Poll - How often do you hit stain when tapping?

[DrTimPerkins]

Another poll...

Looking to determine how often people hit stain when tapping so we can determine how much of an issue it is and how much research and education to focus on it.

[GeneralStark]

How are you suggesting one judge whether or not they are hitting stained wood? I always look to make sure the drill shavings are clean white wood, but are there other indicators? I have noticed that red maples have darker heart wood and this does show up in shavings on occasion so I have wondered if I was hitting stained wood or just normal colored wood....

[Jeff E]

That's how we tell. Seeing that dark wood coming off the bit sucks! I usually step back and try to see what I missed when checking for the tapping spot. "****, there's an old tap hole 3" down". Usually if it happens its poor lighting, and I just didn't see it.

[SeanD]

A number of years ago, when I realized that I'll be doing this thing for a while, I started tightening up my tapping pattern. I've found that I can be as close as a couple of inches away on the diagonal from a previous tap hole and still hit white wood.

I agree about the lighting being a factor. It can be hard to see before hand that the tree had a natural wound that healed over.

[Sugarmaker]

Dr. Tim,

Taking a stab at this, I try to be pretty careful about tap placement but may hit some previous tapped areas maybe 2 times in 650 taps per season. I have maybe more problems with just a bad spot in these old road side trees.

Regards,
Chris

[ennismaple]

Dr Tim - I'd guestimate about 5% of the time we'll hit stained wood. Sometimes it's an old taphole stain, sometimes a bad spot in the tree. Many of our maples are very old and have been tapped for 70 years so it's hard to hit sound wood all the time. In our newer woods it's much easier and we never hit stained wood.

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr Tim - I'd guestimate about 5% of the time we'll hit stained wood. Sometimes it's an old taphole stain, sometimes a bad spot in the tree. Many of our maples are very old and have been tapped for 70 years so it's hard to hit sound wood all the time. In our newer woods it's much easier and we never hit stained wood.

Have you tried tapping below the lateral line at all?

[220 maple]

This year very rarely, last two season after hiring the young Amish tapping crew of four I would see taps that was way to close to previous tapholes when I was pulling spiles, it is a weighted decision whether to use them, they drill 2000 holes between 9am and 5pm, in very steep ground so they do not take a lot of time looking for perfect tap hole placement, this year myself and my cousin plus the landowner who I lease from drilled all the trees, of coarse we did not do two thousand taps in one day. they are reasonable priced at 12 dollars and hour.
Mark 220 Maple

[DrTimPerkins]

If you've not voted yet...please do so. The more data the better.

[ennismaple]

Have you tried tapping below the lateral line at all? Yes we will do this in areas where the trees have been heavily tapped for decades. Now that we use 36" droplines that helps spread the tapholes out a lot. Being 6'2" tall also helps because I can tap close to 9 feet high when I'm standing on snowshoes! My grandfather and father overtapped our trees which now makes it difficult to find good sapwood on some of our 200+ year old maples because they grow so slowly.

[ddociam]

I’ve been at it for five years. I’ve yet to hit stained wood. I’ve sort of gone about it In An organized way using points of the compass for tapping spots.


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[MapleCamp]

Some of my trees are very old and its hard to find new wood. I have a stash of 4 foot ladders around my woods to get above it.

[DrTimPerkins]

Some of my trees are very old and its hard to find new wood. I have a stash of 4 foot ladders around my woods to get above it.

Can you tap any lower, or is it all tapped out there too?

[DrTimPerkins]

Bump...please keep the poll responses coming folks.

[DrTimPerkins]

Getting near 100...if you haven't voted, please do so.

[cropseyvillemark]

I plan on changing some of our practices in order to avoid stained wood. what should we be doing when we do hit stained wood?

[DrTimPerkins]

That is a personal decision/judgement you'll have to make at the time. The proportion of stained wood in the taphole dictates the amount of sap you will get. If half the taphole is stained, you'll lose about 50% of your "potential" sap yield. If it is just a small amount, the lost yield will be correspondingly low. If it is almost all stain, you'll get very little sap from the taphole. We'll have a video addressing some aspects of that soon. If you hit stain a lot...you definitely need to make adjustments to reduce the frequency of it happening. Every time you hit stain you lose sap and money. To reduce the chances this happens, you can:
1. Tap below the lateral line (if you are on vacuum and are using good spout sanitation practices).
2. Use longer droplines.
3. Tap those trees/areas shallower for a while (10-20 yrs) - will result in less sap yield
4. Use smaller spouts (1/4" or even 3/16") - will result in less sap yield
5. Reduce the intensity of tapping (reduce the number of 2 and 3 tap trees)
6. Don't tap those trees.
7. Thin your woods to encourage better growth
Option #1 gives great results and is very simple.

[bill m]

When taping below the lateral should the tee be facing up or down? Maybe someone can post a photo of the proper orientation of the tee and drop in relation to the lateral?

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

When taping below the lateral should the tee be facing up or down? Maybe someone can post a photo of the proper orientation of the tee and drop in relation to the lateral?

Link to UVM's video about tapping below the lateral:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-EEYgL7Lt0

It works good, even for us just running Shurflo pumps.

[DrTimPerkins]

When taping below the lateral should the tee be facing up or down? Maybe someone can post a photo of the proper orientation of the tee and drop in relation to the lateral?

The tee can face up or down, but more importantly, the spout should point downward (the normal orientation). This creates a small air gap so that sap is not always held against the taphole where it can impact sanitation and freeze and result in spout heaving.

21436

https://mapleresearch.org/pub/m1216belowlateral/