sap per tap

[KReinisch]

Hey folks!
Just wondering what you all are getting per tap. I have roughly 2000 taps and all of them are on vacuum. I pull anywhere from 24-26 inches of vacuum. This year we pulled an an average of 17.5 gallons per tap. I feel like this should be better. What about you guys?

[bill m]

That is between 1/3 and 1/2 gallon of syrup per tap. Sounds about average. The micro climate where your trees are can have a big influence on your yearly production. I am finishing up today and will end up at one quart per tap. 1300 taps all on gravity.

[DrTimPerkins]

This year we pulled an average of 17.5 gallons per tap. I feel like this should be better. What about you guys?

Sap yield varies due to a lot of factors. The key categories are: season, trees, vacuum, spout sanitation.

To help answer your question, it would be helpful if you would describe your operation in more detail:

1. What is your vacuum level at the end of your mainlines?
2. How many CFM does your pump pull (or what are you using for a pump)? How many taps?
3. Vacuum management (pump on/off or on all season)?
4. Electric or mechanical releaser?
5. Single or dual-conductor mainlines? What size mainlines? Plastic or SS fittings? Avg slope of mainline?
6. 5/16" or 3/16" tubing?
7. What is your average number of taps per lateral?
8. Average diameter of trees? At what point do you put in a 2nd spout? How often do you hit brown wood when tapping?
9. Spout/drop sanitation practices (new spouts each year, clean spouts, CV spouts, dropline replacement interval, chemical sanitizers used and how, etc.)

Sorry. I know that is a lot, but each of those things and more will affect your yield. Some have big effects -- some small, but lots of small impacts will add up. For example...let's say it's an older bush and you hit stained wood 10% of the time during tapping. That will reduce your average yield across your entire woods by about 5%. Similar types of things happen with all those factors...and they tend to be cumulative. The details matter.

[ennismaple]

Hey folks!
Just wondering what you all are getting per tap. I have roughly 2000 taps and all of them are on vacuum. I pull anywhere from 24-26 inches of vacuum. This year we pulled an an average of 17.5 gallons per tap. I feel like this should be better. What about you guys? 17.5 GPT is nothing to be disappointed in. We used to think that 10GPT was good, meaning we made about 1L syrup per tap. With high vacuum, good tapping and tubing practices you should be able to get to 20 GPT but many producers would gladly take your 17.5 GPT.

If you had 500 taps it's easier than keeping 2000 tight which is easier than 20,000.

We are currently about 17 GPT and will probably be at 18+ by the time we shut down this weekend.

[30AcreWoods]

I have been fairly consistent through the years in my little microclimate. This year I have an average of 21.6 gallons per tap and I'm a bit over 1/3-gal syrup per tap. These are woods sugar maples. The sap run has been long, but sugar content has been lower than other years. All my taps are on 3/16 lines, natural gravity with good slope that pulls about 25-27 in mercury.

[Sugarmaker]

As a comparison we had about 12 gallons of sap per tap on short run gravity tubing systems (5/16).
Regards,
Chris

[GeneralStark]

32 gpt here this season...

[KReinisch]

32 gpt here this season...

5/16? What type of tap are you using? What size mainline?

[bill m]

I guess I have never been really concerned with how much sap I get but how much syrup I make from each tap.

[Sugarmaker]

Bill,
Yes that is important in the final count. The 184 gallons were made off of 700 taps so .263 gal of syrup per tap. This helps show the sugar content in your sugarbush. Which in my case I dont own a sugarbush. Just a lot of trees in the com,unity. I am a littl off topic as the OP didnt mention the qty of syrup made.
Regards,
Chris

[bill m]

We added a few more taps this year and I didn't get a good final count but it was about 1275 taps and made 332 gallons. So .26 gallons per tap on gravity. I am happy with that.

[GeneralStark]

5/16? What type of tap are you using? What size mainline?

700 on 5/16 and 40 on 3/16 (5/16 drops). Everything on vacuum 26-26.5" in mainlines.

I use CDL clear smart spouts on new drops and Leader CV2s on any drop older than one season. I change about 1/3 of my drops every season. The exception to that is I use CV2s on 3/16 and change the drops and T every other season.

I use wet/dry 1" mainlines and 1" and 3/4" lateral mains. I use lots of mainline and have short runs of tubing with 1-4 taps per line generally. The 3/16 is in areas where long lines are necessary due to the landscape.

I will be expanding into a couple areas and will then increase some of my mainline sizing to 1.25".

[GeneralStark]

I guess I have never been really concerned with how much sap I get but how much syrup I make from each tap.

While I generally agree with that sentiment, there is still a relationship between how much sap you collect and how much syrup you make...

[ducxsterdoo]

I just have 3' drop lines to buckets.... had taps in for 40 days this year, and got just under 13 gallons of sap per tap. Last year I got 20 gallons per tap and only had taps in for 33 days.

-craig

[Delta Glen]

We dont have a method yet for measuring sap flow. We did 1794 gals of syrup on 3,330 taps. Just over 1/2 gal syrup per tap. We were very happy given our low sugar all season.

[bill m]

While I generally agree with that sentiment, there is still a relationship between how much sap you collect and how much syrup you make...
Well of course there is a relationship between how much sap you collect and how much syrup you make but what is the important number. For me it is finished product. I could take my RO log book and my daily syrup production log book and calculate sap sugar content to syrup made to come up with a reasonably accurate number of gallons of sap collected. Sorry but I don't find those numbers that important.

[GeneralStark]

Well of course there is a relationship between how much sap you collect and how much syrup you make but what is the important number. For me it is finished product. I could take my RO log book and my daily syrup production log book and calculate sap sugar content to syrup made to come up with a reasonably accurate number of gallons of sap collected. Sorry but I don't find those numbers that important.

No need to be sorry... Like I said I generally agree. But, not everyone may see it your way and some may enjoy keeping track of their statistics from year to year. Take it up with the OP if you don't like the thread subject...

Different strokes for different folks...

[ToadHill]

Sap per tap gives you an indication of how good your collection system is. If your collection system is good then syrup per tap gives you an idea of how productive your bush is. Both are important numbers.