Tapping when the air temperature is below 20°

[BG32]

I am new to the industry- this will be our 2nd season. A season veteran told us that you should not tap your trees on a day that the air temp is below 20° because the tap hole could crack. Anybody have and info about this claim or should we just wait for the "maple moon"?

[spud]

I tap down to 15 degrees and never crack a tree.

Spud

[maple flats]

I've even tapped colder than that, likely down close to zero, very rarely crack a tree. In fact I can't remember cracking any. Cracking is from hammering the tap in too tight. I don't even use a hammer, I use a pair of lineman's pliers (7") and use the flat side of the hinge. Pliers are also good for other things you might encounter too. Just tap it in until the sound changes. You can easily hear when it is in.

[Sugarmaker]

I agree that excessive blows to the tap are probably the issue for most cracking. But we rarely tap until it's above freezing.
How many taps are you doing. If your doing a dozen wait till it warms, if your doing 10,000 you may need to start when the weather is colder. Light taps till the sound changes is a very good suggestion. Then stop.
Regards,
Chris

[Russell Lampron]

The above info is good and I can add 1 more thing. Red maples split easier than sugars. That only means that you have to be more careful. I tap more reds than sugars and tapped when the temps were more like 10* and didn't split any that I know of.

Dave what brand of linesman's pliers are you using? I bought some cheap ones at TSC to give them a try. The cutters weren't sharp enough right from the start and were so dull after doing 150 tqps that I could barely cut tubing with 2 hands.

[Maplewalnut]

I also tap with linesman pliers. Cut old taps off, install new and tap with same pliers. Now if I can just figure out how to drill a hole with them! In all seriousness, I agree with Russ red maples tend to split more in fact I find the same trees are more prone crack maybe not every year but if it cracks this year, chances are good it has cracked before.

Russ- I took a dremel to my pliers to sharpen a little more. My semi drops cut like butter