What makes more sense?

[mi-maple]

I have an opportunity to get more taps this year. I have within a half mile opportunity to get about 100 taps but it is all soft maple, I just liked it because it is so close. Or about 7 miles away I can get about the same amount of taps but it is all good roadside sugar maples. I have the ability to haul the sap that far but cant take on both at this time. What do you all think makes more sense economically?

[BreezyHill]

I would grab the sugar maples first since they will produce more sugar and run longer into warmer weather in the end of season. We start pulling red maples when they bud to keep the low quality sap out of the system. This can be a week prior to the end of season. IN the future you add the other taps and be happy with what they produce for you.

[mellondome]

Depends on how you transport the sap. Fuel and time add up.

[WESTMAPLES]

i would grab the close trees first even if they are less disireable to tap.... i tap half reds and they still make great syrup . but if you have the time and a good transport system either way 1/2 or 7 miles away will get you more sap but one will be easier to setup and collect, while the other is a short trip. is the roadside site by a friends house that could tell you what you got for sap each day ?? that way its not just a 14 mile trip for minimal gallons collected. i have a site with going on 450 taps on 42 acre property that 2.5 miles away from my sugarhouse. the tank and releaser are right at the bottom of the friends driveway. so i get a text whenever its half full or more in the am, and another text when its half full or so in the afternoon. works great keeps the `checkup ` trips to a minimum and tanks from overflowing

[Woody77]

I tap road side maples in michigan they flow first and seam to give a lot more sap than the trees in the woods .only ran 125 taps two years ago and made 29 3/4 gallons .
two spiles in a 5 gallon bucket roadside over flow 3-4 spiles in the woods hardly ever do.
Remember the frost comes out of the ground earler along the road.
I collect with a 425 gallon pickup box style ag tank on the atv trailer . I'm looking to expand to around 400 taps maybe 500 or 600 lol .but my drive will be about 20 miles every trip with roadside trees or 2 miles to a wood lot .I'm looking at the factors ,access to the woods, muddy trails, longer walk with two heavy pails in the woods. Shorter walk more sap longer season and faster collection roadside.

[Bucket Head]

I would go for the sugar maples. More sugar means more syrup, and a better gallon/sap to syrup ratio- a little less boiling time.
A quote that I hear often from presenters at the VVS Maple Conference is, "Do you want more sap or do you want more sugar?".
95% of the trees I tap are roadside sugar's because of their sugar content.

[Super Sapper]

I would also go with the roadside trees. You will get a lot more sap at higher sugar and easier collecting.

[WESTMAPLES]

in my experience you are all right but if the woods taps only give 80gals less of sap each season and only.4 precent less sugar content your still breaking even . not unless your roadside trees have better sugar content, and or your time out that way is less valuable ??? i don`t go tree to tree and test sugar, i test the collection tank it all comes into if im getting 2.3 precent with a mix of sugars and reds coming into the same tank out of semi dense woods i consider that good, and how dense is the woods your talking about ??? are the soft maples tiny ??? lots of factors there i consider traveling to be the biggest waste but thats because i run a business out of the same yard that my sugar house is in time is money

[BreezyHill]

Another factor is competition. IF you pass on the roadside sugar maples this season will they still be available for next season? There could be another producer that has his eye on them also.

7 miles now days is nothing unless you are collecting with horse and buggy. LOL

Time...Time is relative. Time spent collecting sap is therapeutic...just like walking in the bush looking for leaks. I can spend an hour in the bush and feel like a new person. That same hour spent watching and enjoying a sons soccer game is well spent but you don't feel renewed or energized.

I do not know what the magic about Maple is but the time I spend is just like the time spent on the tractor seat....you will sweat your a$$ off, have to force others to help, but at the end of the day everyone is smiling and had a good time working hard and will do it all again the next day.

So I can see why many do not put a $ value on their time...heck we should be charging for people to come in and sit in our Maple scented spas. LOL

Ben

[Bucket Head]

Yes, the competition factor is a good point.

I usually get 3% or a little over for most of the season from the roadside tree's we tap. We can't pass on that sugar content.

When you start doing the math with the Jones Rule of 86 (or 87), you see a significant reduction in the sap to syrup ratio. That's a big time savings in boiling time.

[WESTMAPLES]

yeah competition factor is a good point, around my immediate area there is more unused acreage than there is sugarmakers, so i get to pick and choose abit more. plus the 42 acre property im working is a gold mine of maples and has power, can leave tubing up year round, ect. roadside tapping is a unheard of thing in my area because of theft,and others putting beer cans in sap bucket and so on, when i travel to more rural areas i do see roadside buckets, and it brings me back to when i was younger and poeple where different. maple can be a hobby or business.... which we read all of us traders going back and forth over time and time again and we forget that everyone has a different outlook and ideas of success in there maple endeavors. MI-maple go with your gut feeling

[Ed R]

In southern Mi if all there are is soft maple there usually is a reason for it, poor drainage/wet ground. Just one time getting stuck and you will be wishing you tapped those road side sugars.

[Helicopter Seeds]

I live in Southern CT, my friend, a dentist, has a second home in Vermont with 100 acres and said I could tap all I want. He just wants a few bottles! Now that would be a long way to haul sap!
The geek in me is actually trying to figure out how to make it work.... go a weekend and tap maybe 100 taps, come back Thursday and collect. Carry 6 barrels of sap in the truck back home for boiling all together. Losing proposition money wise, but if combined with ski weekend for kids, travel cost can be rationalized.

[mi-maple]

Thanks for the replies, very helpful. I was leaning towards the softs because of their proximity to me but now I'm thinking the roadsides might be my choice.

[WESTMAPLES]

In southern Mi if all there are is soft maple there usually is a reason for it, poor drainage/wet ground. Just one time getting stuck and you will be wishing you tapped those road side sugars. i honestly love tapping sugars and red in wet areas because when i was a 8 year old kid the old timers i worked with tapped along the westfield river it was all buckets and holy crap it wasn`t anything to have to collect twice a day from that lot compared to there other lot just up the hill in the sun. something to me about wet ground that makes me think ` no frost = more sap flow & quicker thaw` while others trees are still in frozen ground. both spots i tap have streams and wet areas in which the trees are growing from where i tap, seems to workout great in my case, but i also us tubing with vac to collect instead of buckets which i remember being a PITA to collect and walk with in the muck. MI-maple either spot will keep you moving forward good luck and happy sugarin