A tree that will be cut down after tapping

[red dorakeen]

One of my maples (about 2' diameter) unfortunately needs to be cut down. It shades my garden. (The row of blueberry plants go from about a foot tall to over 3' as they get farther from the tree's shade.)

The tree is at the edge of the clearing so I suspect it would be a good producer. I'm thinking of tapping it then cutting it down.

Since the long term health of the tree is of no concern how many taps could I get away with to get as much sap as possible?

[psparr]

As many holes as you can drill.

[Bucket Head]

I'd move the garden- or at least the blueberries. You'll get new blueberries somewhere else quicker than you'll get another tapable maple tree!

[red dorakeen]

I have very little cleared ground to use for the garden. The land is almost entirely wooded. I don't take cutting any living tree lightly and almost all my firewood is cut from dead trees.
The garden has been in it's location for decades and the forest has been encroaching. To move the garden would require cutting 15 to 20 trees not to mention the stump removal.

[mellondome]

I'm with bucket head on this one. Transplant the blueberries

[bigschuss]

As many holes as you can drill.

Yeah, exactly. Since you're not worried about the tree, tap that thing until you run out of taps and/or buckets. It would actually make an interesting experiment...to see how many taps you can get, how much sap they will yield, and how those tap affect the vigor of the tree in the spring.

[BlueberryHill]

Similar situation here. I have a nice maple that I really like. But I just put up solar and this maple will block all of the afternoon shade. It has to go. But I left it there for now since it does not have any leaves on it. Figure I can get one more sap season out of it. I was thinking of putting about 5 taps in it. Maybe I will try more? As soon as the leaves start to pop I'll have to cut it down. I really like the tree. Sucks that it has to go. But Overall it's worth sacrificing the one tree to have free power. Only south facing roof I have.

[Bucket Head]

Well, if they have to go...

Sorry. Give me a minute. I tear up a little bit every time I hear of a maple being cut down...

Steve

[red dorakeen]

I was thinking of putting about 5 taps in it. Maybe I will try more?

This is what I was wondering. Seems like there must be a point at which more taps won't result in much more sap.

I read in an article last night that two taps in a tree yields more sap than one from the tree in total, but less per tap.


As for just moving the blueberry plants, I mentioned them as an indicator of the effect of the shade. There are also strawberries and the vegetables.

There is a hosta plant on the border that's thriving, but hosta pancakes? I like the blueberries.

[maple flats]

Oh guys, if you only knew how many maples were removed to put in my solar.
If I read carefully about the 2' maple, it needs to go. I also grow blueberries and their vigor is important too.
However, you need to cut trees, even maples to maximize your production. That's called improvement cutting. Done to get more sun to your crop trees to gain larger crowns. As I look at woodlots around, the most productive ones are where routine thinning is done, while the poorest are where the owners refuse to cut a live tree. That's like one of my sugarbushes, I can only cut a tree that falls on my lines (landowner keeps the wood) and the landowner never cuts a live tree unless it is dying. I have tried to get him to remove trees that are crowded, maple and non maple but he won't and he heats with wood.
While this tree in question may not come in the woodlot improvement realm, I still wanted to point this out.
As far as tapping, if it can be seen from the road, you should realize that we as producers have an image to maintain. If you tap with a rediculous # of taps it may hurt your image and that of all maple producers because they might think you killed the tree and then had to remove it. I'd only tap 3 max. If it can't be seen by others I'd put in 4-5.

[heus]

I agree with Dave on the image thing.

[Bucket Head]

I'll bet you never even tried hosta pancakes! Try em' first. You never know?

Seriously, I'm with Dave and Heus on this one too. Every season you see someone hanging 5,6,7,8 buckets, milk jugs, coffee cans, etc. around a tree and it makes me cringe. That sort of thing makes a lot folks cringe. Regardless what size your maple operation is, nobody needs bad publicity.

I gotta go. Now I'm starting to feel ill thinking about all of Dave's tree's...lol.

Steve

[maple flats]

Make sure you know which are edible, some are not. If you do decide to eat them please I.D. them and post before you try them, that way the rest of us won't be tempted if we don't get any more posts from you.

[red dorakeen]

Good point about the image aspect. It's not an issue in my case. The tree is in the backyard and from the road someone would have to look at just the right angle to see the house at all.

I read something lately (I think on this forum) about someone cutting down trees and then harvesting the sap. Sounds ridiculous and I can't imagine what sort of apparatus they used. Maybe someone was just joking?

