Cedar Eater
04-02-2016, 01:31 PM
I think/hope I'm not the only one who credits this weird sap season with causing himself/herself to change something which produced unexpected benefits. In my case, it was only my second season and it started out so warm and strange with other people talking about missing the season that I guess I panicked at the prospect of not getting enough sap. So I looked into tapping way more trees and finding ways to use vacuum to increase production. This lead to a number of unexpected benefits.
The first unexpected benefit was the discovery that vacuum can be achieved without pumps by routing 3/16" tubing down a sufficient slope on a line that had enough trees to fill the line. I found several areas on my property where I could take advantage of this. One small one is conveniently located on the north slope of the hill where my house is located, which is completely surround by a cedar bog wetland that is so wet that maples can't survive in it. The others are located along a ridge west of that bog where I have plenty of tappable trees for a hobby situation.
I hadn't planned to tap any of those trees, because I didn't think I would need them and I liked being able to just gather sap from my little hilltop sugarbush, but like I said, I panicked. So I started really paying attention to the trees up on the ridgetop and along the slope. I put in three taplines and I ended up getting plenty of sap to achieve and exceed my syrup production goal.
The second unexpected benefit is that I met a neighbor who is very interested in tapping maples that he didn't even know were maples. They're all around his yard and he was thinking of cutting them down to get more sunlight for a garden so he could make his property more productive. Now he's making syrup with the sap from one demonstration tap and the sap I'm giving him from my abundance. Next year he will be tapping his own and using my slope to produce vacuum.
The third unexpected benefit is the discoveries I've made from spending time on the ridge when the leaves are down. I discovered one Freeman's Maple which suggests there is an unexpected Silver Maple in the area. That was exciting because I thought I had all reds and lived too far north of the native range of silvers. But then I also discovered Sugar Maple leaves beneath an odd tree that I thought was a red. So I will be doing a lot more tree identification later this year when the leaves are on the trees.
I would love to hear of other benefits that specifically came from doing something different because the season got strange.
The first unexpected benefit was the discovery that vacuum can be achieved without pumps by routing 3/16" tubing down a sufficient slope on a line that had enough trees to fill the line. I found several areas on my property where I could take advantage of this. One small one is conveniently located on the north slope of the hill where my house is located, which is completely surround by a cedar bog wetland that is so wet that maples can't survive in it. The others are located along a ridge west of that bog where I have plenty of tappable trees for a hobby situation.
I hadn't planned to tap any of those trees, because I didn't think I would need them and I liked being able to just gather sap from my little hilltop sugarbush, but like I said, I panicked. So I started really paying attention to the trees up on the ridgetop and along the slope. I put in three taplines and I ended up getting plenty of sap to achieve and exceed my syrup production goal.
The second unexpected benefit is that I met a neighbor who is very interested in tapping maples that he didn't even know were maples. They're all around his yard and he was thinking of cutting them down to get more sunlight for a garden so he could make his property more productive. Now he's making syrup with the sap from one demonstration tap and the sap I'm giving him from my abundance. Next year he will be tapping his own and using my slope to produce vacuum.
The third unexpected benefit is the discoveries I've made from spending time on the ridge when the leaves are down. I discovered one Freeman's Maple which suggests there is an unexpected Silver Maple in the area. That was exciting because I thought I had all reds and lived too far north of the native range of silvers. But then I also discovered Sugar Maple leaves beneath an odd tree that I thought was a red. So I will be doing a lot more tree identification later this year when the leaves are on the trees.
I would love to hear of other benefits that specifically came from doing something different because the season got strange.