Sap Sugar percent?

[skillet]

Will saps sugar % drop during the season on a single tree? Will the sugar % be the same every year?

Thanks

skillet

[brookledge]

Most trees will drop in sugar content as the season goes on. As for right now the sugar content will rise as we get more freeze thaw cycles. That is why you can tap in the fall and early winter but you won't get as much sugar as the spring.
No the sugar content will not alawys be the same. If you do daily test on a single tree it will sometimes change daily and can go both ways.
How ever if you test different trees on the same day the higher ones will be the higher ones pretty consistantly.
That is why when thinning it is good to use a refractomer and test each tree and cut the ones with lower sugar content provided they are both equal otherwise.
Keith

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

It varies year to year and sometimes day to day. It is usually higher at the beginning of the season and gets lower as the season progresses. A deep freeze during the season can kick up sugar content. There are so many variables and no one understands it fully, but this is the best explanation I could give you.

[WF MASON]

I had attended a seminar about how and when, thinning the sugarbush , trees 2"-3" inches were checked , this was in the fall , some measured 1.5% sugar,some measured 4% sugar, the guy doing this said the high sugar ones would produce high sugar , the low sugar content would always produce low sugar,they were cut and removed.

[dano2840]

i had a big old maple i tapped on a bucket last year, it tested 4.7 when i tapped it, i tested it a week before i pulled the taps and it was at 1.9

how do you get the sap to test when thinning if your doing it in the summer/ winter when its eather frozen or too hot out?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

You can test it in the spring or fall and mark the trees with a ribbon or paint and then cut them whenever you get around to it. I would think most accurate would be in the spring as a person is more familiar with what sugar content should be at that paticular time of year.

[WF MASON]

I believe a small 1/8" hole was drilled and then one drip of sap was placed on a refractometer to get the reading.

[brookledge]

Danno
When testing the sap content of trees to decide which ones to save it does take some planning. Any time of the year that the temps are going from freezing to thawing the sap will be running enough to test with a refractomer. You don't even need to drill. Take a screwdriver, jack knike etc. and break the bark. Then take a eye dropper and collect a few drops of sap to test it. Then like Brandon said use flagging or any thing you want, to record the sugar content of that tree. Then go to the next tree etc. Once you have done a large area you can then look at the proximity of each tree plus other defects to determine which ones to save. Then at a later time you can cut the culls.
When I said you don't need to use a drill I was refering to small trees that have thin bark. If you want to test larger trees then use a small drill
Keith