SevenCreeksSap
10-26-2019, 06:36 PM
Hey, been a while since I've posted anything and kind of dropped out of the Maple world last year. Didn't have a good wood pile and too much work got in the way of the important things in life, like making some syrup. Got a great wood pile this year because they cleared a gas line right by my house, tore down and moved the sugarhouse 200 ft from in front of our cabin to the back, adding electricity to it, and got a new splitfire log splitter that is just fantastic. this thing splits in both directions so really speeds up getting the wrist size pieces.
so looking for advice on a sap puller to get some extra sap from my trees. I had in my best year 250 taps all the way up my steep hill and looking to cut back a bit to around 150. Need enough to fill the 2 x 8 pans and make it worth a boil. since my main lines were getting close to 10 years old and i wanted to clean up the woods I wont be using for now, I've taken down all of my mainline and going to re-run with all new to get a fresh start. will be tapping some virgin trees in a new section of woods too. Hers my scenario for the sap puller questions.
- using 3/4 in mainline and 5/16 laterals because I've still got a lot of new taps and other line parts.
- my hill is steep, sugarhouse right at the base, and a 400 ft climb at about 5: 1 slope (I think, could be closer to 10:1, it seems pretty steep climbing it) at any rate, a nice drop for sap to flow with natural vacuum in the past.
- since i moved the sugar house, I need to run one main line about 100 ft up the hill, split a Y for a line across the hill to the right about 400 ft length(low drop ratio going sideways to the hill) and another to the left about 500 ft( steeper drop potential for the left wing)
- I can run easily 15 or 20 laterals off of these combined, and pick up my 100-150 trees pretty easily, and have some bucket trees lower and off the main lines. These laterals can be up to 400 ft to get to the top of the hill.
- looking at a guzzler type sap puller, plug in, easier to set up and affordable vs an expensive full on high vac system.
so my question is, if I put a sap puller at the bottom on the one main line, do you think it will really help production in gallons of sap captured? with my steep natural slope i do get pretty good natural vacuum on a good sap run, but since i'm getting older and the hill isnt levelling out as I age i'm looking to increase production with fewer trees.
any advice is appreciated, ready to get back at it with my upgraded setup.
so looking for advice on a sap puller to get some extra sap from my trees. I had in my best year 250 taps all the way up my steep hill and looking to cut back a bit to around 150. Need enough to fill the 2 x 8 pans and make it worth a boil. since my main lines were getting close to 10 years old and i wanted to clean up the woods I wont be using for now, I've taken down all of my mainline and going to re-run with all new to get a fresh start. will be tapping some virgin trees in a new section of woods too. Hers my scenario for the sap puller questions.
- using 3/4 in mainline and 5/16 laterals because I've still got a lot of new taps and other line parts.
- my hill is steep, sugarhouse right at the base, and a 400 ft climb at about 5: 1 slope (I think, could be closer to 10:1, it seems pretty steep climbing it) at any rate, a nice drop for sap to flow with natural vacuum in the past.
- since i moved the sugar house, I need to run one main line about 100 ft up the hill, split a Y for a line across the hill to the right about 400 ft length(low drop ratio going sideways to the hill) and another to the left about 500 ft( steeper drop potential for the left wing)
- I can run easily 15 or 20 laterals off of these combined, and pick up my 100-150 trees pretty easily, and have some bucket trees lower and off the main lines. These laterals can be up to 400 ft to get to the top of the hill.
- looking at a guzzler type sap puller, plug in, easier to set up and affordable vs an expensive full on high vac system.
so my question is, if I put a sap puller at the bottom on the one main line, do you think it will really help production in gallons of sap captured? with my steep natural slope i do get pretty good natural vacuum on a good sap run, but since i'm getting older and the hill isnt levelling out as I age i'm looking to increase production with fewer trees.
any advice is appreciated, ready to get back at it with my upgraded setup.