Fixing a bad tap

[Jeffty]

I tried to put vinyl tubing directly in my tap holes this year but found that the sap just ran down the side of the tree and not into the tube!
I then tried to "patch" the tap hole with tapered sticks but those leaked too!
I hammered the sticks into the tap holes, cut the sticks flush with the tree, tapped into the stick, and put a spile into that hole.
Trouble is that the sap is still leaking all over the tree and not into my buckets.

Has anyone had success filling a bad tap hole?

Should I just make a new tap hole altogether and accept that I'll loose what is pouring out of the bad tap holes?

Any advice would be appreciated!

[DonMcJr]

That hole is there until the tree heals it itself in a year or two. There's no plugging it unless you can find some kind of Tap made for Maple Syrup that will go in the hole and direct it into your bucket. Even if it leaks around the tap as long as some goes into your bucket you are not losing it all. If no tap will fit in the hole then just leave it to heal and everytime you see the sap pouring out on the ground just chalk it up as a learning experience. We all have alot of "learning experiences" and that's what makes us better at Sugaring!!!

[Tweegs]

I spend quite a bit of time in Sugarbush Supplies, I don’t remember seeing any half inch spiles. Not saying they don’t have them, just haven’t seen any.

How big in diameter and how deep did you drill the original hole?
How big in diameter is the tree at chest height and how many holes per tree did you drill?

Might be able to fix it depending on how bad the original is. Depending on the tree’s diameter, you might be able to add a hole, but your production from the tree is going to be severely reduced.

[Ed R]

What size bit did you use? Get the appropriate size spiles, tap them in until snug, after pulling out the tubing and sticks you have in there. If you have a straight, clean, round, hole most will not leak. I would not retap unless you under tapped in the first place. You said you had spiles in there someplace what size are they. If you need 7/16 spiles because you cut a bigger hole to accomodate the tubing than the spiles you have I have a few I could run up to you at some point, I'm down in Temperance. The old taps I have would work up to a hole slightly larger than .5 inches.

[DonMcJr]

I just wanted to add too that if you are just using a barbed plumbing fitting they are gonna leak. I saw a video on youtube where someone did that and tried it myself and they are not tapered and smoothe like a Maple Syrup tap.

[Blocmi]

You could try to put a cork bottle stopper in the hole (you can find them in various sizes at most hardware stores) and then tap cork for a 5/16ths spout.
I wouldn't tap the tree a second time.

[happy thoughts]

I tried to put vinyl tubing directly in my tap holes this year but found that the sap just ran down the side of the tree and not into the tube!
I then tried to "patch" the tap hole with tapered sticks but those leaked too!
I hammered the sticks into the tap holes, cut the sticks flush with the tree, tapped into the stick, and put a spile into that hole.
Trouble is that the sap is still leaking all over the tree and not into my buckets.

Has anyone had success filling a bad tap hole?

Should I just make a new tap hole altogether and accept that I'll loose what is pouring out of the bad tap holes?

Any advice would be appreciated!

You didn't say what diameter tubing. If it's around a half inch what I would do is look for a 7/16 taperd metal spile. You should be able to plug up the hole a little better. You may need to tap a little deeper, I'd use a 7/16th drill bit for that. Just be aware that the deeper you drill the more internal tree wounding you will cause and it gets incrementally larger as depth increases. Just drill deep enough to allow the tapered spile to fit into the depth needed to plug the hole well. It will still be less wounding than if you tap another hole. Absolutely remove the sticks. They are not helping the tree heal and have probably introduced bacteria into the sap hole. Good luck and hope you are able to salvage the season.

[Jeffty]

I bet the tree was too cold when I tapped the original hole and the wood split. The tubing is 5/8 so I don't think a 7/16 spile will work.
I'll include some pictures so that you all know what I am talking about. One picture shows a stick in the tap hole. The other pictures shows a spile that has been tapped into a stick that was jammed in the original tap hole.

How confusing! It sure has been a year of learning!

