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View Full Version : Tree placement and flow



somershobby
02-17-2012, 10:26 PM
It seems everyone is running slow this year but I have two trees within 20 feet of my pond. I tapped them this mourning and they didnt even drip. These trees have to be in the best part of my property for ground moisture you would think they would have better flow than any others. Could my tap placement be bad or what? Being new to this I never thought there was a certain place to drill your hole. Can anyone help me?

sugar ED
02-18-2012, 01:46 AM
It seems everyone is running slow this year but I have two trees within 20 feet of my pond. I tapped them this mourning and they didnt even drip. These trees have to be in the best part of my property for ground moisture you would think they would have better flow than any others. Could my tap placement be bad or what? Being new to this I never thought there was a certain place to drill your hole. Can anyone help me?
Hi somershobby ,Weather this year off to say the least ,But I do tend to tap under the bigger limbs and not under any dead limbs and I like to tap above the bigger roots going into the ground ,but there my choice spots but after 15 yrs or so (on same tree ) you just try to stay 4" away from the old tap holes and not right above or below old hole . Some of my trees are in a very dry area and they seem to be running just as good as the trees in the wet areas ...But the weather temps have just gottin to the point here, for sap to run well .Not sure in your area ? just south and west of me alot of big sappers have had there taps in for two weeks or more and have been getting a good amount and sugar count ! I have silver/soft maple and sugar/hard maple and a few norway maples ,my silvers in wet areas seem to be lower in sugar content (1.5 to 2.0), but just the same or more sap per day/ per tap ,and the hard and norway seem to be around 2.2 to 2.8 !
How big aroung is your trees ? and how deep are u drilling ? 12" thru gets 1 1/2 deep and my big 3' to 5' trees get 2" deep , just don't take out any brown wood ! Maybe not the problem ? but just my thoughts .... Hey God luck sappin and have fun ! Ed

northwoods_forestry
02-18-2012, 07:40 AM
I don't think it was cold enough the night of 2/16 to get the trees running for you on 2/17. It only dropped down to 30 degrees that night here in Southern Vermont and I only had a trickle of sap. You should do better today, but if not, there must be some other problem.