Red Maple sap combined with Sugar Maple

[DJ Lasell]

Over the years, My Grandfather, Father, Uncles and Brother have refrained from tapping Soft Maples (Red Maples).
The woods are mostly Sugar Maples (90%) with a few soft maples (10%).
I was taught to "Not waste a bucket" on the soft maples as they would be "off flavor", "bud out too soon" and "not sweet enough".
Yet I have read that others have had success with Reds.
I am now running pipeline right past many Red maples.

Now my Questions:
1. Is the flavor noticeably different?
2. Do Reds turn buddy earlier than Sugars? Should I not tap on the same pipe line as Sugars for fear of shortening the season?
3. Is the sugar content of a good Red (fence line tree) likely worse than a deep woods Sugar maple?
4. Do others Maple producers mix them or do they keep the saps separate?
5. Is there anything else I should be concerned about? like processing? or storage times? ect?
Thanks DJ

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I was brought up the same but heck, our 2000 buckets weren't enough for the hard maples so it made sense. With an RO and vacuum, I don't pass them up. Close to a third of my 8000+ taps are reds. Syrup per tap is lowered but bottom line is raised!

[psparr]

The sugar will probably be lower.
Yes they bud first.
Don't believe there's a difference in taste.

[adk1]

agree. Sugar will overall be lower, they will bud out first, no difference in taste but may make darker syrup due to the lower sugar therfore boiling more, and lastly, they will not produce as much as on buckets as they will under tubing from my experience.

[Cedar Eater]

On buckets, from my limited one year of experience, they just stop flowing before they bud. I had no buddy sap last year. They just quit producing. Many people have reported that reds have as much sugar as sugars in some cases, and those tended to be where the reds get full sun and have well developed crowns.

[tcross]

I have half sugars and half red... the only thing I've noticed is that the reds bud earlier! I don't separate them when collecting so I'm not sure on sugar content but my tank is usually around 2 % + or - 1/4%. I do notice I make darker syrup then a lot of other producers around me... however that could be for a few different reasons.

[MarkReynolds]

I tap silvers, reds and sugar mostly that's because that's what I have and I mix the sap and it tastes great and every one loves the syrup. My reds last year sugar content was really high I don't have a refactometer but just testing the sap quite sweet. Same with the silvers.

[Russell Lampron]

What has been said here about reds is true. The old timers didn't like them because they didn't run like sugars on buckets. As far as the flavor the syrup made with reds tastes better than the syrup from sugars. The reds do bud earlier but I have never made buddy syrup because the season always seems to end before the buds pop. Tap'em if you've got'em and mix it all in, the syrup you make will taste great.

[Galena]

I have 5 sugars and 1 red, and a couple other reds that I don't tap due to massive burls on them at tapping height. The red is one of the first to start producing and is pretty much a middle-of-the-pack performer, it's never been the worst tree but it's a far cry from being the best. Anyway I boil all my sap in together, people rave about the syrup. Having said that, I might tap a tri-trunked red across the street from me, just one tap per trunk as each trunk is only about 12', and do that batch separately from my home trees, mostly to see if there is any difference. My guess is probably not! :-)

And yes my reds do bud out before the sugars.

[Wanabe1972]

I have 80% reds and i agree somtimes it takes alittle to get them running on buckets but they run pretty good on vacuum. My sugar is 1.7 to 2.5 on average but have seen as high as 3.7. If i didnt tap the reds i wouldnt be tapping.