I acquired more trees! Need ideas on the most economical way to tap them.

[Sandersyrup]

Ok so by chance I met a neighbor who wants me to tap his trees for him in exchange for some of the syrup!

Best estimate is about 25 - 40 taps not knowing anything about how many total maples he has or how many taps they can hold. Most of them are large Sugar Maples with lots of space and large crowns. :)

I am not a wealthy guy this time of year an need suggestions on what currently is most affordable way to collect his sap! So far I'm thinking 5 gal buckets with tubing and spouts. My personal sugarbush is on stainless steel spiles into aluminum buckets.

Additionally we have log warming spells so these spouts would need to be effective in avoiding infections that close the holes early.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
John Sanderson


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[psparr]

Your a ways away from shady maple, but they have 5 gallon frosting buckets for $2

And leader clear seasonal spouts for $0.17.

There was even a guy on here who hung his buckets from those spouts. I tried a few that way and didn't have any problems. Good luck.

[BreezyHill]

How many trees and how dense is the bush?

30 buckets at $2 is a roll of tubing and 30 spouts and tees.

[Sandersyrup]

All trees are accessible on a driveway. I figure I'll start with 30 taps and possibly expand next year into his soft maples.

I called Shady Maple and reserved 15 buckets.

Are you saying to try to run gravity to a single container?

[325abn]

why not?..........

[psparr]

Call shady and ask if they have the white ones. They are a little harder to come by. They usually have yellow.

[Sandersyrup]

I picked up 10 white and 5 yellow. I'm pleased with them. Thanks so much for the referral!

Now I need to bite the bullet on tubing. Anybody know if a source for less than 500'?


John

Sandersyrup
Strasburg, PA

6 taps Red, 8 taps Norway.

Amish canner evaporator.

[Dave Y]

Tubing comes in 500 ft rolls and does not spoil.

[lpakiz]

John,
Do you know anyone who has a tubing setup? They would have lots of leftover short pieces of tubing. This results from "remodeling" lateral lines to make them more efficient. I have pieces from 2 feet to 12 feet that are too short to use, in most cases. I would bet most tubing users would have leftover pieces like this.
Otherwise, a whole roll is no more than $60