Buckets being used last/ later in year?

[Hunt4sap]

I'm just wondering why so many other post that I've read on here people tap first using there lines they have strung between trees
And they say they're going to wait to hang their buckets?
All I have right now is buckets but 90% of my maple trees are in my Woods which is probably a couple thousand feet from my Sugar Shack so I don't think I really have a lot of an option other than buckets
All the post that I've read about tubing and pumps is making me realize how much more sap you can get with this method compared to buckets but I was just wondering other than that if there's a reason for waiting to hang buckets for a couple weeks after line and vacuum systems are done?

[tbear]

Bucket tap holes dry up/heal sooner unless your using cv or bac zap spiles with tubing into buckets on the ground. The "open" spiles allow bacteria to grow which is part of the healing process. That, at least, is my understanding. Ted

[Cjadamec]

Taps on tubing and vacuum will slow down the trees natural wound response and keep the tap holes from drying up as quickly so you have a wider window of time to set your taps. Traditional taps and buckets have the shortest length of time before the tap hole drys up so you want to make sure you set them when the trees are really running.

So people who set their tubing first can set a early and catch the early runs. You can then set your buckets at a later date when the tubing tells you the trees are running well.

[Sugarmaker]

We used to hang 400 buckets. When it was time to tap we put them up had about 6 weeks of available season.
The spout types mentioned can extend your season.
I am still using 5/16 plastic spouts on gravity tubing and will get about the same season length as buckets.
Regards,
Chris

[Big_Eddy]

With pipeline, the first run or runs of the year are usually dumped onto the ground to flush the lines. And with vacuum (or 3/16" with a good drop) once all the taps are installed, there is a period of leak tracing and patching that has to happen to seal up the system tight. Last thing - big producers with 1000s of trees are looking at several days if not weeks to get all the taps installed so will start early regardless.

For buckets - watch your long term forecast and pick the right time for you and your bush and don't sweat when others are tapping. Healing starts when you tap, but regardless of how early you start, your trees will continue to run until the buds break. Impossible to predict how much more (or less) sap you might have had at the end of the session if you waited a bit longer, versus how much sap you missed in the early runs. Every season is different, every bush is different.

[Russell Lampron]

Bucket taps will stay open for 3 to 6 weeks depending on the sanitation of the taps. You will get most of your sap and make most of your syrup in a 2 week period. You tap buckets later to try to have the tap holes as fresh as possible when you get that 2 week period. After a certain date you tap your buckets regardless. For me that date was March 1st. On bucket tapping day I would boil my taps to kill the bacteria then go tap the trees.