[bigschuss]

The image thing is a good point. Sounds like it won't be an issue. Just playing devil's advocate for a second. Seems like there's a concern that hanging 5, 6, 7 buckets on a tree "might" cause some issues in regards to public perception. How do those same guys feel about miles of plastic tubing strewn throughout the forest? We all have our personal tastes and limits. I don't think many non-syrup makers driving by a tree with 6 buckets on it would think twice about it. Miles of plastic tubing strewn throughout a roadside sugarbush and left up year round probably leaves more of a bad taste in the mouths of passersby.

I am just a hobbyist...all buckets. But do the guys who voiced that concern about too many buckets also deal with those same concerns about plastic tubing? I guess what I'm asking is...do big time producers and commercial sugar makers who runs plastic lines avoid them near public roadways? Or do the ends justify the means? The guys around me who run lines do it very visibly and very overtly. To me, it's unsightly and takes aways something from the landscape. That's just my personal preference.

Great thread!

[brookledge]

If you are 100% sure the tree is going to be removed then why do you want to leave sugar in the roots. Over tap it!!. If you are worried about someone questioning your tapping practices put a sign up saying that since this tree has to be removed we are doing research on overtapping. I agree with others I hate to see a productive maple come down but why not get the most out of it before sacrificing it.
I had the same scenario with a new swimming pool.
Keith

[PATheron]

This is what I would do. Cut it down now and go to mcdonalds and they have heavy plastic bags that liquid comes in. They have like spouts on them. Get one and cut the tree up high so the stump is high say like 6 or 8 feet and put the bag on it and put it on vac. That should get you some sap. If you don't have vacuum maybe cut it up high when its time to tap and cut a huge sloping v in the top so all the cut part wants to run to one point and make it so it drops off into a container somehow. Be cool to see how much sap you get. Some kid told me about tapping a huge road side tree and he did over tap it but got some ridiculous amount of sap from it. Im thinking he said in a day may have gotton like 20 to 30 gallons. Theron

[PATheron]

Cut it high and you wont have the shade and then try it again next year.

[DeciMaple]

This is what I was wondering. Seems like there must be a point at which more taps won't result in much more sap.

I read in an article last night that two taps in a tree yields more sap than one from the tree in total, but less per tap.

Now this is only my fifth year and I have not had as much experience as others on this forum so take what I say with a grain or two of salt.

I moved last January to a situation much like yours, with two sugar maple trees shading the only location for our vegetable garden. Like you I am always hesitant to fell any living tree, especially a maple! But after much deliberation I decided that the trees had to be sacrificed for the sake of the garden. The trees are less than 3 feet apart and split into several mains about 2 feet above the ground. So not exactly healthy trees anyway.

I decided to test the query: "Can you kill a tree by tapping it too much?" So this past sugar season I set out to experiment on the two doomed maple trees. Now I was only using pails, so I was limited on how many would fit around the trees. I was "only" able to fit 11 taps on one of the trees, and 9 around the other.

To answer your question above, the multiple taps on these two trees produced a similar amount per tap when compared to similar sized maple trees on our property with only two taps. To be fair, this was only the first year that I have tapped these two trees, so I do not know if they would have produced more per tap with less overall taps on the trees.

To answer my own query, the two trees budded and leafed out with all the other maples last year, with no indication other than their numerous "bellybuttons", that I had ever over tapped them at all!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to fell the trees last year, so I plan to tap them one last time this season.

Hope this is helpful.

Happy Tapping! :)

Josiah

[red dorakeen]

Funny you should mention the v cut idea. When I was thinking about the method I had read about where they actually cut down the tree to harvest sap (the opposite of sustainable agriculture) I wondered about a v-cut leading to a tube .
I'm not sure though how much sap movement in the tree is caused by the demand (vacuum?) of the upper parts of the tree.

I'll just stick to over tapping in a conventional manner. Is that an oxymoron?

[red dorakeen]

That's interesting. Do you recall if the sap yield from the northerly side of the tree was noticeably less than the sunny side. That's one aspect of this I'm curious about since they say to tap the sunny side of the tree.

[BlueberryHill]

Now I am thinking that I might just lop the top off of my tree. The solar panels are 20 feet off the ground. The tree is maybe 50 feet tall. There are a decent amount of branches that are below my roof line. So I wonder how the tree would fare if I just gave it a big haircut. The tree would probably look stupid and my wife would not be in to that with it being right nest to the house. But it would provide shade for our deck again once it filled in. Or would cutting 30 feet off of a 50 foot tree pretty much kill it anyway?

[West Mountain Maple]

my brother sent me this a while back, don't know where he saw it
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