taping high on the tree

[dano2840]

if ive got a main line that runs with in 15 ft of a tree (the tree is lower on the bank and the lines on top of the bank) is it going to be bad for the tree or less productive to tap it 20ft up the tree? i can get it from the mainline down below the tree but i have to run a 100ft lateral up to get it which one should i go with????????

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Tap it 20 feet in the air, it won't hurt the tree, no sense in running extra lateral for nothing. One large producer in Virginia taps a lot of trees way up in the tree, probably because the trees have been tapped for probably 100 years and too much dead wood down low.

[Clan Delaney]

According to the book "Amateur Sugar Maker" by Noel Perrin (published in 1972), on page 52 it says "The lower you tap a maple, the faster the sap flows". So, maybe it won't be the fastest, but it's still sap.

[Brent]

There should be a lot of input from some Traders on this. I remember last year lots of them complaining the snow was so deep they could only tap up high.

[MapleBud]

I have one place i tap i have to use a 8 foot step lader to get the fall i need to make the sap run. Witch i tap my frist trees at 12 feet or so high and i do not see any diff. It just takes a little longer for the sap to get that hi but it does't take long. The sun warms the top of the trees frist.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Last year we taped with snow shoes on and when we pulled the taps I was wondering why they all were so dang high.

[swierczt]

I have a few trees at the begining of my lines that I need a ladder to get to the taps. I wouldn't be able to gravity feed them to the collection tank otherwise. Some of those trees with the taps 8-12' up are the best producers too!

[Logscaler]

When I was in college a "few" years back I did an under graduate research project on just this subject. The results were that the higher up the tree you tapped produced a higher sugar content - BUT - the yield of sap was considerably reduced. I will dig that paper out for the numbers if anyone is interested!

[dano2840]

im interested on the #s

[Logscaler]

I will do that tonight when I get home from work!

[Clan Delaney]

I will do that tonight when I get home from work!

Proprietary research done by a MapleTrader member?!? We're moving into a whole new area here! Maybe we can get you a title... doctor or something. :) I'm real interested to see what your findings were.

[Logscaler]

Hi Everyone - I posted my data over in sugarbush management (http://www.mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=5487). I thought it fit there better!