tapping?

[acrete]

Is anybody putting some taps in for this upcoming warm up? Will the sap be flowing? I'm pretty new to sugaring but I was thinking of putting a few out to see what I get. I've got more trees than I can handle right now so I figure if the taps dry up ill still have the other trees later in the season.

[Drew Pond Maple]

I would wait til the regular season. Unless you have plenty of extra trees.

[handtapper]

I read a uvm study that said no significant difference in sap collection with tapping early compared to later as the big run days are in march april. They didn't seem to think holes really dried up until march april anyways due to rising temps and some sort bacteria building up. If I get the shack up and evap in Saturday I am going to put out maybe 50 taps. That's 50 less taps I have to put out in 3 weeks.

[optionguru]

I'm waiting until I see the local big guys tap

[CharlieVT]

I read a uvm study that said no significant difference in sap collection with tapping early compared to later as the big run days are in march april. They didn't seem to think holes really dried up until march april anyways due to rising temps and some sort bacteria building up....

Can you find that study and give us a link to it or some kind of reference like date of study and who wrote it?
Thanks.

[handtapper]

When I google "tapping maple trees early" it is the 3rd link from the top. Its in pdf form. I can't do a link or anything involving copy paste from my "smart phone" seeing I'm willing to buy 500$ in maple sugar shack parts but won't pay for landline internet, that really sais something

[GeneralStark]

I read a uvm study that said no significant difference in sap collection with tapping early compared to later as the big run days are in march april. They didn't seem to think holes really dried up until march april anyways due to rising temps and some sort bacteria building up. If I get the shack up and evap in Saturday I am going to put out maybe 50 taps. That's 50 less taps I have to put out in 3 weeks.

The study you are referring to can be found here: http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/tapping.pdf

Your conclusions aren't totally correct. If you are talking about bucket or gravity taps, you may be able to get away with early tapping on a cold year, but in a warm year not so much.

With vacuum tubing and good taphole sanitation (cv spouts/seasonal spouts, frequent drop change) tapping early generally produces more sap, though weather is certainly a factor.

[morningstarfarm]

If you have the trees I would say go for it...my suggestion is to watch the weather close...2 years ago I tapped in the first week of jan...that year I had my best year ever...and everyone told me I was crazy...until they tapped in in feb and the temps jumped to the 70's...and depending on where you are we have microclimes...I generally run a couple weeks ahead of many of my neighbors...

[acrete]

So I went ahead and put a few taps out on Friday. I only have about a dozen sugar maples and then probably a hundred silver maples, and I only have a half pint evaporator this year. So I thought I would tap a few silvers just to see what happens and save the sugar maples for the real season. I checked them yesterday and nothing. Checked them today and a couple of them are running, not a whole lot though. I put out 18 taps, probably 6 of them didn't do anything, between the rest I probably got a half gallon of sap. Checked it with my hydrometer, 1.5%. This is only my second year doing syrup, last year I did 4 taps off of my two big sugar maples. Boiled down with a turkey fryer and got 9 pints of syrup out of about 45 gallons of sap. I'm not looking forward to the sap from those silver maples if they stay at 1.5%. Another thing I noticed when I checked today is the bark around the tap is all wet. I attached a picture, did I do something wrong here? Pound the tap in too far? or is this normal? This picture isn't the worse one either, a couple other trees were worse.

8367

[steve J]

It looks like you drilled your hole at an angle thus giving you more of an oval hole vs a round hole thus not a real tight fit!

[acrete]

You are right, I did drill at a bit of an angle. I thought I read somewhere that that helps with the flow. So I should drill them level from now on?

[CharlieVT]

Thank you very much for the link.


The study you are referring to can be found here: http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/tapping.pdf

Your conclusions aren't totally correct. If you are talking about bucket or gravity taps, you may be able to get away with early tapping on a cold year, but in a warm year not so much.

With vacuum tubing and good taphole sanitation (cv spouts/seasonal spouts, frequent drop change) tapping early generally produces more sap, though weather is certainly a factor.

[unc23win]

You are right, I did drill at a bit of an angle. I thought I read somewhere that that helps with the flow. So I should drill them level from now on?

That looks like a Check valve (CV2) spout and they are suppose to be drilled level. I thought they came with directions in the bag maybe you didn't buy a whole bag.

[acrete]

https://www.bascommaple.com/item/lacsp/spout_leader/

Those are the spouts I am using. I bought 50 of them.

[handtapper]

I put out 15 taps and got 15gallons plus or minus in 24 hours. I ment to put more out today but work is so busy right now I didn't get to it this morning

[adk1]

anyone read on the older black CV spouts whether or not you should be drilling at a slight angle compared to level on gravity?

[jmayerl]

All taps, wether on gravity, vacuum, or buckets should be drilled straight in rather than at a downward angle. We all know the tree creates pressure to allow sap to flow and therefore does not need to be at a angle to drain out. Drilling at a angle is only asking for a oblong hole and a leak.

[unc23win]

anyone read on the older black CV spouts whether or not you should be drilling at a slight angle compared to level on gravity?

They came with instructions suppose to drill level.

[handtapper]

Drove home with 35 gallons of sap this evening. I'm very happy to get the chance to do a test boil on the new evap and shack this weekend before the real runs happen.

[BlueberryHill]

We built a 2 handed tool this morning then a tubing un-spooler and headed out to the hill behind my brothers house. Strung up 3/16 line zigzagged up the hill and got everything nice and tight. Threw together the drop lines and figured it was getting warm out and "It is February" so we went ahead and tapped. Got 18 in on the line. Gonna get back over there tomorrow morning and run another line with about 12 more on the other side of the yard. Sap was running pretty good into the collection drum this afternoon. These are all on natural/gravity vacuum and I put in new check valve taps and used a brand new drill bit so I am hoping that these will run well into the spring even though we are tapping a tad early. At my house the trees are too spread out and I don't have the hill for this kind of setup so I am 100% buckets here. So I am not tapping at my place yet. Maybe 2 more weeks if things stay looking like they are now.

[Bill'sSugarShack]

All taps, wether on gravity, vacuum, or buckets should be drilled straight in rather than at a downward angle. We all know the tree creates pressure to allow sap to flow and therefore does not need to be at a angle to drain out. Drilling at a angle is only asking for a oblong hole and a leak.
Hmmm...as an old(er) timer, I was taught to drill at a slight upward angle so sap could drain out better! Have never had an issue with taps being pushed out!
Each to his/her own however!!!