Olde wives' tales about sugaring

[Galena]

Hey all! How many of you have heard the old trope of sticking a hunk of wood in a spile hole, supposedly to prevent bugs and infection from setting it?

My neighbour, a total sugaring noob, told me that he did that to his trees after reading about doing it on the interwebz.

Knowing his background as a paramedic, I pointed out that with a would you have to flush it out.

'Yeah', he said, 'then you pack it'.

To which I retorted: 'Yeah, with something sterile, not bits of stick off the ground.' I had clearly got up his a$$ somewhat by then, so said no more (he's now a cop lol).

Still, where did this old wives tale originate?!

[Bruce L]

Definitely do not stick anything in the holes,it will take the tree much longer to heal

[Galena]

Definitely do not stick anything in the holes,it will take the tree much longer to heal

My thoughts exactly. Doubtful that he will listen though. Fragile male ego and all that

[DaveB]

Still, where did this old wives tale originate?!

I think it's one of those things that if you don't know about something it makes sense. Then when you think about it some more, it doesn't make any sense. We know what the tree does and how it closes up but people think it hurts the tree and that the tree will always have the hole. I get asked that all the time. I actually have pictures of the healed up tap holes to show people at farmers markets.

[billyinvt]

How do we feel about the one about the wind?
When the wind is from the west the sap runs best.
When the wind is from the north the sap runs forth.
When the wind is from the south the sap runs drought and
When the wind is from the east the sap runs the least.

[Galena]

How do we feel about the one about the wind?
When the wind is from the west the sap runs best.
When the wind is from the north the sap runs forth.
When the wind is from the south the sap runs drought and
When the wind is from the east the sap runs the least.

I think that's more of a parable. Looks like someone was more concerned with rhyming than it being a hard and fast rule!

Now, stupid question: how do you tell what direction your trees 'face'?

[DrTimPerkins]

How about (my comments in parentheses)?

Always tap on the south side of the tree (wrong).
Only tap over a large root or under a large branch (wrong).
Vacuum damages trees (wrong)

And surely to be hot topics....

Non-RO syrup tastes better than RO syrup (not borne out by research including blind taste-testing).
Syrup made over a wood fire is better than syrup over an oil fire (no research done, but if you syrup has a smoky flavor, it is technically off-flavor).
Conventional syrup (non-organic) syrup is the same as organic syrup (there may be differences, but most pertain to sustainability and record-keeping)
Tapping doesn't harm trees (tapping creates a small wound which is ok and the tree will recover well if tapping is done sustainably).
Cutting trees is more profitable than tapping (depends on the time period you look at...but in the long run, maple syrup production is more profitable).

[ecp]

What about

-Don't tap until town meeting day. (it's a Vermont thing)
-Sugaring doesn't start until the brooks open up. (Can anyone explain what open up means?)
-Sap wont flow unless the eves are running.
-You can only boil at night. (I've been water boil in the daytime)
-Frog run is the end of boiling (seen people go past that with some success)

These are all some of my favorites that haven't been listed yet. Yes, I will most likely pass them down to my kids (with explanations) so the cycle will continue (at least in my small pocket of paradise). There is some merit from some of these, and I have no problems learning from the past to elevate the future it's just reading between the lines needs to be applied. Traditional sayings shouldn't be forgotten in my opinion.

To answer your original question, I think these sayings or wives tales are location specific and originated from generations in the trade trying to explain and predict what is happening. You gotta take into account many of these sayings came before there was much research and widespread communication. So, when my great great grandfather told my great grandfather the sap won't run today because the eves aren't running that was likely true for buckets back then. Now research and technology alter that truth a bit.

[Andy VT]

I feel that putting a stick into the spent tap hole is not an olde wives tale but just a refusal to use good sources, old or new. An old timer never would have done that.
I do see it come up a lot in the social media sugaring pages.... but seems to get corrected with a chorus of "don't do its" so there may be hope.

[DrTimPerkins]

Now research and technology alter that truth a bit.

I wouldn't say science alters the truth, just makes different truths more evident.

[ecp]

I wouldn't say science alters the truth, just makes different truths more evident. Thats a fair statement. Sorry for the confusion.

[Andy VT]

Dr Tim, I was wondering if you could expand on the organic tale/(truth).
For that one, I'm not seeing the difference between what is outside the paratheses, and inside.

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr Tim, I was wondering if you could expand on the organic tale/(truth).
For that one, I'm not seeing the difference between what is outside the paratheses, and inside.

