A sin against God and man

[Woodsrover]

I've got this one section of woods that I haven't done too much with. Its a past-mature white pine forest yielding to maple, ash (dying) and hickory. Pines are falling, canopy is opening up and its got the potential to be a nice chunk of sugar bush with a decent western exposure and a good slope for 3/16 tubing. There are lots of sugar maple saplings dispersed over this couple acres, but they're thicker than ideal and really need to be thinned out, however, that thinning process is a job that won't get done for a few years.

So I got to thinking...I'm going to run the lines though my regular trees this weekend and am tempted to tap a certain percentage of the trees on this new section. Maybe 30%? But, I'm talking about saplings maybe 2"-3"DBH. Normally I would never even consider it but I'm going to be thinning out probably half the saplings on this chuck anyway.

Will this kill the trees? If it does its not the end of the world as they're going to be culled anyway. And what if they live? Is it worth using these trees as an experiment for that alone? If I understand it correctly, Dr. Tim whacks the crown out of saplings every 5 years or so and they seem to recover quite well and come back for more. If so, what's the harm in tapping these little guys? If they die, I don't really mind as they're probably going to be pruned at the stump anyway.

Will I ever be able to look a respectful producer in the eye again?

[Cjadamec]

If the tree is doomed to meet a saw in the next few years I don't see the harm in tapping it to get something out of it. You will get sap and probably a good amount but it will be low in sugar.

Tap em while you got em.

[maple flats]

Look for studies that have been done on sapling stumps. It has proven quite successful.
A point, one can sin against God, but not against man, but that is not for discussion on this forum.

[Woodsrover]

A point, one can sin against God, but not against man, but that is not for discussion on this forum.

I was quoting Steve Rinella for a funny.

[Maplesapper]

Tap the saplings - you are on the frontier

Syrup from saplings may substitute for sugarbush ...


https://www.reformer.com/stories/syrup-from-saplings-may-substitute-for-sugarbush...

Jan 31, 2014 · BURLINGTON -- A new method of harvesting sap from young trees could revolutionize maple syrup production in Vermont -- and potentially around the world. Researchers at the University of Vermont's Proctor Maple Research Center have discovered that sugar maple saplings produce the same sweet liquid that mature trees yield

[Russell Lampron]

I would figure out which ones are going to get pruned at the stump and tap them. I would use 1/4" taps to minimize the damage. Tapping them won't kill them and moving the tap hole up or down and going around the tree won't weaken them when you tap in the future. Get what you can out of them before you turn them into firewood.

[DrTimPerkins]

The question that goes along with this is whether or not it is worth it. The volume of sap from small trees is low, so it takes high densities to be worthwhile. I can’t say whether it will work on 3/16” tubing. Maybe, maybe not. We’ve only tried with pumped vacuum. Lastly, the trees will recover in an open setting. You may well kill them in 3-5 yrs if growing under a forest canopy.

[Woodsrover]

Just to revive this thread, I tapped a number of theses trees last year with no visible ill-effect. I'm hitting the same ones and more again this year. All told I probably have tapped 40 trees under 5". Will play with this for a few more years and see what happens.

[maple flats]

Did you test the sap sugar% last year? I've heard it will be lower, because they don't have much canopy.
I tapped one like you describe about 12 years ago, just one, that was planned for removal and it was only 2-3 feet from one I wanted to keep. I did not test the sap however. It is now history, became firewood for the evaporator.

[Woodsrover]

Did you test the sap sugar% last year? ....

I didn't as they were on a string with multiple other trees and dumping into a tank with another line of taps.

[18mile]

I would first Mark the trees I am saving,and not tap them

[TapTapTap]

I agree I'll with Dr. Tim, the question is whether it's worth it. I say no when you're looking at a tree under about 8 inches. Just think about the comparable mass of a 4" to an 8" tree: a factor of 4 just in the cross section without considering a likely significant increase in height and canopy. Do the math on larger trees and you might just start skipping trees until they reach 10".