Frozen taps or flow stop?

[Pete S]

This is our second season of tappin'. This year we tapped on Tuesday Feb 20, and should have tapped a day earlier as we have,...........HAD a warm spell.

Taps went in sap came out......oh man, BUT then winter came back.

When there is a change back to "winter"...........does the sap just quit, OR is the problem that the metal TAP gets cold and freezes the tap shut?

I guess my question would be that IF you had someway of keeping the metal tap about the point of freezing, would the sap still flow?

I I have an "idea" that I'd like to try for those days when it's cold outside and we have nice sun.

Appreciate thoughts, and ideas.

Frozen tight, no drippin' in Plymouth WI
Pete

[royalmaple]

Pete-

I think I am on the same thought process as you. I have thought about something, I don't think it would be too practical but.... Here is my thought, if you could how about wrapping the base of your trees up to the tap hole with black plastic. Humm that ought to heat up the wood a bit quicker on those not so warm days???

But if it is not running, chances are the tree, tap, and sap are all frozen solid so won't make a difference thawing out the tap or the hole, since the sap is not flowing in the tree anyway.

[mountainvan]

Heating the trunk/spile won't do any good, sorry. It's the branches/twigs that are frozen and maybe the a little into the trunk. When it warms back up the top of the tree thaws out and the sap will start to flow again. Until the next warm day you just gotta sit and wait or add more taps or clean the saphouse, etc..

[super sappy]

Last year at the corn maze a guy told me he had this Idea of using a jack hammer with a big rubber pad on the bottom to pound the trunks and wake up the trees. I actually thought that I was on candid camera. and I think he got kind of mad when I laughed my *** off at him.Super sappy

[maplehound]

I have heard of some old timers taking branches and hitting the trees to get the sap to start flowing. I have no idea if it actually worked or not. Could you see us all going around every day beating on our trees. They could arrrest us for abusing them.

[Fred Henderson]

I have heard of some old timers taking branches and hitting the trees to get the sap to start flowing. I have no idea if it actually worked or not. Could you see us all going around every day beating on our trees. They could arrrest us for abusing them.

Now look here I was born at night but it wasn't last night. J/K

[Pete S]

Never thought of "beatin' the sap out of 'em"!!!!!

Anyway, right after the awesome sap flow stopped, we still had sun but it was below freezing.

Here's my "idea";

Take a material, possibly plastic, MUST BE BLACK, preferable to be "flat black", sheet size about 3-4" x 6" rectangle, about 1/8" thick. Drill a hole in it, near the base on the long side. Pull the set tap out of the tree, push the tap through the hole (be sure its a tight fit) and drive it back into the tree.

For years I've seen dark roofs dripping when it was well below freezing, because the dark colored roofing material would absorb heat from the sun. Wherein as, IF good contact was made with the spile from the "Heat sink" plastic, it would warm the spile up enough to allow it to remain open. During the sunny period of the day.

I have yet to try it...............sun went away, got 10" of snow yesterday, and more to come..............30+/- galloons of sap JUST SITTIN'...........didn't want to start to boil until we were about 50+............which should'a been TODAY!!!!!

I feel better now.

1500 foot of driveway, total snow.........less drifts should be about 16"........1950's WD45 with small loader and back blade..........pray fer me!

Pete

[Sugarmaker]

Pete,
the old Allis WD45 will do the job, just be patient and have a good pair of chains! Good luck.
Regards,
Chris

[Pete33Vt]

The problem I see with keeping tap hole thawed out is your hole will start to heal over and when the trees do decide to run they won't because its healed over. Thats why when you tap buckets its best to do it when the sap is running. The frozen sap actually helps keep the tap hole fresh. If they dry out and air can get to them you end up having to redrill to freshen holes.