cost effective for small producers?

[dakotasky]

Is it cost effective to install a tubing system for a small operation? I have 230 tappable trees on my property and plan to tap around 100 this year with buckets. i will likely expand, but before I invest in more buckets and taps I wondered what some experienced sugarers had for input for my size operation. My grade runs away from the sugarhouse also. I have a tractor to gather with so pumping collection tanks and hauling wouldnt be a problem, i'm just wondering being this small if it is worth it or just stick with buckets? Thanks for the input.

[mapleack]

If saving time and effort gathering is important to you, then it's well worth it. For gravity tubing, not counting any tanks, you'll be looking at around $5 to $6 per tap for materials.

[unc23win]

I think it is worth it. You can get buckets and taps for around $3.50 but then you have to collect it. With a tubing system you can have one collection tank. Depending on how your set up is you could have it run to your sugar house or maybe future sugar house. Plus if you have 230 trees with an average of 2 taps each thats 460 taps depending on how your woods is it could all flow into one tank. My tubing cost me about $4.50 per tap.

[dakotasky]

So where I would really be saving is on the labor end of it vs. the time collecting buckets. I'm definetly all for that, as I have to collect after work usually in the dark with a headlamp. Right now I have very few trees that can have two taps as my trees are fairly young. 12-20". Last fall I had my property logged to remove softwoods and competing trees to open it up a little more. Everything I made from the timber sale i'm pretty much going to have to spend on road improvements as the skidders sunk in a little tearing up my tractor roads. my sugarhouse sits well above the bush, maybe ten or twelve feet so I pretty much probly have to collect everything into tanks and haul up. The sugar bush itself is very flat its just located down over a ridge from the house. Another question is without any natural grade if tubing would work without getting into the expebce of vacume pumps and such?

[unc23win]

Depending on how far your away your tank is from your sugarhouse you could pump it from the tank to the house.

[village idiot]

Is it worth it?

This is the question that haunts me. I was in a similar position (small time ~150 buckets) collecting after work with a headlamp, some 5 gal home depot buckets, and a big tank on my tractor. I haul the sap down the road and boil at my house in an effort to spend the bulk of my time close to the family. I have some very fond memories of turning off my headlamp, standing alone in the quiet and the dark, and thinking "slow down, this is the good stuff". On some level I really DO love the combination of the solitude, activity, sounds of drips in the dark, the traditional/simple nature of it... but even though I love it, I could never really enjoy it because I felt like I was part of some demonic pit crew where I had 1.5 hrs to fetch 150 buckets to get back down to the house and start BOILING!!!!!11!!!

In an effort to shorten up the time spent gathering and free up time for the fun parts (boiling with the kids) I have recently installed what seems like a few miles of tubing/mainline that lead to a central dumping station where I can fetch the sap all from one spot. It cost a lot in terms of time, and a pretty good amount of cash too. I've turned what seemed like pristine woods into an orgy of plastic and industrial sap production.

Is it worth it?

I really hope that some day I will look back and say yes. Right now I'm at no.

[stoweski]

I started with 50 on buckets... went to 80 the following year... then to 120 the third. I got sick of washing all of the buckets at the end of the season... and I knew I'd be increasing my tap count.

I installed three lines - ALL flowing away from my sugarshack. Each line has somewhere between 30 - 50 taps and each leads to a 100 gal tank. I have a 500 gal head tank outside the shack. I have 100 gal tank on the back of my RTV. Bought an earthquake 2 cycle pump to transfer all of the sap. I still have about 50 buckets hanging around as well.

Last year after work I'd come home, fire up the evaporator, and then go and empty one of the tanks and a few buckets. Come in, refire the evap, and pump the sap from the transfer tank into the head tank. I did this three times while emptying a few buckets each time. I cut my collecting time down by an hour... and was able to finish before dark. Even though I don't get the same workout I used to get by collecting into 5 gal pails and dumping into my transfer tank I believe I made my life easier by installing the lines... and I still get outside after work.

I realize you're probably asking if it's cost effective for a small producer to install tubing but in my mind it's not all about the cost but also the time collecting... which of course is $$. I do enjoy being outside collecting - but I can't stand cleaning those buckets!

I think it's worth it and I'd do it again. As a matter of fact my neighbor asked me if I wanted to tap his land. Told him I'd do it next year as I don't have the time or $$ right now to install tubing. I'm not going to hang buckets out there!

[dakotasky]

Thank you all for your input, its given me much more insight on this and given me a lot to think about as far as the reduction in labor. Considering I already have the collection equipment,tanks, tractor, wagon ,sap pump ect. I think it makes good sense to maybe give it a try. Also the distance to haul up to my sugarhouse isnt very far, maybe 500-700 feet. My biggest problem this year is navigating my roads because they need some improvement after having it logged this past October.