drop line length ?

[antler creek]

what is the average drop line length that sappers are using ? What is your reasoning behind using longer drops ?





2by6 waterloo small
110 buckets
300 taps on steeeep gravity
still learning

[relseek]

I am by no means an expert but I believe the recommended length is 24 to 30 inches depending on the size of the tree

[spud]

I go 36 inches on my drops. I loose about half an inch each year when I cut my seasonal spouts off.

Spud

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I use 30 inch with a stubby and check valve. 30 inch gives me lots of reach to get to as much tapping area as possible on the tree,

[DrTimPerkins]

The average reported length is 30" (in fall 2012, see chart below), however the trend is towards longer droplines. This is partly due to the use of seasonal spouts (small amount cut off each year). The reason to use long droplines is to avoid cluster-tapping, and to allow you to tap within a larger portion of the tree stem (tapping band), which will reduce the probability of hitting stained, non-functional wood caused by previous tapholes. There is a good deal of information on this under the "New Publications" section of the UVM PMRC webpage. http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/

8741

[JoeJ]

When I started with tubing 11 years ago, I used 24" drop lines. New woods, most of the trees had never been taped. I re-tubed 6 years ago and went with 32" drop lines. I just added 2000 taps this summer and now am using 40" drops. The taping band is much larger and the extra drop length will give plenty of reach to stay away from old tap holes in the future.

Cost analysis: 1- 500' roll semi rigid tubing, $48.00. 750-8" pieces in roll. extra 8" drop length: $.066 to go from 32" to 40", total cost on 2000 taps: $133. Not much of an added cost on
a $21,000. mainline and tubing installation.

[wiam]

I started with 30. All new ones are 36

[BreezyHill]

The drop length will change depending on your management level.
If changing spouts annual and will when you will be changing drops.

Lets say you were using 24s. And now you are changing drops every five years. You will be cutting of nearly an inch annually so you will need 28 to have the same reach the last year.

If you change drops every ten years you will need 33s.

My bush varies in tree size from 4'+ to 10". So depending on what section I am in I change the drop length; and some sections of the bush have only been taped a few years as it is new property added to the bush. So Here I can get away with 24" and save a little $$$ on drops until the next drop change time. That 24" drop on a 10" tree will reach all the tapping area that tree will have for several years to come.

My reasoning is economics. If I can save time and money it shows more black ink at the end of the season. Adding an extra 6" to 1000 taps is 1 roll of tubing plus more time.
You need to look at your trees to decide what length your trees need and its away of packing down this deep snow in the bush. A few hours spent now packing will be appreciated when you start tapping.

I built a drop machine and the first wheel is a 30" cut length. The second will be a 24" and I will be making a 36". Takes about 10 minutes to do a roll of drops.

Ben

[kiteflyingeek]

Ben,

Picture of that machine, please?

--andrew

[JoeJ]

I re-tubed my woods six years ago with 32" drop lines and used clear straight spouts. The next year I started using the check valve spouts in all but one 160 tap section on my woods that has its own releaser. I have never[/U]never cut off the clear seasonal spouts. So the results from 5 year old 32" drops in 2013 from those 160 taps was 27.67 gallons of sap per tap. Vacuum was maintained at 26" - 26.5" I changed to 40" drops this year on my new 2000 trees that have never been taped to widen the taping band. I will NOT be cutting off the clear straight adapters off these drops either

[antler creek]

what awesome responces to what some would think would be a generic question. in this area I've seen everything from 6" drop lines to pass thru double nipple taps being used with no drops at all. is this a no no in the industry and longer drops are beter for the health of the hole and therefor the tree? Thanks for everyones input..(still learning)

[DrTimPerkins]

....I've seen everything from 6" drop lines to pass thru double nipple taps being used with no drops at all. is this a no no in the industry and longer drops are beter for the health of the hole and therefor the tree?

Tapping a tree will cause a "stain", which is the natural wound response in trees. This extends all around the taphole, but primarily in an up-down direction, and can be 6-12" long (each direction) with a 5/16" spout, and longer with a 7/16" spout. This stained zone is non-functional in that it will no longer carry sap or be used for carbohydrate storage. Therefore, tapping into such a stained area will result in no sap or reduced sap flow. Having a longer dropline allows you to spread the taps out in a large tapping band around the tree, which reduces the probability of tapping into a stained zone from previous tapping.

Very short drops (6-12") and no drops (double-taps) don't allow much movement of the taphole around, which results in cluster tapping. Over time, this can completely kill the growth in that area of the tree....which means no sap at all and poorer tree health.

There is a computer model (Microsoft Excel-based) showing how different variables affect tapping "sustainability" and several related papers located at http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/?Page=tappingguidelines.htm

[Sugarmaker]

We just updated 6 year old spouts and drop lines to 30 inch. Most old ones were 24 ish.
Regards,
Chris

[BreezyHill]

87578758

This is the unit I built as a prototype.
I used the hard wood frame as it was easier for me to modify than to run the welder to do a metal frame.

My issue is cutting the tubing all the way thru.

The rubber on the wheels was added after I took down the wheel to far and lost compression of the tubing that is needed for traction.

I use a screw gun to power the unit. When I have time I will lath out another wheel and router it for the groove and work on getting the cutting perfect.

Let me know how you make out.

Ben