how Do You Mark Your Trees Where The Laterals Go?

[Bruce L]

We are almost finished putting up all the laterals(yes we take them down every year0,problem is my wife is quite willing to help,but she is not real good at recognizing a maple vs other species yet.I have trees all painted with tree marking paint,but we are shortening up several lines to strive for 5 with the vacuum,so alot of the trees will have different colors of paint on them.The bush we were in today needs to be repainted ,as I found myself questioning where the lines go.I planned on picking up tree marking paint at the open houses last year,but no one carries it,so it must be a Canadian thing.If you take your laterals down as we do,how do you have them marked for repositioning?
Thanks,Bruce

[wally]

tree marking paint is available from a number of suppliers.

ben meadows
forestry suppliers
bap forestry supplies

and direct from the paint manufacturers
trecoder
nelspot
ncp coatings
aervoe

or you could go the the hardware/paint store and get some spray paint in florescent colors.


i don't mark my trees, but i mark other people's trees. ;)

[red maples]

I have a few take down gravity lines on my neighbors property. I have a huge I think its call Magnum black marker the is 3/4" x 3/4" square. that works for me.

[Tweegs]

I was at an open house last year, the guy used cow ear tags.

If I remember right, he said he tagged the farthest tree out, the saddle, and the lateral. He tagged the lat at the saddle end, and then it was obvious where all the drops went.

I don’t know if that’s exactly right, but he had a system worked out with the tags.

[ennismaple]

Bruce - When we took down all our laterals we numbered the head tree (Ex. M25) and that tree had a 1 sided arrow on it (like an upside down checkmark). The short side indicated which side of the tree the lateral goes on with the point aimed at the next tree. You stretch downhill as you go and when you get to the next tree you follow the short side around the tree and the point towards the next. This picture kinda shows the makings.

[Bruce L]

Guess I was looking in the wrong places for paint,checked Leader's,Lapierre,CDL,and D & G,no one had it during open house last year.Marty,do you take your laterals down and put them back up as we do,and if so when do you do it?Seems to be an awful big rush in the spring,and warm weather doesn't come often enough for stretching until it is tiome to tap.
Bruce

[adk1]

I was readign that in my NA Maple PRoducers Manual how alot of the smaller operations take down their laterals. I think I will do this. I will have like 10 100' laterals. Will make it easier to clean too. I will mark the end tree with flagging. I wil mark each lateral with a number and each saddle with the same number and each end tree. that way I will know exactly while line gets which lateral tubing One question I have is is it easy to disconnect the lateral at the saddle fitting and what do you use to cap that off?

[Beweller]

Bruce, I have found that any aerosol paint that did not include "tree" in the name was near useless for tree marking. BUT, someone told me that the soil marking paints (inverted nozzle) could be used to mark trees. I have not yet tried it, but I plan to. Shipping on small orders from forestry suppliers doubles or more the price of tree marking paints.

[ennismaple]

We found that Tremclad red rust paint worked best. We'd clean an area of the external bark with a hatchet and brush it on liberally. It needed to be re-painted every 10 years or so.

We use to take all our lines down and put them back up again. 10 years ago we'd only put them up in the spring and it was not fun. Lots of snow, tubing doesn't stretch well in the cold, tees breaking, lots of cursing, etc... About 5 years ago we started putting them up in mid to late November after deer hunting and it was far easier and faster. You'd have to fix a few lines in March but nothing too major. Three years ago we started replacing all the old tubing and we're now done so everything stays up year-round.

The biggest problem we found with re-stretching it every year was it would get thinner and thinner over time meaning less diameter for sap and vacuum transfer. In my opinion, semi-rigid tubing is worth every penny you pay for it - and I've stretched over 60,000 feet of it in the past 3 years! The labour savings alone pays for itself, not to mention the increased production from having better vacuum to the trees.

[argohauler]

I use red Tremclad or another rust paint. It seems to hang on pretty good. It really depends on the way the weather hits the trees though.

My brother inlaw gave me some tree marking paint that comes in a tube, when he worked for the Ministry a couple years ago, but I've never needed to use it yet. The neighbours got their bush marked by the Ministry to be thinned and they used a yellow paint and it's still there and it was put on at least 25 years ago.

The guy I got my line from that I tore out of his bush marked his trees with different colours of vinyl siding made into small pieces and held in place with an aluminum nail. He went around and pulled out the nail a little each year. he had 4000 taps worth of markers.

Each star in my setup (3 or 6 way) has a number on the mainline. I have one mainline that has 8 stars. Then I letter each lateral and go clockwise with the letters. So 1A, 1B, etc. Then everywhere the line corners on a tree whether it is tapped or not gets a greater than sign. The sign always wants to eat the line. and you paint the trees in the direction you are coming from. The end tree gets a dot.

But now I don't have as much time in the spring, so the lines just stay up. My uncle takes his 2800 taps worth down every season, but all he does for work is syrup.

[steve J]

With all the dang snow I get up there I would never want to try and run laterals in the winter its one hell of a chore just to climb my hill to tap.

[Sugarmaker]

Not nearly 4000 taps marked Wow.
We mark the trees above and below the 5/16 line with black spray paint about 4 inches long.
Chris

[Brent]

Atkinson has tree marking paint

http://atkinsonmaple.com/catalogue/chemicals_cleaners_brushes

[michiganfarmer2]

I use colored spray paint. I spray the lateral where it connects to the main, then with the same color, I number the trees for that lateral.

[Bruce L]

Picked up some florescent paint at Lowes today to try marking the trees,not sure if the color pink will be a great choice.

[Dave Puhl]

I just use a good brand of regular spray paint ...I use green...I dont think the upside down cans will work real good because your spraying side ways to the tree..

[adk1]

I will use surveyors flagging

[Eric McLellan]

We take down all our lines each year. What we do is make a main line a number, lets say #1 for example. Then your first mainfold that your 5/16 comes off from would be Line 1a, then the next one would be 1b and so on until complete side line laterals were marked. Sometimes you might have four letters coming of from one mainfold. I have some main lines that go as high as 1p. When we mark the trees we put a slash on the side of the tree that the line goes on. Then were each line has an end tree we put a dot on that tree, so you know you have and end tree there. We put the number and letter on a couple of trees and then every end tree has at least a letter on it.

[adk1]

We take down all our lines each year. What we do is make a main line a number, lets say #1 for example. Then your first mainfold that your 5/16 comes off from would be Line 1a, then the next one would be 1b and so on until complete side line laterals were marked. Sometimes you might have four letters coming of from one mainfold. I have some main lines that go as high as 1p. When we mark the trees we put a slash on the side of the tree that the line goes on. Then were each line has an end tree we put a dot on that tree, so you know you have and end tree there. We put the number and letter on a couple of trees and then every end tree has at least a letter on it.

wow, that sounds like quite the system!

[maple flats]

Get real tree marking paint. It will last much longer. You can get it from Ben Meadows or Bailey's, both are online. The tree marking paint will llok wet years later and will not fade very fast like other paints. You can get it in spray or brush (or trigger spray which is cheapest and easiest to use, just buy qts and get the proper trigger spray. With it you will be able to use it all day and not have a hrad time spraying.)

[Yellzee]

I havent' taken my lines down in the past.. but so much squirrel/critter damage the past few years I plan to take it down this year.

[junior1]

i used ground paint on my tress it has been on them for 3 years and still visable