Dry hole.

[sandgardener]

New here. Started syruping last season and didn`t get much but from what I heard it was a very short season. Anyway I have a newbie question. If I have a tap hole that dries up can I retap the same tree in a different spot?:confused:

[sandgardener]

Don`t know how I managed to do a double post.

[JuniperHillSugar]

There are lots of old posts about dry holes, and as I remember them, the discussion is usually about the extra stress that too many holes will put on the tree. I would not retap too often, my goal is to keep a healthy sugarbush that my children and grandchildren may be able to enjoy.

P.S. When we walk through our woods we've marked most sugar maples over 2" diameter, so that we avoid hitting them when we're cutting nearby. So as you can see, we're looking long term with this operation. I expect most of us here are.

[TF Maple]

If you put one tap in a tree that was big enough for two, you could add a new one. But if it is a small tree that should only have one tap to start with, then you should not tap it again in the same year. The reason for the limit on the number of taps is so you don't run out of good wood to tap into each year.

[Mac_Muz]

For what ever size taps I run I drill a under diameter hole. If the rest of my taps are doing well, I see no problem with using the right size drill to fresh the same hole.

Can't say it works so hot, a drying out tap hole is probably the whole tree.

Some trees and places are better than others.... You get good trees and bad so far as I can tell. In time you learn which trees 'give it up' and which won't.