Shouldn't there be a sticky?

[NTBugtraq]

I went back some 10 pages of threads and couldn't find one that looked like it answered my questions...and, I couldn't figure out how to search for my answers as I'm not sure how to phrase it.

I went from 10 taps to 150 this year, and over 1000' of mainline and 2000' of 5/16" (laterals and drops). I thought I'd heard of people leaving their taps in year round, but at the same time that makes no sense to me (how would the tree heal, and wouldn't it heal with the tap in it anyway?). Dropping the mainline and laterals to the ground makes sense to avoid damage during the off-season, but is that really the most cost-effective way?

What's the SOP for tubed (and/or vaccumed) bushes at season end?


Remove all taps
loosen all ratchets for wire on mainline
loosen all tension wraps for main or laterals
lower all tubing to the forest floor
leave, or remove taps from the drop lines (assuming replacement next year)
flush all lines with fresh water
Whatever else I've missed
When do you put the lines back up off the ground? (gotta get it above whatever snow is coming)
When do you tap anew?


Cheers,
Russ

[325abn]

Rule#1- don't make more work for yourself!

I as I am sure most do. Just pull the taps and plug them into the cup or plug that is on each tee. I will also drain any left over sap that I can.

[NTBugtraq]

Rule#1- don't make more work for yourself!

I as I am sure most do. Just pull the taps and plug them into the cup or plug that is on each tee. I will also drain any left over sap that I can.

"Plug or cup"?? There's nothing on the tree but my tap??

Cheers,
Russ

[Russell Lampron]

"Plug or cup"?? There's nothing on the tree but my tap??

Cheers,
Russ

There should be a cup or a pin on the tee at the bottom of your drop. When you remove the tap from the tree put it into the cup or onto the pin on the tee. If you are using a spout that won't fit into the cup or onto the pin just let it hang.

Don't loosen up everything and drop the tubing to the ground. Just leave it as is so that it doesn't get dirty and or buried. Don't loosen the ratchets or tie backs on the mainlines either. There is no advantage to doing so.

I turn on my vacuum pump and pull water through the taps as I pull them to rinse the tubing. I am having second thoughts on this because I have heard pros and cons for cleaning and not cleaning. It would save a lot of work to just leave everything dirty and discard the first few gallons of sap in the spring.

With seasonal spouts or adapters with check valves you can start tapping as early as you want and still have fresh holes late in the season. I typically start around the middle of February.

[NTBugtraq]

Ok, I get it now Russ, thanks, I used those types of Tees last year but not this year. I wasn't really thrilled with trying to pump water through to the taps, but I did have a plan...;-] Throwing away my first dump or two wouldn't be a problem (but I would likely just boil it...lolz)

Outta curiosity, how high are your mains and laterals, can you drive under them? I'd like to clean out some fallen trees and such and as it is, I couldn't with my lines the way they are.

Cheers,
Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Some of my mainlines are high enough to drive under and some are almost laying on the ground. Most of them can't be driven under but are high enough off of the ground to keep them from getting buried in the snow. My laterals are the same you can lift them to walk under them but there are very few that you can drive a 4 wheeler under.

If you are using vacuum you can put sap ladders in places where a mainline crosses a path or road. That will let you get the sap from one side of the road to the other and still drive under it.

[markct]

My tubing stays right where it is year round just pull taps and plug them onto the tee. The only exception are a few that cross paths have quick connects in mainline to be opened up after season. Other places where i need to get in with tractor for firewood etc i usualy will unhook and roll up a few lines and or loosen a mainline and lift it up 6 ft or more with a strap to be able to drive our small ford tractor under it.

[NTBugtraq]

So my bush is a pocket of deciduous in an alvar...it's surrounded by conifers (and tamaracks). The most dominant species is Poplar, but only because nobody has touched this bush for some 200+ years (used to be farmed for peat, not my area, but nearby).

So I am aggressively dropping the 80'+ poplars (or ash, or aspen, you pick your tree name). They dominate the canopy, with the exception of a few incredible oaks. Point is, there are tons of maples, but they are narrow, and very tall, and tend to be the ones that get broken in storms. So I want to do some selective thinning, mostly cutting out the poplars to let the maples grow, and need to be able to move around. After completely focusing on tapping this winter, I walked back in the bush the other day and realized...omg, I can't pull a tree outta here. So it kinda sounds like I should target an area a year, and drop mainlines to be able to do what I gotta do, and hopefully not have to come back to that for some number of years.

I have no paths, and my terrain is so rocky its questionable whether I can even get an ATV over a lot of it to drag out stuff. I don't want to make roads or anything, just clear fallen trees and make the mainline/lateral walk-paths less trippy.

Take it a little bit at a time, I guess.

Cheers,
Russ