There are many subtle differences in practice, but the major differences are in documentation and inspection to verify that you are using sustainable practices (a minimum tapping size, no nails or hooks in trees, not-overtapping), that you are using an organic defoamer and aren't using things like (non-organic) fertilizers, insecticides or paint on trees in your sugarbush, that you have a forest management plan that promotes species diversity in your woods, that your equipment is suitable (low or no lead, suitable plastics, rubber, etc.). You can't use the Zap-Bac spout and be organic certified (due to the nano-carrier employed in this technology). Conventional operations may do all (or most) of the same things, but there doesn't need to be documentation and there generally is no inspection to verify what you're doing.

The other difference is the fee you pay to be organic certified (some of it reimbursed by various state/federal programs) and the organic premium you receive for your syrup.

Note that I'm NOT saying conventional syrup is not as good as organic. However, a good share of the maple syrup market wants organic-certified maple syrup and is willing to pay the additional cost. The customer gets what they want and the economics are often quite favorable to the maple producer.

[Galena]

How about (my comments in parentheses)?

Always tap on the south side of the tree (wrong).
Only tap over a large root or under a large branch (wrong).
Vacuum damages trees (wrong)

And surely to be hot topics....

Non-RO syrup tastes better than RO syrup (not borne out by research including blind taste-testing).
Syrup made over a wood fire is better than syrup over an oil fire (no research done, but if you syrup has a smoky flavor, it is technically off-flavor).
Conventional syrup (non-organic) syrup is the same as organic syrup (there may be differences, but most pertain to sustainability and record-keeping)
Tapping doesn't harm trees (tapping creates a small wound which is ok and the tree will recover well if tapping is done sustainably).
Cutting trees is more profitable than tapping (depends on the time period you look at...but in the long run, maple syrup production is more profitable).

Ooh a plethora of tales, both old and new! Well, I have tapped the S side religiously for the most part. One of my best trees' best spile was the hottest one by far; the W and N spiles did nothin. About 30m away a really good tree, also tapped W, N and S has had very little from the S spile and not much from the W either. Only the N spile did anything. Go figure.

My trees' roots don't really show. I pay more attention to whether or not where I am tapping is leading into a burl. I finally paid attention to a favourite tree and noticed burls - small, but still there - on the N and S sides. So i tapped E (GASP!!) and W. That tree on 2 spiles was consistently one of the top producers, even on bigger trees with 3 spiles.

Vacuum damaging trees....well, maybe they don't damage the trees but my own belief system supports only taking what I get. Seeing that I had over 800l in 5 weeks' time, from only 8 trees....I think I'll stick with my sharkfins, aluminum pails and passive tapping.

Non-RO vs RO, wood fire vs oil fire...all non-starters imnsho.

I know that the way I run my trees basically qualifies my practices as organic, but I don't call it organic. Being organic requires too many hoops n barrels, I'm busy enough!

The only time I've seen tapping to harm trees was when people - even now - porcupined a tree, then wondered why it got infected and died.

Hmmm....feling maples over tapping...well the price of wood products has gone up but syrup is still a hawt commodity, probably even moreso with global warming cutting the season short. I keep my trees standing unless tere is no option.

[DrTimPerkins]

Well, I have tapped the S side religiously for the most part.

This is a very common misconception. Research has shown that when you measure sap flow over several seasons, the average yield is basically the same from each side. So why do people think the south side is better....who knows? It may be that early in the season, the sap flows best on the south. Since people are watching for sap flows more earlier in the season, they see sap in the buckets on the south, but none on the north. What they don't recognize so deeply is that the sap also stops flowing on the south earlier in the season, but keeps flowing on the north side.

The best practice is to spread the taphole all around the stem.

[Galena]

This is a very common misconception. Research has shown that when you measure sap flow over several seasons, the average yield is basically the same from each side. So why do people think the south side is better....who knows? It may be that early in the season, the sap flows best on the south. Since people are watching for sap flows more earlier in the season, they see sap in the buckets on the south, but none on the north. What they don't recognize so deeply is that the sap also stops flowing on the south earlier in the season, but keeps flowing on the north side.

The best practice is to spread the taphole all around the stem.

Thanks for the feedback, Dr Tim. Will definitely am going to be doing more tapping all around the stem, as you suggest. Think I based my S side idea on my experience in the horse world, where run-in sheds are positioned so that the NEW sides are sheltered but the S side left open. I definitely had hot spiles (all on different trees) on all directions, even the one tree that had an E spile, which I always thought would be a colder side. Just glad my trees are finally dry and I can pull the spiles and then tackle cleanup.