To sterilize or not to sterilize

[powerdub]

Your spouts that is. Now that this more than busy summer is over and I have a little time on my hands (more due to the fall flu bug I seem to get every year than not having anything to do) I thought I would let you all in on how my unofficial, unscientific study of spout sterilization went last spring. I use mostly IPL and Leader health spouts or tree saver spouts. I am in the process of replacing them all with the Lapierre stubby spout with the health insert. but thats another story. I gotta try to focus here so bear with me please. I put out about 1200 this year. When I tapped I used a dunk and rub method to clean the end of the spout with alcohol. No one could tell me exactly what to by but most seemed to say stay away from denatured alcohol. Now right or wrong I used the only other thing I could find and that was rubbing alcohol at the local RX store. Using an old tapping bit I put a hole in the cover of the bottle and put it my pouch with several clean rags. Before I drilled the hole in the tree I stuffed the spout into the hole in the bottle, gave the bottle a shake and then wiped the end of the spout. Then I drilled and tapped the tree. In a few areas that were easy to get to I left a few taps that were not hit with alcohol and tapped them. Aproximitly 10 taps were not cleaned with alcohol. Most of them were in mostly shaded areas but two were left in a spot that gets the sun from very early on to very late. There are sevral taps in that area but only two were left. They were taped on the S.E. side by the way. The rest that were cleaned were tapped on the south side. Every week or more I went out and pulled the spouts out of the holes on all of the non-sterilized ones and a random ammount of the sterilized ones. The first week proved nothing as holes looked the same. By the end of the second week the two non- sterilized ones that get the sun all day started to look a little funky in the hole, kind of like a thin clear glaze on the wood. The others looked just like I tapped them the first day. By the end of the third week the two S. E. facing non- sterilized ones looked black and disgusting in the hole. The other non's were getting that thin clear glaze to them. All the others looked normal. Week four and I pulled the two S. E. facing non's out, yes the holes were done. The other non's had a real slime issue also. The sterilized holes were not showing any signs of anything and looked good, even the ones that were pulled several times and checked. This exercise proved good for the vacuum system also as I found a lot of little leaks I would not have, but thats another story as well. Focus. Around this time in my area anyway I got warm and stayed waym for like eight days or so. At the end of it, when the weather got back to normal the sap started to flow again and those hole still showed no signs of bacteria. They looked like the first week I tapped. Needless to say after the warm spell the quality of the sap was crap because most of the buds popped so I had to stop but it was not due to no sap at all. In my non official and non scientific opinion, for me, it was worth taking the extra time to dunk and wipe when I tapped. The difference in the way the holes looked when I pulled taps this year compared to every other year was like night and day. Just a side note to this, it did not seem to make any grade difference as I made a lot of dark syrup this year. As far as getting more sap per run goes, I can't answer that either. Overall it was an average year. The only thing I know for sure is that the holes stayed clean all season and then some. On a normal year with no massive warm spell that makes the buds pop it may mean more sap at the end of the season. God bless and happy holidays!

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Aseptic tapping-Ever heard of it? Just about what powerdub said and researched by MariaFranca Morselli showed that that was the case with the tapholes still producing sap from the sterilized tapholes way longer at the end of the season then the Non-sterile holes that "Dryed up" weeks earlier. The technique was to spray the bark of the tree in the area the taphole would be made with (Ethel alcohol that you can get from D&G) drill dit would be swished and taphole sprayed on every hole and spout sanitized.I'm guessing that there was a 10%+? increase in the overall amount of sap from the taphole when the trees budded out and the season ended(Cannot quite remember the exact figure this morning a long night last night).Also proven that with new spouts that you get more sap from the first years flow then years after due to the "sterileness" of the new spouts vs. ones that have been used for years and left out in the elements...Kevin

[powerdub]

Doggone Kevin, here I was thinking I was on the cutting edge of this. NOT. I have not heard of all that research but it was the idea of the new spouts always running better that got me thinking. I did swish the bit too, or dunk and rub but it was not every hole. I also could not find any rule against it here in VT either. Not saying that would have stopped me but might not have shared the info if it was against the rule. Also thought about using some 100 proof vodka but when I finally made up my mind the bottle was empty and the earth had more of slant to it :wink:

[mapleman3]

I heard not to use rubbing alcohol(denatured), just high proof clear like the vodka or similar, the alcohol will be gone when boiled where as the rubbing alcohol is poisonous.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I always spray each of my spouts and holes with 4 parts water to 1 part clorox. Has always worked great for me and doesn't seem to affect the trees at all. :D

[powerdub]

I will have to look into that one Jim. After the rub with the clean rag the spouts are dry and I don't spray it in the hole so I can't believe there is any getting down the line. Besides, I am still here, for now.

[mapleman3]

from a seminar at goodriches.. he said grain not denatured or you can use hydrogen peroxide diluted. but hey your right if your still here 8) :wink:

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Problem is with Devil's Springs it's hard to decifer which hole receive's the most??...Kevin

[syrupmaker]

At least ya know ther's know bacteria ! No emoticons for a hicup. Oh well

Rick

[Russ]

Thought that I would resurrect this topic as tapping time approaches. Over the course of our tapping seasons, we've used rubbing alcohol, bleach, and hydrogen peroxide (not all at the same time, of course) for sterizing the hole after tapping. We've also heard about using vodka. Metal taps and 5/16" reducers get boiled. We have never directly sterilized the drill bit or drop line spiles. We know of large producers who do not do any sterilizing.

Is there any definitive research on this topic in terms of the need/advantages to sterilizing, and if so, what the best sterilizing agent and method is for a tubing network?

Thanks...

[Fred Henderson]

I olny use just a little 5/16" tubing in very hard to get at places. Last year each hole that I drill got a squit of peroxide and so did the spile. I didn't of see ant of that white bacteria crap building up.