Leaky taps

[lynxridge]

This is our first year sugaring and we have 22 taps out. I have noticed that just about all of them seem to leak down the tree. Some more than others. They all seem to be secure and tight. We have even tapped them in more, but it doesn't seem to stop the leakage. Is this normal? We are using both metal 7/16" and plastic 5/16".

[spud]

You may have hit your spouts to hard and cracked your trees. Look under your spouts and see if there is a small crack. If so there's nothing you can do.

Spud

[lynxridge]

Just lightly tapping them in will do that?

[happy thoughts]

The other possibility is that your holes aren't perfectly round. You need a steady hand when drilling. Again, there's not a lot you want to do after the fact. There's always the possibility of making matters worse, not better and harming the tree in the process. You'll get better. The leaks aren't going to hurt anything. You'll just get a little less sap in the bucket and maybe a few ants will find you. You still should get enough for syrup if the sap gods are smiling.

[jmp]

Like spud said, sounds like you may have tapped a bit too hard. The "tapping in more" may have exacerbated the issue. Were the trees still frozen? It doesn't take much to split the wood. And I echo what happy thoughs said. Not a huge issue. We have all done this! :) Good luck!

[lynxridge]

I don't think the trees were frozen when we drilled. We did them all in the afternoon when it was pretty warm. Maybe we didn't do the hole perfectly round and then tapping them in more actually hurt us! I'll have to be more careful next time. Thanks!!

[jmp]

Lynxridge, don't sweat it. Like I said earlier we have all done this before :)