Red Maples

[Dk0306]

This year I will be tapping a majority of red maples. I’ve read that they run earlier than other maples. Looking at the extended weather forecasts/models it looks like my area should be getting above freezing temps moving forward for the most part, except for a 3 day period of below freezing temps. With reds running earlier, should I be tapping earlier or should I continue to wait some? I also know forecasts/models are not completely accurate. Just trying to make sure I am not tapping reds too late if l they do run earlier.

[DrTimPerkins]

Red maples start to run at about the same time as sugar maples. Temps need to get above freezing enough to thaw out the stem and allow the sap to flow (sap can't flow if it is frozen). They may not run as well without vacuum, and there seems to be slightly more variability in flow (some red maple tapholes run well, others not so much). Tap them at the same time as you tap the sugar maples in your area.

The confusion seems to be around red maple sap turning buddy earlier than sugar maple. Even that is not established fact. They definitely FLOWER earlier, but that doesn't affect the sap buddiness.

[DRoseum]

Awesome webinar by proctor on red maple yields

https://youtu.be/ncnlc3tLBt8

[snakes14009]

I started tapping reds three years ago, just to see what their performance is on buckets and to test the taste. Like everything in nature there is no one rule that fits everything. I have a red maple in my yard that has given 3.9% sugar, when sugar maples were at 2.5%t I also have some reds that there was hardly anything in the abottom of the bucke all year longa Dont worry about old "wise tales" if its in the ACER family tap it and try it for yourself. Tap all of your trees a few days before the runs starts and have fun. .

[DRoseum]

I tap overwhelming majority red maples (its what I have) and under vacuum on 3/16 they perform wonderfully. The webinar i provided a link to in this thread shows that under vacuum there is no statistical difference in syrup yield per tap between sugars and reds. My experience is that on the whole, when under vacuum they perform far better and more consistently then when I had buckets on them.

[Kh7722]

Tap every one of them and same as sugars.
We tap almost all reds 99% (Won grand champion producer in 2021) and they last just as long as our sugar maple friends.
Under vacuum my results show that yes sugar is a little lower 1.5-2.0, but the production is 5-6x higher than on gravity vs 3-4x higher than sugars on gravity. So with slightly lower sugar and yield increase it equals out. And besides after the.RO, its all 10% anyways. So treat all maples the same and dont under estimate the reds.
Good luck and have a great season

[Dk0306]

Tap every one of them and same as sugars.
We tap almost all reds 99% (Won grand champion producer in 2021) and they last just as long as our sugar maple friends.
Under vacuum my results show that yes sugar is a little lower 1.5-2.0, but the production is 5-6x higher than on gravity vs 3-4x higher than sugars on gravity. So with slightly lower sugar and yield increase it equals out. And besides after the.RO, its all 10% anyways. So treat all maples the same and dont under estimate the reds.
Good luck and have a great season

Thanks! I really want to build an RO system to save time with boiling since I usually only can do it on that weekend. But, I’m only in my second year of this hobby so also not sure I need one just yet. Should probably make some improvements to my evaporator first (pan with more surface area and a preheater) and see if that helps some with boiling time!

[Dk0306]

Thanks! I am excited to tap the reds this year. Last year I tapped all sugars.

[Dk0306]

I tap overwhelming majority red maples (its what I have) and under vacuum on 3/16 they perform wonderfully. The webinar i provided a link to in this thread shows that under vacuum there is no statistical difference in syrup yield per tap between sugars and reds. My experience is that on the whole, when under vacuum they perform far better and more consistently then when I had buckets on them.

I am working on watching all of the webinar as I get chances. Thanks for sharing it.

[TheNamelessPoet]

I got about 2% from all the reds I tapped so far this year. Out of my 40ish taps, I have probably 25-30 red's. I am TERRIBLE at being able to tell in the winter.

[Sugar Bear]

As Doc TP pointed out several months ago, he and his institution suspect that the amount of Nitrogen in soil along with other factors, may play a role in whether syrup will metabolize and form a off flavor.

I will not take the claims of institutions at face value all of the time, but on this one I will.

