what would you do

[AdirondackSap]

I have an opportunity to lease an 18 acre sugar bush with about 1200 taps. The only concerns i have is that the bush is on a north facing slope and the sun never really hits these trees. I talked to a old timer and he told me not to bother bc he says it will barely run if at all. From other threads i have read on here people say north slopes run later than a southern slope and maybe run 2 weeks compared to 6 weeks with south facing slope. The elevation of this sugar bush is 1000 ft so it will definately be cooler up there. What it does have going for it is its all straight easy grade down hill right to the road so it would make it easy for running lines. If i did lease these taps i would be putting in a high vac setup. Would vac help me get more sap out of these trees and do you think its worth all this investment just to find out the trees barely run. What would you do in my situation.

[jmayerl]

Well if the trees didn't run at all then they would be dead. Sap would not be getting to the buds to produce leaves......I'm just saying. Sometimes you have to consider the source of the information. I would love to have land with a steep facing north and south slope. On an average year you could really stretch out the season.

[802maple]

By all means, warm years will be great for that situation and only on severe cold years will it possibly be a slow running bush, but being only a 1000 feet I wouldn't worry much about that

[maple flats]

tap it. Trees on slopes facing every direction produce. On a bright sunny day the south aspect will run better in early season, but often a couple of weeks later the north facing will run better. That bust might in many years just run several days behind the others. jmayerl is right, they all run unless they are dead.
jmayerl is offline

[oneoldsap]

Yes sir I'd tap it and put some serious vacuum to it , it'll run just fine . The thing about North facing bushes is that they will start later , and run later in the day PM , and will probably run a little later in the season . The up side is , you don't have to worry about sun exposure . I'm not a proponent of black mainline , but if there's a place for it , it would be a north slope !

[HHM-07]

folks around would call that a late bush, they will all run just some that lay on warm side will run earlierand on the cold side later

Dick

[Turtlecreek]

My bush is all north facing and some is in a small hollow that faces east. I only have 30 taps or so, but last year I made around 6 gallons do syrup out of that bush. I have noticed that the bush does run better late in the day and I could probably extend my season if I wanted to.

So I guess I'm saying in my small operation north facing slopes work for me. It paid my bills last year.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

We are at 975 feet and several hundred of our taps are on north slopes. They run very well, but start and end about a week later. This is a great oppourtunity!

[Grand Square Acres]

I have about 400 taps on a steep northern slope, and about the same on a southern slope give or take a few. The only thing I see is that early morning the south side runs sooner than it does on the north but once the north warms little around mid morning these taps really start to flow. Also the sap I got last year from the north side ran higher in sugar than the south. So give it a try that is the only way to learn. Good luck and may your trees always flow sweet sap.

[tstew]

0.4 gals per tap 18"vac on north facing slope last year. North slope bush runs as good as my south. North or south facing 1200 taps is 1200 taps.

[GramaCindy]

It was my observation last year, with most of my taps on a W, NW hill that by later afternoon, when I was collecting, the afternoon sun was working those trees perfectly.

[sjdoyon]

i posed the same question to Tim with UVM Proctor Research Center regarding studies looking at South facing slopes compared to North and there were no studies done but his comment was you're going to do well one year on the south and not so good the next, same for the north facing slope. Go for it.


3x10 Inferno Arch
4,000+ Taps
7,5 HP Vacuum pump
Lapierre 600gph RO
3 SS 1500 gallon tanks
24x32 Sugarhouse