double tapping?

[clydefrog]

a local producer around here has announced they are tapping their trees for the second time this season...i didn't know this was possible. is this something you folks would do if you had an extra long season like this one is turning out to be?

[sugarman3]

No,never would put that stress on a tree,mother nature is going to give you what she can

[325abn]

Oh based on the title, I thought this thread was going to be about shooting! :) :)

[spud]

a local producer around here has announced they are tapping their trees for the second time this season...i didn't know this was possible. is this something you folks would do if you had an extra long season like this one is turning out to be?

I would never double tap my trees but I would consider reaming them to 7/16 if they are now 5/16 holes. I would not ream a tree to 7/16 unless that tree was about 16 inches or so.

Spud

[5050racing]

I think they mean they only put 1 tap in some trees that could have 2 or 3 and now they add them others??

[Russell Lampron]

Are they drilling a new hole or drilling the original ones deeper? I have done the drill them deeper thing before. One time it worked and I got another week of sap runs. The other time it worked for about a day. I won't do it again. The results weren't worth the effort and I haven't had the situation arise since I started using check valves.

If they are drilling another hole it's too much stress on the tree. Not something I would do, even to a red maple.

[heus]

I accidently "double-tapped" one of my nice young 12" sugars this year. Went around and drilled holes in about a dozen nearby trees. Came back through and put in the spouts. This one particular tree I couldnt find the hole so figured I missed it and drilled it again. Next day saw a streaming line of sap coming out of the original hole that I missed. Still feel bad about that but Im guessing she will be fine.:)

[clydefrog]

i'm pretty sure they mean tapping all the trees all over again. these guys are the local tourist attraction and they put this out on their own blog...they do a festival every year the last two weekends of february and they tapped so early this year they were going to run out of sap before the shindig. so they tapped again to have sap for the festival's sake. they're a big operation with like 2000 trees or so.

[spud]

There was a guy in the Maple News last season that tapped a second time in his woods. I am not sure where he was from but I think he should have reamed instead.

Spud

[bowtie]

if they own the trees it is really their own problem to deal with if it hurts the trees, they are the only ones who will suffer down the road. that said if they have alot of untapped bushes the economics of it may work in their favor short-term. if they only have one tap per tree i doubt there will be any long term consequence to double tapping if this is a one-time deal, if they do this every year i would think it could be a problem in 10-15 years. there alot of operations that are in it as a business and that is it, nothing wrong with that at all, but sometimes what they do doesn't make sense to us that are in it for different reasons. we do not have acess to their books, so we really should not pass judgement on them. i would not double tap trees or ream out holes now but it has crossed my mind and i have thought about it and what effects it has pro or con. from what i have read here and from others it is not recommended from a tree health perspective or financial but it is everyones own decision to make. if you are near them it may be worth asking them just to find out the results they get.

[unc23win]

I know someone who years ago when he had buckets he would always ream the holes to extend his sap season. Seems like reaming might be a little easier with buckets and the old metal spouts as far as leaks are concerned. From what I understand once the hole is drilled the damage is done the only thing that could be worse is too many holes. I find myself amazed by the health of trees in general not just Maple as to which trees die and which ones don't very similar to humans some die young and some don't some look healthy but aren't while others look like they are dieing yet hang on for years.