Research Survey on Tubing Cleaning

[DrTimPerkins]

Improving Profits for Maple Producers Through Tubing Sanitation
USDA NESARE LNE13-326

Microbes on spouts or in the maple tubing system hasten taphole drying, resulting in reduced sap yields for maple producers who use ineffective spout and tubing replacement or cleaning strategies. The University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center and the Cornell University Maple Program are conducting a joint, multi-year USDA Northeast SARE funded research and education project investigating the effects of spout and tubing sanitation strategies (replacement and/or cleaning) on sap yield and profits. One component of the project is to seek maple producer input and information to assist in both the development of the research as well as to tailor the outputs to meet the needs of the industry. To accomplish this, we need your help. This survey is intended to provide information about this project, to gather some basic information from maple producers, and assess maple producer interest in this project. No personal information (name, address, contact info) is collected in this survey. You should only complete this survey if you are a current maple producer.

Please complete the survey by browsing to: http://alturl.com/5birp
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[Bruce L]

Done,Thanks Dr. Tim

[Shawn]

Dr. Tim, what we have done is to replace lines every five years and next year we will be doing so along with drop lines. Each year I replace the tree saver spouts. I do not like using acid to clean my lines and I guess the word acid does not turn me on, so what we use to do was run water through the line and drops at the end of the year and cap drops off, it worked ok and a lot of work as we do not have a vacume system. I did notice is some lines after the water was used some mold at the end of the lines and I had replaced that. This past season I did not clean the lines and have checked the lines and all look very clear and clean and no so called mold, I was I guess testing to see how this would go. I had read on the site a producer of thirty years that never cleaned the lines and had, had no problems. Its a interesting subject no doubt about it.:confused:

[adk1]

Excellent. I just completed it. thank you very much!

[syrup2nv]

Survey complete.

[Dave Y]

I can not get the link to work.

[68bird]

Survey done!

[maple flats]

Survey done, Thanks Doc.

[optionguru]

Done, thanks for all the help you give us all on a regular basis.

[Shawn]

Done also, Thank You Dr. Tim

[DrTimPerkins]

Keep the survey responses coming folks. Please send the link to other maple producers you know and to your local associations and have them spread the word.

Complete the tubing/spout cleaning survey by browsing to: http://alturl.com/5birp

[gmcooper]

Survey completed. Many thanks Doc and the entire Proctor crew!

[bigtreemaple]

Survey completed, good to see Cornell and Proctor working together, this is a very worthwhile project!

[SeanD]

I can not get the link to work.

It could be your browser. I couldn't get the link to work using Safari. I copied and pasted the link into Firefox and it worked.

Sean

[pdr]

Dr. Tim,

I have tried to access the survey several times the past couple of days. Using Firefox on the computer I get the error message "Server Not Found." Same thing on Samsung 3 tablet.

[DrTimPerkins]

I have no idea why it won't work with those configurations. It is done through a commercial survey service, so I have no way to make changes to their coding. Sorry.

Keep the responses coming folks.....we need a LOT more. http://alturl.com/5birp The NESARE program funds grants largely related to the "interest" and "impact" that the projects will have. One way we can show producer "interest" is via surveys of this type. We need to get a lot more responses, so help spread the word please.

http://alturl.com/5birp

[Four D Acre Farms]

done thanks

[DrTimPerkins]

Too cold to do anything else.....so please help by completing the UVM/Cornell Cleaning Survey

http://alturl.com/5birp

[farmall h]

Survey completed. No problems. 2 below and lightly snowing.:)

[Jmsmithy]

Thanks as always Dr. Tim to you and all the researchers. I hope you know how appreciated you all are!

Survey was remarkably quick! I was surprised when I clicked for page 2 to find I was done...:lol:

[DrTimPerkins]

Thanks as always Dr. Tim to you and all the researchers. I hope you know how appreciated you all are!

Survey was remarkably quick! I was surprised when I clicked for page 2 to find I was done...:lol:

Thanks to all those who've completed the survey so far. We still need LOTS of additional responses.

http://alturl.com/5birp

[DrTimPerkins]

Hi Folks,

We still need LOTS more survey responses. Takes about 1 min.

http://alturl.com/5birp

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Completed the survey weeks ago, but I have a lingering Question and didn't add it on my form.

This is about Clorox bleach. And the use of it for cleaning lines prior to tapping. I have been told that using a mixture of bleach and water (20-1 mix) in each drop will increase production due to reducing bacteria in the drop line. Volume of mixture was 120 oz h2o to 6-8 oz Bleach (1 Gal total) for 1000 taps. The way it was described to me was to carry a (QT/L) spray bottle while tapping and squirt a few times in each drop so that it is coated down to the "T". While this sounds tedious, it sounds like it works good to kill bacteria in the tubing just as the tap is drilled and the drop installed. Then the Sap from the first run flushes out the line. You have to dump a few hundred gal of sap doing this, but should increase grade of finished product faster in the season and increase overall production. This is on older tubing of course (3+ yrs), new tubing should be more bacteria free.

My questions are about the negative impacts of this method. What are they and why?

Other that Squirrels of course. I got them covered.

Thanks for any thoughts.
Ben