3/16 drop line taps

[esetter]

Ive been reading about the advantages of 3/16'' tubing and the natural vacuums it creates. I do one tube tap per tree straight into buckets or jugs. Do you guys think i would notice higher yields even at my level? @-25 taps this season.

[buckeye gold]

one word answer...yes

[maple flats]

But only if you have the slope and run a 3/16 lateral line, vacuum gain in 2-3' of drop will not really be much. However, if you put 25 taps on a line with a drop average of 15' for the whole line you will have gone from no vacuum to an average of about 13" vacuum. The highest taps on that line might get 27-28" vacuum while the lowest maybe 3-5". The exact numbers can only be calculated if we know the drop on each tap (elevation change from tap to tank).

[buckeye gold]

It's still better than buckets even at almost no vacuum, but if your not going for vacuum then 5/16th seems to me like a better choice

[esetter]

Most of my trees aren't close enough together to run lines to a central collecting point. Definitely better than buckets. Id love to find an area where I could run lines. Thanks for the feedback!

[Biz]

I prefer the tubing over buckets for several reasons. Tubing and taps are cheaper; taps run longer in the day and longer in the season; you never have to dump buckets due to rainwater, ice, or bugs; easier collecting; easier to put up and take down. I would be happier with tubing over buckets even without the extra sap production from gravity drop using 3/16 or added pumps. I still use a few buckets where there are isolated trees. I do like the buckets hanging on the tree instead of buckets on the ground with tubing, because you don't have to worry as much about them tipping over or coming down in the wind (unless you weight it down).

Dave

[esetter]

Nothing makes me more mad than a bucket tipped over or blown off of the tree! Our weather here isn't consistent enough year to year to really test the difference between yields in the two different tube sizes. I still may buy some and double tap a big tree , see if one out produces the other noticeably.

[wnybassman]

I still may buy some and double tap a big tree , see if one out produces the other noticeably.

Still won't tell you much. I have had two buckets on the same tree where one is overflowing and the other has just a few inches in it.

[mudr]

Still won't tell you much. I have had two buckets on the same tree where one is overflowing and the other has just a few inches in it.All good experiments need replication, My friend. :)

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[VTnewguy]

Like this idea. Does anyone have experience running 3/16 drop lines into buckets? We did the 5/16 taps into buckets last year and was less than impressed.

[buckeye gold]

any kind of tubing into a bucket is better than a bucket hung on a spile. I have done buckets and bags for 10 years (this year I went to 3/16 gravity tubing) and the buckets with tubing always ran longer and more than the bags or hung buckets. I drill a hole that fits the tubing real tight in the side of the bucket and there will always be a little sap left in the tubing. I think this keeps the tap hole from air exposure and drying plus bacteria. If my spring taps do as well as my fall taps on this 3/16 I will be delighted and wish I'd done this a long time ago. I have doubled my fall sap production on 3/16th. This is my best fall ever and I'm pretty sure it's due to the tubing, heck I'm still collecting runs, my fall taps never went this long before. I boiled three days this week.

[VTnewguy]

any kind of tubing into a bucket is better than a bucket hung on a spile. I have done buckets and bags for 10 years (this year I went to 3/16 gravity tubing) and the buckets with tubing always ran longer and more than the bags or hung buckets. I drill a hole that fits the tubing real tight in the side of the bucket and there will always be a little sap left in the tubing. I think this keeps the tap hole from air exposure and drying plus bacteria. If my spring taps do as well as my fall taps on this 3/16 I will be delighted and wish I'd done this a long time ago. I have doubled my fall sap production on 3/16th. This is my best fall ever and I'm pretty sure it's due to the tubing, heck I'm still collecting runs, my fall taps never went this long before. I boiled three days this week.

How many buckets did you have out with the 3/16?

[minehart gap]

buckeye gold, I’m going to ask what may be common knowledge but I don’t know the answer. Why not hang buckets from the spile? Does the weight of the bucket full of sap do harm to the tree? I have had that thought but figured that the practice has been done for years therefore someone must have looked into it. I plan to hang about 20 or so buckets around the sugar shack just for nostalgic appearance but will not if there will be harm to the trees.

[esetter]

I usually drill a hole in the top of milk jug lids and insert my tubing into them. This year , I/ got some used food grade 5 gallon buckets to hopefully cut down on collection time. I too thought that the end of the tubing being inside the jugs would help keep the hole open longer. Upon a recommendation from a producer in vermont , I'm also trying the check valve type taps this year.

[buckeye gold]

Hanging buckets off spouts will not harm the tree, the spile will support it. That is the traditional way of doing it, but that means a spile open to the air and an exposed tap hole. Hanging buckets is fine if that is what you want, my suggestion was simply a method I thought performed better for me.

On the other question: I never used 3/16th tubing into a bucket, always 5/16th. The 3/16th I mentioned is all on continuous tubing on a slope. I typically had 50-60 buckets out and 50 bags.

[Ivyacres]

I started with some 3/16 two years ago as I had been doing buckets. Initial results were great and so I did all taps of tubing last year with two thirds 3/16. In one old growth area I had been disappointed with what I was getting off 5/16 and did a contest between the two sizes. Not same trees tapped twice but, trees next to each other, same size and everything as identical as possible. 3/16 did 50% more than the 5/16. I had 15 taps per line with the taps at comparable height on each tree. I did have 10 buckets scattered about the yard and area that quit producing a week before the tubing and missed the best week we had. I have 20' of drop on most and up to 40 on some. I even find it hard to believe when I check the vac gauge and it says 26 in of vac. I am very happy with the results and don't have to kill myself climbing those hills with 5 gal buckets. Take the time to read the great research that has been done.

[esetter]

I wish i had an area where I had enough trees close enough together to do a gravity line. All of mine are on individual buckets / tube taps. Thanks for all the replies!! Im gonna try some 3/16 just to see.