First year tapping / Tree Identification in Winter

[BTerrier]

Hello everyone,

This will be my first year of attempting to tap and produce maple syrup. I have no maples on my small piece of property, so will likely be searching my family's property for maple trees to tap.

Because I didn't start reading up on the topic until a few weeks ago, I was not able to identify the trees during the growing season. So my question becomes, how can I identify the maples in February?

I was under the assumption I had until the end of February/ early March to begin tapping, but it seems that others in my area are already in the process. So it looks like I will have to order my taps now in order to hopefully start this process by next week.


Very new to this, any advice is appreciated. Also, if this topic has already been discussed, please feel free to point me to the proper thread. Haven't been able to locate the topic.

Thank you.

[Galena]

Hey BTerrier, hmm...it would have helped to do a little planning in advance, but too late for that now. I would suggest you approach one of your local fellow sugarmakers (preferably someone who has been doing it some years now) and simply ask them their help with your quest to find maples of tappable size on the property that you have access to. If there is a local co-op store carrying sugaring equipment, try asking their too. Hope this helps and you aren't too late to the party this season!

ETA: If push comes to shove and/or you're not comfortable asking others for help in person, pm Dr Tim Perkins here on the site. He can at least give you some handy info in identifying maples out there in the bush. It isn't always easy...I've been tapping 8 yrs now and it wasn't til this past summer that I realized, only by the leaves, that I had a perfectly nice, big, healthy sugar maple growing just 20 feet away from my bushline!!! But you can be sure this tree, already named Surprise! is going to be sprouting a couple spiles soon :-)

[michael marrs]

I did the same thing my first year. youtube have some posts on it, but I still could not tell. I literally went in the woods, when there was no snow, and looked at the ground for a concentration of leaves..When I found concentrations of maple leaves around a tree, I took a drill with a 1/8 in. bit, and drilled a small hole. when they came out with wet saw dust, ( looked like pancake batter). I tapped. The next year, I walked the woods with leaves on and spray painted a spot on it .. It was easy this year.. Check youtub, check the ground. good luck

[psparr]

Just look at the tips of the branches. The buds and smaller branches will come off the main branch opposite from each other. As opposed to a bud or branch, then up the stem a little another bud or branch and so on. Here's a good example of a maple. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170216/41b8a9c8e6df2f10738fa87b8758cb4f.jpg
And here's an oak. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170216/45ac95d1e938e2ae2a4116d444958ed8.jpg
Hope this helps.

[maple flats]

All maple trees have opposite branching meaning a branch comes out across from it's partner. The big issue there is that one most often gets broken off. The trick then is to use binoculars and search the smaller limbs in the canopy, if you see any opposite branching it is likely a maple. Next is to ID sugar maples if you have any, on them the buds this time of year will have a sharp point on them. If it has flat topped buds it is a soft maple, maybe Red or Silver. You won't find any native Black maples in Ct., but they are very similar to Sugar maples.
The bark of a sugar maple changes with age, an immature sugar has small lines going up the tree in a non parallel pattern and they are slightly ruff but not very, as the tree ages, vertical plates gradually curl away but remain well attached to the trunk. On a maple sugar maple the bark is quite rough.
Try looking up the winter identification of Sugar, Red and Silver maples. You should find severalo pictures to help you. While those are not the only maples you can tap, they are by far the best to tap, in that order. Any maple can be tapped, but most other varieties produce so little sugar that you might need to boil far too long to get syrup. Another tree that can be used is a Box Elder (also known as a Ash Leaf Maple or a Canadian Maple and other names.) When my kids were young we made syrup a few years just on our wood stove and finally boiling it on our gas stove. We had 3 sugar maple taps and up to 6 Box Elder taps. The syrup taste grate but it had a reddish hue from the latter. I never tried to test the sugar % in those trees.

[BTerrier]

Thanks everybody for all the help! I will be going out hopefully this weekend to t identify some maples. Supposed to be warm, maybe some of the snow will melt so I will have an easier time looking at the leaves surrounding the tree.

Going to order taps today/tomorrow. Was looking at Bascom's website and they have many to choose from. Looking for some to connect some tubing to drop into a 5gal bucket. Already have the food grade buckets, and since these trees will be on another property, I figured it would give me some extra time to get back there to collect the sap. Any spouts in particular that you have used that work well? I see stubby spouts and tree-saver spouts. Is there a functional difference between the two for what I am doing?

[johnpma]

Thanks everybody for all the help! I will be going out hopefully this weekend to t identify some maples. Supposed to be warm, maybe some of the snow will melt so I will have an easier time looking at the leaves surrounding the tree.

Going to order taps today/tomorrow. Was looking at Bascom's website and they have many to choose from. Looking for some to connect some tubing to drop into a 5gal bucket. Already have the food grade buckets, and since these trees will be on another property, I figured it would give me some extra time to get back there to collect the sap. Any spouts in particular that you have used that work well? I see stubby spouts and tree-saver spouts. Is there a functional difference between the two for what I am doing?
Cheap clear plastic throw away spouts is what I use.........

[berkshires]

Going to order taps today/tomorrow. <snip> Looking for some to connect some tubing to drop into a 5gal bucket.

If you want to support the folks who run this website (and at a reasonable price) you could buy these (spouts and tubing together): http://www.mapleguys.com/product/DL.html

Good luck!

Gabe