grow wild around Cindersap Forest, the Mountain, the Bus Stop, the Railroad, the Quarry and the Backwoods. Those trees can be tapped and felled just like the ones on the farm.
Products
Chopping a grown maple gives a large stack of Wood along with Sap and a chance of Maple Seeds. The stump left behind breaks for a smaller handful of Wood. Forester adds a quarter to the Wood from every tree, stump and log. The later Lumberjack profession lets any felled maple drop Hardwood now and then. Woody's Secret, a power book, adds a small chance of a double Wood drop.
Maple Syrup sells for more than Oak Resin or Pine Tar. Spread over its nine days, one Tapper earns a little over twenty gold a day. That is slightly ahead of the other two saps, but still a modest sum. The Tapper profession raises the price by a quarter.
The syrup is more valuable as an ingredient. Every Bee House needs one Maple Syrup, together with Wood, Coal and an Iron Bar. Farms that plan a field of Bee Houses need a steady flow of syrup. Cooking Maple Syrup with Sugar and Wheat Flour makes a Maple Bar, a filling dish that also sells well.
Maple Syrup fills two Community Center bundles. The Chef's Bundle on the Bulletin Board needs one bottle, and its reward is a set of Pink Cakes. The Exotic Foraging Bundle in the Crafts Room accepts it as one of its choices, with Autumn's Bounty as the reward.
A Secret Note sends the farmer to the Secret Woods with Maple Syrup. Bringing a bottle there during the day earns Bear's Knowledge. That power triples the sale price of Blackberries and Salmonberries. A few fish in Fish Ponds also ask for Maple Syrup before their pond can grow.
Maples have a special effect on a Mushroom Log. Each grown maple nearby adds a mushroom to the log's possible harvest, usually a Red Mushroom. Once in a while, that extra mushroom is a Purple Mushroom.
Mature maples also gather Moss on the trunk in Spring, Summer and Fall. One swing of any tool collects it without felling the tree. The Moss is needed for Speed-Gro, the Mushroom Log and the Treasure Totem.
The seeds are useful in recipes. A Maple Seed, an Acorn and a Pine Cone together make a Field Snack. Five Maple Seeds are needed for every Mystic Tree Seed.
Notes
Tap a few maples before building Bee Houses. Each one costs a bottle of syrup, and nine days is a long wait.
Shake maples during the last weeks of Fall. The Hazelnuts are worth more than Maple Seeds and count towards the Fall Foraging Bundle.
Maple Syrup can also be eaten. It makes a light snack, but the bottle is worth more in a Bee House or a bundle.
All Trees
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Seed | Tapper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green Rain Trees | - | - | - |
| Large Log | 
|
- | - |
| Large Stump | 
|
- | - |
| Mahogany Tree | 
|
Mahogany Seed | Sap |
| Maple Tree | 
|
Maple Seed | Maple Syrup |
| Mushroom Tree | 
|
Mushroom Tree Seed | Common Mushroom; Red Mushroom; Purple Mushroom |
| Mystic Tree | 
|
Mystic Tree Seed | Mystic Syrup |
| Oak Tree | 
|
Acorn | Oak Resin |
| Palm Tree | 
|
- | - |
| Pine Tree | 
|
Pine Cone | Pine Tar |
| Tea Bush | 
|
Tea Sapling | - |