tapping hollow trees

[dano2840]

wondering about tapping hollow trees, ive got a good amount of hollow trees, and wondering how far to drill, i was thinking like an inch but was wondering if i would be getting into the sap wood or not, any advice?
oh and are there any sugar makers in washington county? would like to meet some of you guys and check out your operation, and maybe you could check out mine

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Dano,
I have tapped hollow trees for years. Watch the tree for a good healthy spot and tap shallow. If you get colored shavings, don't put a spout in. Try again another year. If you hit bad wood as indicated by the off colored shavings, you will get poorer, off colored sap and, if under vacuum, may have a vacuum leak fro inside the tree.

[dano2840]

why wouldnt i put the spout in? if its a 4 ft tree but only has 3" of meet all the way around and im only planning on 2 taps, couldnt i just tap it some where else?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Probably would be alright, just don't keep drilling too many holes to find good wood. Each wound will get some sap and do some tree damage.

[Sugarmaker]

Just tapped one the other day. I could tell due to the hollow sound when tapping in the plastic spile. two days later Nic and I were gathering and turns out to be a honey bee tree! So that's why we make maple syrup and honey!!

Regards,
Chris

[dano2840]

honey bees have a nest in the tree?

[Brian Ryther]

While walking my lines today looking / listening for leaks, I followed the hissing sound of a leak to a tap. After resetting the spout I could still hear a leak. Come to find out the tree was hollow, and the the leak was coming in from last years tap hole. Gravity lines = set the tap and hope for sap, Vac lines = if it leaks vac then it is not worth the sap.

[Hal]

Quite a few years ago I was washing tubing, not a vacuum setup. I walked up to one tree and there was water spraying out of a squirrel hole twelve feet up the trunk. On a gravity system don't think it had caused much of a problem, but it would have been a hard to find vacuum leak.

[KenWP]

Today there was a trailer full of hollow maples down in the parking lot of the local trucking company. Its weird they even bothered to load them up and truck them out for lumber.