Hedging Your Tap Risk

[Urban Sugarmaker]

I have 94 taps currently in on tubing. I have another 50-70 on buckets to put out. I wondered if anyone ever "hedges" their risk by putting some taps out early, then more later?

With the 50+ temps in the next 5 or 7 days I thought about putting in half my buckets and then waiting a week to put the other half out. Last year's early bucket taps definitely slowed down earlier than the others due to exposure to warm 50+ days.

I did something similar last season kinda by accident just due to my schedule. I think I might do it again this year.

[mi-maple]

I'm waiting to put out the rest of mine until after the warm spell. I have out about 150 now another 50 to go.

[motowbrowne]

That's what happened to me last year. Buckets take a while to put up, so we got half of them out then decided to hold off on the rest. What I learned was that the first half was a mistake. We would have been far better off to wait a few weeks to do all of them. Every year is different, but there's no way I'd want any bucket taps exposed to 50 degree days this early in the season. The high daytime temps plus lack of freezing nights in my forecast would definitely make my hold off.

[MapleMark753]

I do that, but don't call it "hedging". Every year I run out of gas (body) when tapping and usually have 50-75 trees left. Then as the season progresses I add the remainder. Seems to work extending the season and sap just a bit. Don't think I would do it that way if we were big, but it works for us. The only caveat is that you probably don't want to have too little sap for your operation, and maybe just a little too much is a blessing.
take care, Mark

[Russell Lampron]

I'm tapping my tubing now but waiting until the 1st of March to do the buckets. March is the normal or sap to run here in my part o NH. I your normal 4 week period starts around now, tap now. I only put out 20 buckets so they all get tapped on the same day.

[TuckerMike]

I'm fairly new to making syrup, so could somebody explain a couple things to me?

1) Why would a bucket tap slow down before a tap feeding a main line?
2) Are you worried about bacteria growth above 50deg with no freezing temps?

Thank for the info!

[Urban Sugarmaker]

I'm fairly new to making syrup, so could somebody explain a couple things to me?

1) Why would a bucket tap slow down before a tap feeding a main line?
2) Are you worried about bacteria growth above 50deg with no freezing temps?

Thank for the info!

Bucket taps are open to air and tend to have a shorter lifespan due to increased exposure to bacterial growth. The tap hole will stop running sooner than would with tubing.

Temps in the 50s really drives an increase in bacterial growth. They love the sugar and the warmth and this will accelerate tap hole drying.