With that said nearly all Sugar Maples grow "Mid Slope" in well drained soil. Rarely, if ever propagating themselves in flood plain,

Red Maples can grow "Mid Slope" but can and frequently do go down to flood plain. Here in the flood plain we have a slang term for Red Maples known as "Swamp Maples", And of course we have "Semi Swamp Maples" and even "Rare Event Swamp Maples" and on up to the "Mid Slope Red Maples" I guess?

Would we not be more likely to find more Nitrogen in the soils of flood plain and below bid slope then we would mid slope.

If so, then can we apply the term "Guilt By Association" here???

[Shirlsaw63]

I highly recommend going for the RO. It was a life saver for me when I could only boil a couple hours an evening and weekends.

[Gord]

+1 on the RO. And if it weren't for Red Maples, I wouldn't be making syrup. I'm small time, maybe 4 - 5 gallons a year, and out of 100+ trees I have available, I don't have a single Sugar Maple.

[Dk0306]

I highly recommend going for the RO. It was a life saver for me when I could only boil a couple hours an evening and weekends.

Just ordered the pieces to build a system!

[DRoseum]

Just ordered the pieces to build a system!

I've got 10% discount codes for membranes/housing thru Membrane Solutions.

https://www.roseummaple.com/2021/12/discounted-ro-membranes.html

[Dk0306]

I've got 10% discount codes for membranes/housing thru Membrane Solutions.

https://www.roseummaple.com/2021/12/discounted-ro-membranes.html

Awesome, thanks!

[Dk0306]

+1 on the RO. And if it weren't for Red Maples, I wouldn't be making syrup. I'm small time, maybe 4 - 5 gallons a year, and out of 100+ trees I have available, I don't have a single Sugar Maple.

Just ordered all the pieces to build a RO system. Any tips for using one? Watched/read that sap needs to be 40 degrees to run through the system. And you should get 1 part concentrate for every 2 parts pulled water. Can I collect sap and keep it cold during the week then run it on the weekend before boiling? Also was told if I cant boil and finish the get the concentrate, I can get it to a roiling boil to avoid any bacteria then I can store it and keep it cold for a few days

[Fun4stuff]

I just tap the maples in my yard. Most are red maple. 1 is sugar maple. I have a couple red maple that do just as well as the sugar maple with sugar 3-4% every year. I also have red maple that produce very little.

But i have had people say not to even bother if you don’t have sugar maple, which isn’t true at all.

[Galena]

I just tap the maples in my yard. Most are red maple. 1 is sugar maple. I have a couple red maple that do just as well as the sugar maple with sugar 3-4% every year. I also have red maple that produce very little.

But i have had people say not to even bother if you don’t have sugar maple, which isn’t true at all.

This discussion is making me think that maybe I should put my only decent red maple back on the line this year. I had to get some limbing done on my biggest sugar maple and that was in early January. I don't want to tax that tree by tapping it so soon after limbing, so that tree has the year off.

Meanwhile, I retired the red from the line 3 or 4 years ago because I wanted to go with an all-sugar bush, and it was always one of the lower producers. But seeing that I have a couple extra spiles and pails kickin round, may as well tap that red and see how well it does now!

[DRoseum]

Tap the reds! At least that is what the research by UV proctor research center shows. Under vacuum, red maples will produce the same SYRUP yield per tap that sugar maples do.

[Russell Lampron]

I tapped about 90% reds because that's what I had. I had them on vacuum and was able to get a lot of sap out of them. I did tap a lot of smaller ones that I considered to be cull trees and that hurt my averages. My tubing system wasn't the best either and that hurt my averages as well. In most of the 20 years that I tapped I averaged a quart per tap which I was happy with. My syrup had a unique flavor that me and my customers loved, I gave the reds credit for that.

In the 20 years that I tapped the reds I never made bud syrup and I was one of the last ones in my area to call it a season. I watched what other producers with all sugars in my area were reporting for sugar content and the numbers that I was getting were just as good or slightly better.

[Galena]

I did indeed go and tap that red, #7, and it is producing quite nicely on just 2 spiles (normally a 3-spile tree but I'd already installed that third spare spile elsewhere).
I only have 3 reds on the property. One is now a 10' stump full of burls (it was also full of termites when it finally blew down), the other one not quite as burly but also a low producer; I only tried tapping those 2 a few seasons before giving up on them.