Stem tapping

[Plutoman15]

I saw a reference somewhere talking about stem tapping a maple until it is big enough to tap it normally. The reference was pruning one limb per year and tapping that location.

Has anyone heard of this? Does this work? How do you do it?

Fyi, I am planting some sweet silvers and super sweet sugar maples with the RPM root system along the north side of a farm field. The north side of these trees I need to maintain a path so pruning may be needed. Can I use that opportunity to tap at a younger age?

Joe

[prairietapper]

I believe the study was done to find out what if any options there were for sugar making if the old stands are devastated by pest or disease.
It showed that yes it is doable. but it does not work so well on trees that you are trying to grow to a tap-able size since the size of the crown matters a lot. what does work is get sapplings established, then mow them off with a bush hog. the resulting "bush" has far more crown than the sapling had because of all the shoots that come up. adapting from line to one of the shoots. ( it is best to use a tall shoot) gets a little pricey and is subject to a lot of vacuum leaks. the shoots must come from the root crown and not suckers off of trunk to get decent production.
At least this is the understanding I have after reading the information Dr Tim posted several years ago

[Plutoman15]

In my case, I will need to prune some branches on the north side anyway to maintain a path along a fence. Since the pruned branch location will leak sap anyway, any harm in putting a shallow tap in it? I am guessing the diameter will be at least several inches before I will need to prune.

Joe

[prairietapper]

I suspect you would have better luck sucking on the branch you want to remove after clipping the top of the branch at a size you can utilize, rather than tapping. the more drop from the clip to the mainline helps. I tried it with branches on small trees and a surflo. this year the surflo is on a 3/16 line at my mothers and not on the young trees we planted here at my house
Dr Tim Perkins did I summarize accurately?

[DrTimPerkins]

Sounds like you're trying to kill two birds with one stone and perhaps not hitting either. With only a few small trees it wouldn't be worth trying to capture the sap (too little).

My suggestion is:

1. If the trees are not large enough to tap regularly (9-10" dbh minimum), don't tap them.
2. Prune the branches in the late-fall or winter and ignore the sap flow.

[Plutoman15]

Thank you Dr Perkins and Prairietapper.