Cuttings were taken from selected sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) trees in 1999 based on calendar date and in 2000 based on stem morphology to determine the optimal date and morphological stage for rooting. Stem color was determined at each 2000 cutting date based on Royal Horticultural Society color charts. Degree days from budbreak to each cutting date were calculated each year. Rooting percentage in 1999 was greatest (35%) in early May when cuttings were in the green softwood stage (510 degree days) and declined to 10 % in late May when cuttings were in the red semi-hardwood stage (835 degree days). No rooting occurred before May or after June. In 1999 more roots formed on cuttings treated with IBA regardless of concentration than those receiving no IBA. Rooting percentage in 2000 was 31 % in mid-April and 27 % in early May. In 2000, cuttings in the early shoot expansion phase, after the leaves had fully emerged from the bud and had unfurled but before shoot elongation had ceased (382 degree days), rooted as well as cuttings taken two weeks later in the green softwood stem stage (519 degree days). Neither timing nor IBA application affected root number or length in 2000.