Multi-trunk trees

[Tithis]

When it comes to maples with multiple trunks how do you determine how many taps to use? One of the red maples I'm planning to tap has a few trunks that could each support a tap or two but I was unsure if I should treat each as an individual or together since they share the same root system.

[allgreenmaple]

I've got one with 7 stems, each at least 9-10'' each. Tap for each one.....

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

treat each as an individual. They are all producing carbohydrates.

[maple flats]

I've read that they should not be tapped but don't know why. I do as the others have said and treat each as a separate tree. On a few smaller ones I have 1 tap and alternate trunks to tap.

[Potters3]

I have a bunch of red maples with anywhere from 2 to 6 trunks that are 8" or better, I tap them all. I treat each trunk as a separate tree.

[CTfarm]

What's the minimum diameter of a sugar maple you'll tap?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

what's the minimum diameter of a sugar maple you'll tap?

a healthy 8 inch tree gets a 5/16 tap.

[gmcooper]

I've got several multi trunk red maples and I usually have a couple taps less than the total and rotate which get tapped each year.

[christopherh]

I've got plenty of these to. Each trunk gets a tap. They average about 10" and some are larger.

[smokeyamber]

I have been doing one per bunch until now... just cause I figured they were all on the same root systems. Wonder if Dr Perkins could weigh in on this question. Do people who do mult taps find the production is good from all the taps ?

[English River Maple]

We tap them all, the sugaring books will most likely tell you to cut them down or thin them to make room for the better trees, but when you don't have pure stands of maples to "thin out", you have to tap what you have available. We have one multi-trunker I can think of and it has 6 or 7 trunks coming out of one massive trunk (sugar maple) and we tap them all. Every bucket has 2+ gallons, I am amazed at this tree every year. Right on the edge of a hayfield with not much competition and a huge tall canopy with lots of branches. Tap what you have...they all bleed.

[Beweller]

The equivalent diameter is the square root of the sum of the squares of the individual diameters. eg, three 10 inch stems sqr(100 + 100 + 100) = 17.3 inches. This tree justifies a single tap.