Some trees never run?

[RubberDuck]

So I'm stumped... I started tapping/boiling 3 seasons ago in a recreational fashion. I don't have many maples at my place, there's more on my inlaw's farm nearby. But, I do have a couple medium to large maples at my place. I'm 110% sure they're maples. But, none of them have EVER produced a drop of sap. I've tapped early, I've tapped late. No difference. I'm at the top of a drainage, don't know if that could have anything to do with it. But my trees at the inlaws have been running like a banshee for 2 weeks and not a drop from any of mine. Thoughts?

[vtwoody]

my friend and fellow sugarmaker taps @200 trees on his property in Jericho, VT. One area, along a brook is running good, the other area, sitting on a little knoll like an ancient riverbed gravel bar is dry. Last year, his results were similar for the two areas. He figures the ground is a lot drier and stonier on the knoll and the trees don't generate as much sap.

[maplehillbros7179]

all maples produce sap at some point,just make sure they are maple

[hadley121]

I have a hard maple next to my driveway that has never given any sap too. It's very healthy and the crown is amazing, but never a drop from that tree. My old man was amazed that it never gave any sap, he tapped many a tree in his time and never heard of such a thing as a hard maple not giving any sap. I know it's possible to have a dry maple because I have one too. I stopped tapping that tree after 3 years of no sap.

[5050racing]

Your weather could be it,are the trees your talking about in Vt. and yours are in Md.?Need good cold then a nice warm up,back and forth I think like 20-25 at night to 40-45 day?

[bigschuss]

It is biologically impossible for a tree to be completely dry. If it did not send the energy and nutrient rich sap from the roots to the crown via the xylem it would be dead. This is how you girdle a tree, correct? Prevent that flow, and the tree will die. So, it may appear like a "dry" tree in the sense that it produces no sap. But somewhere and at sometime, there is sap flowing.

[The Birdman]

I have about 10 trees like that this year, with buckets 10 ft away that are full. I thought the drought might be the problem.

[Mike R.]

Could it be that the outer layer is so think that tapping 2" deep is not getting to where the sap is flowing in the xylem, thus appearing to be dry.

[adk1]

Why dont you post a pic of the trees from afar and near. Need to see the branch structure and the bark. My guess is that they are not maples.

[RubberDuck]

They are most definitely maples... aside from my own observations (leaves, opposing twigs, etc), an arborist friend confirmed it. I suppose maybe I'm not going deep enough, at least on the really big tree, but the smaller tree is only about 17" in diameter so I'd think 2" would be plenty. It's also not the weather, I live less than a 1/4 mile from where I'm pulling almost a bucket a day from many other maples. Both trees are very healthy.

[Mike R.]

Maybe a bad spot on the tree. I have tapped a tree into a bad spot even though the wood looked fine and no sap flow. Moved to the North side of the tree (I know better then to tap on the north side) and it was running very good, could fill a bucket in a day.

[BoarsNest]

I've had red maples that are fussy. Some years I get nothing and some years a lot. I think it depends on the weather and where I put the tap.

[bowtie]

if you plan on tapping a tree very long you will eventually need to tap the north side of a tree. old wives tale that they will not run on north side of tree, it may run later but will still run and it may run longer than the south near end of season.

[Mike in NY]

have 5 big 3-4 tap trees that never give me enough sap to justify the effort. but they are road trees and I always figured plowing the road sent the frost deeper than trees just 20-30 ft away

[bigschuss]

All good explanations for trees that don't seem to produce. I have a little grove that sits in a shady, snowy river bottom. These trees will not begin running until mid to late March. Yet, just 150 yards away on the sunny edge of a field my trees all run about 3 weeks earlier. Unusually thick bark, a bad spot on a tree, a strange little micro-environment...all could be the culprit?

[Winters Harvest]

Last year, we had one section of the bush that had never been tapped and it was near a stand of hemlock. The maples are on the top of the knoll with the hemlocks mainly on the downslope to the south. We got about 75 gallons of sap from 250 taps for the whole season. This year the hemlocks are mostly gone at this point and will be all but history by the middle of the week. The hemlocks created a cold area in the bush and when it finally warmed enough to run the buds were out. Evergreens can have a big effect on sap production. Do you have any near your maples?

[RubberDuck]

Nope, no evergreens, but many oaks.

On a good note, I made 4 pints yesterday of some of the best syrup I've ever produced. What I'm pulling from the inlaws' farm is SUPER high sugar content.

[Russell Lampron]

I have had the same problem with red maples and very old sugar maples. If you put vacuum to them they all run. The sap is there but some trees don't want to give it up by natural flow.

[steve J]

I got two such maples that are about 10 ft apart that have never given me a drop I finally stop tapping them 2 years ago. All the trees around them run hard.

[jackrock]

I suspect a bad spot. Maples are good at compartmentalization. They can shut down a damaged area to isolate it. A close inspection of the bark may show some discoloration or other abnormality. The tree may be in decline or you may be tapping a wounded area. Of course you would notice a problem with buckets but not tubing.