UV in a tap hole ??

[Brent]

If UV is good to kill the bacteria that spoil sap and the same things plug up sap holes .... could we find a UV that could be stuck near or in a tap hole every few days to keep it sterile ??? Would it hurt the tree ??

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

It could be done and probably wouldn't hurt the tree if you had a small fortune per each tap.

[softmaple]

just send it fiber optically from a central source

[Brent]

if it takes a few weeks for the bacteria to build up to the point that the flow gets cut off, I would think you would be able to pull a tap, zap the tap and the hole and put the tap back.

Just a small portable device and guy with the time to visit each tap every few days or whatever it takes.

[MR Electrician]

ok well first of all uv doesn't kill bacteria .
it changes the dna make up of the bacteris so it cant re produce .
the bacteria will die in time with no re production of the cells .
if you want to kill bacteria you need a cleaning agent like chlorine
.or a temperature above 190 deg f
this will kill 90 % of the germs present.

so wanna kill germs boil yr sap.

[hurryhill]

If there is a warm spell of length during the season, we use a pipe cleaner dipped in a clorine solution to swap out spiles while they are still in the tree. Be careful not to contaminate one tree to the next - keep your pipe cleaners cleans. If a long dry, warm spell persists, we prop buckets upside down against tree, then use a cloth to wipe bottom of buckets as we rehang them.

Jan Woods
Edinboro PA
Hurry Hill Farm and Maple Museum
4'x16' Leader evaporator
all wood, all buckets, no electric

[Brent]

I was thinking of a UV source light a camera flash. A strong flash or two in the hole then re-insert the tap. But I doubt there is a flash style source for UV.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Isn't the bacteria what is clogging up thetap holes? so how does killing the bacteria with a UV light help the sap flow.

[Brent]

it takes millions if not billions of the bacteria to plug a hole.

less is better and keeps the flow going longer

the new check vavle spouts are going to do this pretty well, keep the bacteria out of the hole.

[KenWP]

Dead bacteria do not reproduce so it cuts down and slows down the plugging of the tap hole.

[DrTimPerkins]

It is a combination of the dead and live bacteria and the natural tree response to microorganisms within the tree that gums up the open vessels.

The bacteria produce a mucilage that is gummy/scummy (like what is in the bottom of sap tanks) which does affect flow to some degree.

Interestingly, in terms of the tree response it doesn't matter much if the bacteria are dead or alive. The tree "senses" bacteria in the taphole, and moves substances into that area to plug off the affected vessels. This is done to prevent the "infection" from spreading throughout the tree.

Tim P.
UVM PMRC

[Ace_R]

Anyone seen those SteriPens used for purifying water? Couldn't you use that as part of your tapping regime? Drill a hole, sanitize the hole with the SteriPen, tap in your sanitzed spile?

Here is the website for those of you who haven't seen it......http://www.steripen.com/index.html

[Brent]

that looks pretty close to what I was thinking about.

From the pictures it looks like the bulb is too big to go into a tap hole and the sterilizing time would be trial and error. For me the time would not be an issue but is would have a big impact on tapping time for 10,000 taps.