Small tree tapping

[Mr. Red Maple]

Hey I was just wondering what the smallest tree you guys have tapped and re tapped. I have never gone below 10 inch diameter. I wanted to know if you guys have ever tapped smaller trees for a long time 2+ years. I have lots of trees a bit smaller than 10 inches and would like to try to tap them but I don't want to hurt them. And also what is the sap yield lower on smaller trees?

[buckeye gold]

If it's a nice healthy straight tree I leave it under 10". If it crooked or damaged I tap it until it needs culled. I get good runs from small trees, close to same as bigger ones.

[maple flats]

I've tapped trees as small as 5-6" but only if they are designated for removal (and only on my property, I don't have permission to remove trees on my leases). Since the tap just feeds into my tubing, I can't comment on how much I got, but my guess is that the flow was OK but having a smaller crown the sugar was likely low.

[spud]

You can tap 5-6 inch trees every year and most will not die. Those trees will give 15-25 GPT under high vacuum. The sugar on those trees will be around 1.0-1.7%. The problem you will run into is finding a place to tap the tree after 7-10 years. This is where 36-40 inch drops come to be handy. The growth rate of a small maple will slow down if you are tapping it with high vacuum. My untapped 6 inch trees are growing at a rate of 1/2 inch per season. I have a lateral line of small trees I tap under high vacuum and those trees are still growing 1/4 inch per season. If you are 20 years old and you don't mind waiting for you're 5 inch trees to reach 10 inches (10+ years of waiting) then thats great. If you're 50 years old waiting 10+ years could be a problem. It's possible you're ashes could be sprinkled under the trees you were waiting for:lol:. Once you turn 50 just waking up in the morning is a blessing. Most heart attacks happen between 6:00am and noon so if you make it till lunch you're doing great. My point is if you're creeping up in years you might want to take another look at those small trees you have.

Spud

[lakeview maple]

Cmon Spud this is my last year before I kick the door on the big 50, now Ive got to go and tap all those small trees! Lol

[buckeye gold]

Man now I'm depressed. Since I'm turning 60 in March I may as well put a for sale sign on the shack and see if i can make a down payment on my funeral by bartering some syrup to the undertaker. Perhaps I will just do as someone once said the Canadians do with 5-6 trees.....drill clear through and drive a tap on both sides. Oh before anyone get's their panties in a bunch I'm just kidding and I did see that posted on one of forums once.

[adk1]

I agree with the if they are small trees and you are going to cull them tap away

[Sunday Rock Maple]

It's possible you're ashes could be sprinkled under the trees you were waiting for

LOL! I think it was George Burns who said "At my age I don't even buy green bananas".

[treeguy]

I tapped a few small trees i will cull anyway and some did good..If i was wanting the best growth and future for the smaller trees i would think it be best to wait and give them the pass.

[spud]

Man now I'm depressed. Since I'm turning 60 in March I may as well put a for sale sign on the shack and see if i can make a down payment on my funeral by bartering some syrup to the undertaker. Perhaps I will just do as someone once said the Canadians do with 5-6 trees.....drill clear through and drive a tap on both sides. Oh before anyone get's their panties in a bunch I'm just kidding and I did see that posted on one of forums once.

Don't get depressed and sell the farm buckeye gold. Although now that you're turning 60 you might want to tap 3-4 inch trees:lol:. I am glad people found the humor in this.

Spud

[CMM]

I'm fairly new at this and I tap between 1800 and 1900 on 14 acres. A bunch are in the 6 inch range. I use 1/4" spouts and the holes are mostly all healed over in 1 year on those small trees.

[GeneralStark]

I'm fairly new at this and I tap between 1800 and 1900 on 14 acres. A bunch are in the 6 inch range. I use 1/4" spouts and the holes are mostly all healed over in 1 year on those small trees.

Wow, that's about 130 taps/acre which is a very dense sugarbush. One thing to consider would be shooting to get it down to about 80-90 taps/acre by thinning poorly formed and or suppressed trees to get your crop trees more light and nutrients. If you (or a forester) were to identify your crop trees, and the keep tapping your cull trees, you could gradually work towards the goal of a sugarwoods of vigorous trees.

6" trees will certainly produce sap, especially if they are vigorous, but if they are suppressed in the understory which seems likely at your density, they will likely slowly succumb to tapping and may not do well if something removes the dominant trees.

Just something to consider.

[CMM]

If you (or a forester) were to identify your crop trees, and the keep tapping your cull trees, you could gradually work towards the goal of a sugarwoods of vigorous trees.


How do you tell what are crop trees verses cull trees, other than size? I guess I should cut out some of the red maples, I have a couple hundred of those.

[DrTimPerkins]

6" trees will certainly produce sap, especially if they are vigorous, but if they are suppressed in the understory which seems likely at your density, they will likely slowly succumb to tapping and may not do well if something removes the dominant trees.

At the very least with that level of crowding you are slowing down the growth of all the trees, whether they are tapped or not. You can think of tapping and collecting the sap as an interest rate that you are asking the tree to pay each year you tap it. With a big tree, the interest might amount to a couple of percent. With a small tree (6") on vacuum, you're asking it to pay 15-20% interest -- that is a lot. They'll deal with that level of impact for a while, but it will definitely reduce their vigor and increase mortality in that stand within a 5-10 yr time frame.

The better approach is to thin the stand to allow the crop trees to grow faster. Faster growing trees produce MORE sap and SWEETER sap. You'd probably make more syrup from that stand with fewer trees with higher production rates than you would with it being very high density. Plus it would require less infrastructure (tubing, drops, and spouts) and there would be a reduced opportunity for leaks.

I definitely understand the "thinning with a tapping bit" concept, and it does have its time and place, but it should be used sparingly and is certainly a poor substitute for a good thinning.

Pick your crop trees by looking at spacing, form (good straight stems without root or stem defects), and most importantly, sap sugar content (which you can test with a refractometer).