7031
7032
7033
7034

[happy thoughts]

It's hard to tell what size tap you used. A TAPERED metal SS 7/16 tap might still work as you should be able to insert it a little deeper than where a 7/16th hole would normally stop it. But more importantly, exactly what size hole did you drill? What size drill bit? That's the dimension you're going to need to fill. And yes you could have split the tree but it's usually banging in the tap too hard and not drilling the hole that cracks it. If worse comes to worst, you might try fashioning a spile of the right dimension in the old fashioned way from sumac. Or just let the tree go this year and try to tap another or depending on the tree's size putting in one more tap if it's diameter is large enough. Just chalk it up to experience. My mistakes are always my own best teacher:)

[happy thoughts]

If you're interested in trying sumac spiles I found this on youtube ......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-skos1517s

[Jeffty]

The original hole was 5/8. The plastic spile is 5/16. I can try to find a metal 7/16 spile locally and see if that fixes it. I will have to drill the sticks out now that they are jammed in the original hole.
All of my trees are 1 tap only trees.

Thanks for you help everyone!

[Run Forest Run!]

Trouble is that the sap is still leaking all over the tree and not into my buckets.

Ah, the dreaded 5/16 blue health spiles. Once again I see I'm not the only one who has a lot of trouble with these things. Jeffty, I made a thread about these spiles. Mine leak and then fall out. It's frustrating and I feel your pain.

[Ed R]

Jeffty Your going to need the larger rolled metal continuous tapered spile as Happy Thoughts said. If you cant find any I have some I think they will work. We could meet at Cabelas in dundee. I'll give them to ya if all you need is 15 or so. I can't stand the thought of those trees bleeding all spring long. Looks like a norway from the pic.

[Jeffty]

Ed, thanks so much!
I will look around town today and get back to you by tomorrow.

Happy Thoughts, I have access to some Sumac trees that I hope are not poison sumac... I would like to try those taps next year for fun!~

[Ed R]

I'll met you tomorrow (wednesday)at 6:00 pm. I'll park in the RV/trailered vehicle parking area on the se side of the building. I'll be driving a red Saturn Vue. I've wanted to go shopping up there for a while and use some of my rewards money. How many are you going to need?

[happy thoughts]

Ed, thanks so much!
I will look around town today and get back to you by tomorrow.

Happy Thoughts, I have access to some Sumac trees that I hope are not poison sumac... I would like to try those taps next year for fun!~

@Ed R what an incredibly generous offer! I hope the sap gods smile on you this year because you deserve it :)

@Jeffty- Good luck to you this year as well. Looks like the sap gods have already smiled on you and sent you a guardian angel:)

Staghorn sumac is pretty easy to ID, especially this time of year when the mature red fruiting clusters are prominent at the ends of branches. Poison sumac has small whitish berries that are borne differently than staghorn sumac. That said, a lot of people mistakenly think that staghorn sumac is poison sumac because the compound leaves look similar, but there too, the individual leaves between the two are different. Poison sumac has smooth leaf edges, staghorn leaf edges are jagged. Just look closely to ID what you have growing near you and you shouldn't have any worries.

here's a web page that shows the difference...

http://www.poison-sumac.org/

[Jeffty]

10 taps will be great! I can ditch the plastic blue taps finally!

[Jeffty]

Happy Thoughts,

Thank you for your help and I'll let you know how the sumac taps go!

[DonMcJr]

Awesome! This is what this website and it's great folks is all about!

[Jeffty]

Update!

Ed gave me 10 big rolled-metal spiles to put into the large holes I'd made for vinyl tube. I drilled a little deeper into the tree, hammered the spiles in gently, and crossed my fingers. The next day, only one tree had leaking and the others had full buckets!!

Thanks to Ed I've caught a good amount of sap and am on my way to hopefully 1.5 gallons of syrup from my 5 small maples!

[happy thoughts]

Glad that worked for you jeffty:) And kudos again to Ed for his generous spirit. Hope you both make plenty of syrup!

[Ed R]

I'm glad the taps worked out for you. Let us know how the season ends up for you.