Mainline, no vac, flat ground

[Starting Small]

I plan on having about 50 Taps on gravity, no slope on the land. This piece of property just became available to tap this afternoon with a phone call. Lots of reds, not many sugars. Tons more maples than I am planning on tapping. I am thinking the mainline will need to be between 150 and 200 feet. My questions are as follows, any and all help/opinions would be great. Thanks!

1. Is wire necessary at this length of mainline?
2. I have heard that 3/4 in mainline is best for flat land and then others say 5/16 is ok up to 50 taps. I think with no slope I will need 3/4 in.
3. Stars, saddles, different fittings, it all seems confusing. What is the easiest way to connect 5/16 laterals to 3/4?
4. Should the end of the mainline be closed or will it not matter with only 50 taps?

[unc23win]

1. I think wire will help you get the slope you need and it will help make your line tighter and a tighter line is the better it will run.
2. 3/4" is a good choice it can handle 200 taps with a 2% slope. So you would have room to expand.
3. Saddles are the easiest way to add lateral lines, drill a hole put in the gasket and clamp on the saddle then attach your 5/16". Run the mainline first and get it how you want it then go through and put the holes in for the saddles. Clamp the saddles on the run your lateral lines.
4. Some say open some say closed. I say closed especially on a flatter run if it freezes and the end trees run FIRST you could loose sap.

[Butcher]

i would not waste your time on the soft maples unless u have vacuum i promise u will not be happy with what u get. im sure others would agree.

[Dave Y]

Many sugarmakers tap soft maple. I am one of them. If that is what have tap them. All maples have sugar in the sap and the make great syrup. It may just take more sap.

[unc23win]

[QUOTE=Dave Y;If that is what have tap them. All maples have sugar in the sap and the make great syrup. It may just take more sap.[/QUOTE]

I agree Tap what you have. You have to start somewhere.

[nymapleguy607]

For only 50 or so taps I think I would go with 1/2" mainline. Just because I think the 3/4" might cause the sap to heat up more on a sunny day. The 1/2" should run fuller and help stay cooler as it goes through the line. If you were using Vacuum then use 3/4". Either way make sure you hang it in wire and keep the line as tight as possible.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Tractor supply sells 12 1/2 gage high tensile wire. We pull it hand tight and anchor both ends with a 3/8" lag electric fence corner insulator and crimps. Next we put the side ties on with regular 14 gage fence wire until the main line wire is piano string tight. Then we run the main line (we use nothing less than 1" but 3/4" should work fine) and twist tie it every 8" and yes, plug the far end. We then run a 5/16" latteral to the last tree (no more than 5 per and less than 100' long) and wrap it around the tree and clip it with an "end of line hook" we like these because we can unhook to drive through in the summer if needed. Next we pull the line tight while walking back to the main and hook it to the main line wire with a hooked connector and about a 16" loop (that will later hook to the saddle). We do this for all the latteral lines and then go back and cut in the drop lines and saddles. Lots of fun --- you will always remember running you first main line.