tapping silver maples?

[AdirondackSap]

Im a newbie and i have a few question about tapping silver maples. This last season was my first year making maple syrup around 300 taps mostly sugar and red maples. I am looking to expand and my parents have a 16 acre property filled with silver maples. I would say there is about 1000 taps. Most of the trees are 30 inches plus in diameter. Would it be worth the effort or is the sugar content to low to even bother. My current setup is a leader 2x6 evaporator with king pans and a preheater. Would this be to many taps for my equipment to handle. I will look into getting an R/O to increase my production. I have been reading these forums for awhile and most people think R/O is the way to go. Your thoughts and insight are greatly appreciated thanks for your time

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

I cant comment on the silver maple issue but Leader states in their brochure on our rig is (50 to 250) taps. Having a full time job and tapping 125 gives me enough to do with out burning in. I am thinking of going more taps and what I cant boil sell to friends I know.
RO's are nice

[BryanEx]

I can't say my experience will be the same for all silvers but here's what happened last season. I tapped two silver maples mostly due to their location with all others being sugar maple. The sap sugar content was consistently 0.8 degrees Brix less averaging 3.2 (I have sweet trees). Daily sap volume was 25% ~ 30% more but the season ended a week and half before the sugars. Sugar maple is better but if you don't have a choice the silvers will do just fine with a little extra boiling time.

[lastwoodsman]

A friend of mine here in MN taps around 400 silvers. His sap this past spring ran on average of 2.5% with a few trees at 3.5. This past spring he made 100 gallons of syrup on his 2x6 drop flu. He has been tapping these for over 20 years. The quality of the syrup is identical to any sugar tapping operation in the area.
In comparsions my sugars ran 1%.
Go figure.
Woodsman

[tuckermtn]

do a search in the search box for silvers. A lot of previous threads on the topic.

[AdirondackSap]

Thanks everyone great information. Im going to give it a shot for next season. If i cant keep up with the sap i would look into selling it to other producers in the area. I know there are people who are purest and only tap sugar maples so I dont know if i could sell the sap from the silver maples. I guess its something i have to look into. I know it depends upon the sugar content of the sap but how much does a gallon of sap sell for?

[SDdave]

Silvers are the only maple that I tap. Granted not that many sugars or reds around here, but plenty of silvers. Not for sure on the %'s and to tired to do the math, but the ratio of 50:1 this last year. I'd say go for it.

SDdave

[3rdgen.maple]

Silvers are the only maple that I tap. Granted not that many sugars or reds around here, but plenty of silvers. Not for sure on the %'s and to tired to do the math, but the ratio of 50:1 this last year. I'd say go for it.

SDdave

That would put you at 1.7%

[SDdave]

That would put you at 1.7%

:o Thanks for the math 3rdgen.maple. Next year I think I will conviently forget the 1.7% figure, and continue on with the fun.

SDdave

[KenWP]

You guys should measure sap in Canadain gallons and syrup in US gallons.Would up your percentages a lot.

[Brent]

You don't stand any chance at all of boiling a normal season with 1000 trees on a 2 x 6. Last year we had a 2 x 6 and even with 600 trees and a 160 gph RO there were too many nights that ended after 3:00AM . At the end of the season we were to wiped out to pull the taps and do the bottling.

You'll have to go at least one size bigger in evaporator and a 250 RO if you expect to keep up

[sapman]

Probably 1/3 of my 2200 taps are silvers. They come in with the reds, but combined they are always equal or slightly higher sugar than the sugars. Can't tell as to volume, as everything comes in on the same releaser. Next year they will be on their own releaser, if all goes as planned.