retapping

[howden86]

has anyone had experiece with retapping. What are your opinions. what drill sizes do you use

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jeremy,

Thanks and I did retap this year. Don't ever want to do it again as it is a lot of work and the results didn't help a lot. I am sure it helped some, but I don't know if it is worth the effort. I only did it because it was 60+ here for 8 straight days right in the peak week of syrup season and the season had been so bad, I had to try something.

All my taps are 7/16", so I drilled each hole about 1/4" deeper with a 29/64" bith which is 1/64" larger. It worked good and seemed to help, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless absolutely neccessary. I then sprayed each taphole and spout with a least 1 spray of 5% bleach solution to sanitize them. I also flushed my lines with 5% bleach solution.

Hope this helps. I retapped 2 of my sugarbushes and the third one I did not retap since I tapped it a week later and it still ran better the rest of the season by far even though I did not retap it. Of course, it was on the north side of the hill and the trees don't get much sunshine. One thing I found out for sure this year is the more sunshine a tap gets, the sooner it will dry up. Never paid much attention before this year, but it is amazing. One the south side of the tree the holes would be dried up and I could have a couple of holes on the other side of the tree and they would still be running like crazy 5 weeks after I tapped. :?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jeremy,

Same here with the north and south side trees. My plan for next year is to tap around 250 taps early on the south side and then about 3 weeks later tap another 100+ taps on the north side because all my north side trees are nice size trees and run tremendous. That way I can extend the season longer and still get the good early runs on the south side. I could tap several hundred on the north side, so I could almost go to a split season if I wanted and I would if I had plenty of time.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Tap once and forget it--Another research ?= studies have shown that no matter the location of the taphole you will get close to the same amount of sap from any one side of the tree that you put the spout in-Also stated is that the sap will run at different peaks due to the tree "unthawing" at different rates--(each tree has its own individual charateristics)Also 1 last study some trees are known to run larger earlier amounts of sap then others and others are known to run better later in the season...You'll just need to set up your experimental station beside each tree and make camp for the season to see what the ole maple is up to and then duplicate the process next year if you can..Want to keep the taphole flowing longer?aseptically tap+sterilize the hole before you put your tap in and studies have shown that you'll get a improved flow out of that taphole at the end of the season over a taphole that has not been flushed when tapped...Kevin

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I will 2nd the idea of sanitizing tap hole. I always spray my tap holes with a least 1 squirt of 4 parts water to 1 part bleach and also spray each spout. I have done this for years and it has worked great for me.
:D :D

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Brandon- Your over doing it!!!! no just kidding-Some of the test with using the 1/10-clorox/water mix along with ethyl alochol and sorbic acid in the tapholes were tested in quite a few tree.they even treated the taphole on a lot with the clorox/water weekly and i'm thinking they published that the ethyl put out a little more sap then the rest of the holes at the end of the season with sorbic running 2nd. and the one shot of clorox at tapping 3rd.???...Kevin

[mapleman3]

Yes remember.. ethyl is the drinking type not the rubbing type!!!