Drop Line Placement

[Big Buck Acres]

First attempt at tubing... I have read that placing a drop too close to mainline (1/2'line ' in my case) will have negative effect on sap flow, I plan on having approx 3 -4 drops on each lateral, my question is, would it be ok to tie a drop directly to my 3 way attachement on mainline , instead of to my lateral when practical to do so. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Tom

[northwoods_forestry]

Hi Tom - How many taps you put on each lateral and how long those laterals run depends on whether you will be using vacuum or gravity flow (or if you plan on adding vacuum in the not too distant future). Going with 3-4 taps per lateral will work well if using vacuum, but if on gravity flow you will do better with 15-30 per lateral so you can take advantage of natural vacuum - assuming you have decent slope to work with. In the latter case, having a drop too close to the mainline can cause problems. Sap tends to back up in the lateral above the mainline and can back right up into a drop if it is too close - within say, 6 feet (and even start blowing sap out of the tap hole on a strong run). On the other hand, if you do have only a couple taps/lateral a drop close to the mainline shouldn't be a problem.

As for plugging a drop directly into the mainline, I don't see why that wouldn't work, but you will not be able to generate natural vacuum with only one tap and production from that tap will likely be disappointing.

[Big Buck Acres]

Thank You for input, I do not have vacuum pump, nor plan for one in the future, ideally I would like to have more taps per lateral , but may be a challenge to maintain proper slope if I add to many. With the info you provided, I will definately try to add more taps per line to achieve natural vaccum.
Dont know why sap would back up if all lines are properly sloped??? I expect it will all make more sense once I get set up and sap starts running.
Thanks again
Tom