realistic average from buckets and "woods" trees?

[bowtie]

most of my taps are in the woods,though i have some field edge, they are mix of reds and sugars. with all this talk of 1/2 gallon per tap on vaccum, i thought with my 160 taps i should get 40 gallons at least, maybe 50's, the weather really messed with me this year but was i wrong to expect that much in a normal year. trying to plan ahead for next year, i would like to have 300 taps or so, but would go with as many as 500 if i need to, to get to 100 gallons of syrup. i will probably try some tubing with that many out as i really do not have 4-5 hours a day to collect. i do not want to tap excess until i get well established but do not want another year like this one next year.

[PerryW]

With mostly woods trees and gravity, my taps yield between one pint and one quart per of product per tap (per season). although this year I may end up lower.

[Gravel]

You will go crazy trying to figure it out, if it doesnt run good you will wish you had 500 but if you have 500 and it runs good you wont be able to keep up and every year is different. Last year I had just over 100 buckets and could hardly keep up, this year I have 200 on pipeline and 20 on buckets and have been bored waiting for a good run! Hanging more buckets tonight!!

[DrTimPerkins]

...my taps yield between one pint and one quart per of product per tap (per season)....

That is typical for gravity and woods trees. Less in a really bad year, more in a really good year. Average is somewhere between a pint and a quart.

[maple marc]

I try to manage my taps like you would manage a major league sports team. With buckets, I can keep track of who is putting out, and who is not. I really can't put in the time to collect from more than 100 taps, so I have to pick the best trees available. If one tree is lazy, it gets benched the next season, and some other tree is tapped. I try to tap yard trees, fence rows, and trees in open areas with big crowns. An added bonus is that I can pull my ATV to within a couple of feet of each tree and make an easy dump into my tank. I feel lucky that I have pretty good trees. They average 2.2 percent. In 2011 I had a whopper year, making 47 gallons on 93 taps. This year I'm down, but it's still a decent yield: about 36 gallons on 100 taps. Oh man, I feel for you guys with just one pint per tap.

Good luck and work those taps.

Marc

[PerryW]

Oh man, I feel for you guys with just one pint per tap.

Good luck and work those taps.

Marc

don't feel bad. We just tap more of 'em!

[500592]

Even though this year hasn't been great I will probably make a quart per tap but then again I may not.

[Haze]

We only put one tap per tree with the tree saver taps into buckets. Some trees we get about 7 or 8 gallons for the season and others about 3.

[500592]

Haze do you mean gallons of sap how much syrup.