Can I start a line 6 ft High ?

[TerryEspo]

Is there any harm with tapping my first tree at 6 - 7 ft. ? Then gradually drop the height of the remaining taps till it reaches my collection barrels. I want to have a good slope for gravity. I know usually around waist height is best, but I am trying mostly tubing this year and need some height.

Is there less sap the higher up the tree you tap?

Thanks.

Terry

[heus]

Some of my laterals are higher than that.

[spencer11]

one of my lines starts about that high, ive heard that the lower you tap the more sap you get, but i dont believe it, even if it is true, it would be a tiny ammount

[cpmaple]

look at year's with a lot of snow on the ground some of your taps maybe 7-8 ft from the ground been their had to use a ladder to remove them once snow was gone.

[adk1]

Yeah will be interesting in that my laterals were put up last fall and this past spring we didn't have really any snow to speak of. Interested to see how far up the trees I will be tapping this year and how high I have to adjective my lines. I know that one section of mainline will have to be shoveled out

[maple maniac65]

there is a sugar maker not far from me that lives in an area that has more than their share of moose. All of his taps and pipe line is 10' or more off from the ground. There is not as much sap flow that high but it some what answers your question. There are no rules saying you can't tap that high if it works for you than just do it.

[TerryEspo]

The moose issue is funny to me. I have many deer that I am afraid would wreck any main lines that are permanent, that is why I will use collection barrels and pump it. I call it zones where my barrels will be, the zones will have lines twisting everywhere but deer and people on ATV,s can still nagivate on the trails.

I am glad to hear I can raise my tap height, sounds like it may be ladder time, lol.

Thanks.

Terry

[heus]

The squirrels raise a lot more havoc than deer.

[heus]

Heres one of my high laterals.

[TerryEspo]

Is that pic really from today ?? If so, where the heck is the snow ? LOL, looks like a Florida pic or a pic of my forest in full summer !! If today that was taken I am shocked. Feeling like I live under a rock.

[heus]

Yes taken this morning. Not really. Why do my pics sometimes upload sideways?

[Homestead Maple]

The squirrels raise a lot more havoc than deer.
You have that right, especially last year when there was a big crop of maple seeds.

[Homestead Maple]

The moose issue is funny to me. I have many deer that I am afraid would wreck any main lines that are permanent, that is why I will use collection barrels and pump it. I call it zones where my barrels will be, the zones will have lines twisting everywhere but deer and people on ATV,s can still nagivate on the trails.

I am glad to hear I can raise my tap height, sounds like it may be ladder time, lol.

Thanks.

Terry

I have a lot of deer in my maple woods and they don't damage much, it's the MOOSE. About the second year I tapped I raised my lines to around 5 feet and have had very little damage from moose since. We average around 2 - 3 feet of snow, so tapping isn't a problem and the moose move off to the low lands in winter.

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

I have a few lines pretty high up I must say... One, there is not much slope, and two, I dont want to get out and have to undo the line to drive through while collecting. The one high one is over 7 ft up, maybe 8. The other is about the same. These all drop down to the normall heights of the rest of the lines, and into the mainline.

[maple flats]

In one section behind my sugarhouse, the terrain ends by going down hill. In order to tap those trees with no vacuum there, I tap several off a 6' step ladder and I tap 4 on one lateral using an extension ladder. My highest tap is 13' off the ground. That lateral has 7 taps and on a good day I get good flow in the lateral. I don't know how much more I could get off the 4 very high taps (about 9', 11', 11' and 13'), the lowest 3 are only at about 7' high, but I know I get more than if I didn't tap them.

[vtwoody]

As someone tapping on gravity (for the moment), I'm trying to figure the best way to maximize slope in my lines. Last year, I had one run of @ 150' with 30 taps on it that seemed to run pretty good at times(natural vaccum), other times seemed vapor locked(line full of sap but slow to no flow).

Anyways, to get slope to collection tank that was only slightly lower in elevation, I started the farthest tap about 9'-10' in the air. Like I said, it seemed to function, other than the vapor lock but I, too, wondered how much less flow I was getting by tapping so high.

I understand that the sap flows due to a difference between sap pressure inside tree (high) and outside(low)...just curious if there has been any research on the difference in pressure within a tree at various tapping heights...? I've searched a little bit but haven't found anything. For my location and setup, I will likely continue to tap high to get slope and reduce taps on line to avoid vapor lock as I couldn't see much diffeence in flow between my taps up high on this line and taps on other, lower lines.

There are any number of reasons to tap high in a specific situation, it would be good to know the impact upon sap flow of doing so.

[vtwoody]

Found some more info on this topic after searching a little bit more:

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?9771-Tapping-height&highlight=height+tap

Takeaway seems to be that tapping higher up yields less sap then lower (how much, not clear). If the situation calls for it, tap higher knowing you will get less sap(surprise!)....still would be interested to find out how much....perhaps I'll do an experiment this year with some buckets hung at different heights to see for myself, as someone in the thread noted here did.

[spencer11]

Takeaway seems to be that tapping higher up yields less sap then lower (how much, not clear). If the situation calls for it, tap higher knowing you will get less sap(surprise!).

I think that Is an old wives tale, I don't believe it, especially since I've never seen any proof of it

[vtwoody]

My two eyes have not seen definitive proof either, hence my thought on testing this year. However, I've been around this world long enough to know that just because I haven't seen it, doesn't mean it isn't true... ;)
Just means I should experiment....having said that, the thread I referred to has a good desrciption from Dr. Tim on why tapping higher would result in lower sap yield, especially in gravity....while I trust my own two eyes best, I do have some faith in his words as well...

Not far now!!!

[maplesyrupstove]

6475 Pipe line across my 4 wheeler road, taps are 7 feet high so I can haul my sap under them.

[stoweski]

My thoughts (not that they count) :)

How high can you reach? I for one do not want to drag a ladder out into the bush to install/remove taps. 7' is good for me. Moose & deer are not an issue for me and all of my lines run away from my trails so I can get access to them anytime with the RTV or tractor.

Every situation is different though.

Just my opinion.

[StayinLowTech]

A couple of my laterals start that high so I make a crude 3 step "ladder" out of scrap 2x4 which leans against the tree and just leave it out in the woods where its needed. You might need it for the next tree down the line also.

[wsugar]

Yes u can tap the tree at any height

[red maples]

oh yeah I have many that are pretty high a ladder is needed. with tubing the tapping can get much higher and is expected too mainlines will dictate how high you tap. not everyone has perfect graded woods. althoug that would be nice wouldn't it!!!

[morningstarfarm]

Just remember...if we get 3' of snow...those 6' lines are at 3'...hmmm