Sugar content - Eastern KY

[netsplitter]

Last year was my first year using gravity lines on the mountain side I own. I tapped around 40 maples. I kept up with the sap, using a small RO system.

One of the discouraging parts for myself was the low sugar content. I was probably getting around .8 - .9% sugar content. Without my RO bucket, I would have been in a mess. Never the less, getting a gallon of syrup from 90-100 gallons of sap is a lot of work for a hobbyist. I suspect the poor sugar content relates to the denseness of the woods and the competition the trees have. I have a couple maple trees in my front yard, and they average around 1.5 - 2% sugar content, but they are pretty much all by themselves.

Anyone else experienced similar sugar content? Should I expect the same sugar content from these trees in my wood each year?

Thanks,
Gabriel

[maple flats]

The more dense a woods are, the lower the sugar %.
Sugar is made by the leaves, thin the woods and the % will rise.
That being said, the sap sugar % varies by the season and even by the day. 2 years ago we had our lowest sugar % ever, (it averaged 1.2%) last year we averaged just over 2%. Since no thinning had been, the difference was the previous year's weather, it had been very rainy the season before 2018 for much of the summer, for the 2019 season it started quite rainy be then dried out with lots of sun.
You will get your best sap sugar % when you have good crowns and a good balance of rain and sun. While you can't change the weather, you can remove some of the trees competing for the sun. A word of caution, do not cut too mny at once. If a tree had lots of competition and you remove the competition, the tree left may have sun and wind damage. You are best off opening just 1 side, then wait 2-3 years before you open up another side. That gives the remaining tree time to fill in some of the open space at the canopy and also strengthen to hold up against the extra wind.

[220 maple]

Our sugar content has been down last 3 season, one of the ideas floated by Dr. Mike Rechlin, we are not getting good freezes during the season, the tree is not releasing all the sugar that it should? I believe this season will be better due to near drought conditions this past summer? I base this on the Summer of 2002, very dry until October heavy rains and snows came during the Spring of 2003, the Valentine weekend snow was over 30 inches and we had snows before that, from my records it only required 33 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup. Hoping 2020 will repeat that year.

Mark 220 Maple

[Sugarmaker]

Keep Boiling!
Regards,
Chris

[buckeye gold]

I'm in southern Ohio and my sugar content has been all over the map. I've thinned over 10 years and managed what I could and it still swings up and down. I think those of us on the southern boundaries of Maple country are just stuck with the up and down swings. Like sugarmaker said, just keep boiling.

[maple flats]

It will swing up and down regardless, but if thinned properly, the seasonal average will be higher than if it had not been thinned. Thinning generally takes a few years to really show, because the trees need time to fill in the open spaces created by the thinning. Leaves make the sugar!

[Ed R]

I'm a firm believer in what 220 maple stated about a dry summer followed by moisture in the fall and spring leading to higher sugar content. Thinning really helps your sugar too. We used to buy sap from a non thinned woods a mile away and our home bush was usually around a .5 PT higher. Same size dia. Trees just not the same canopy.

[DrTimPerkins]

Dry summers are associated (correlated with) lower sap sugar content. Wet falls and springs are associated with high sap sugar content. End result of the combination = ?

[Ed R]

The Midwest should have a +3% year this spring then. The amount of water we have had so far this year has been incredible

[Ed R]

Just wondering 220 maple how your sap sugar levels were this spring following your dry summer? As I assumed in December, my sugar was really low this year (1 average) after a dreary, overcast, wet summer (There were a couple of weeks I don't remember the sun shining). I don't think it's the rain that leads to lower sugar levels, just the lack of sunlight. From what I have read sugar levels were down this year. Just my anecdotal observations from many years in the syrup woods.

[220 maple]

Ed,
Yes my sugar content was higher this year, all this is from my book that has been kept over the years, seem like a very dry summer, lots of sunlight with ample or above moisture from mid October thru maple season creates sugar content of 2% or higher.
Mark 220 Maple