separating reds?

[tuckermtn]

question for those of you who have red maples mixed in to your tubing runs- how do you separate/isolate the reds late in the season when the buds get fat? Do you just pull those taps and stick them in the cup/peg on the Ts? Will this effect the vacuum on that line? or do you not mix reds and sugars on laterals?

our 135 tap bush is currently all sugars...but could probably add 50-75 taps on reds- if we go with an RO for next season I would be tempted to add the reds but not sure how to isolate them as the season winds down for the reds but sugars are still producing...

thanks-

Eric

[sapman]

I'm a first year red tapper, and haven't isolated them yet.  They are all on their own vacuum line, so it would be simple.  But what I've been hearing is that they often just stop running before they get buddy, anyway.  I'm not worrying about it, since everything is commercial now for me.Tim

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

The reds I tap seem to bud later than the reds that are close to them that are not tapped. Maybe just enough stress on the trees to prevent them from budding but I only tap a few.

[Russell Lampron]

I have only had one season since 2001 where the sap ran late enough for the buds to be a problem. I have close to 500 taps on reds and if I isolated them I would only have about 75 taps left on the vacuum. Just closing 2 valves at the releaser and one up the line would eliminate most of them but then I wouldn't have enough taps left to get any sap. Leave them on line and make some mersh.

[maplecrest]

right now reds are running better than sugars. thaw fast first to freeze. sugars slow to thaw and slow to freeze

[Maplewalnut]

My experience is exactly what everyone else has said. Even my woods trees tend to thaw out faster than my big sugar roadsides. They do dry out faster and next year I will think about reaming them out half way through to see if that helps. I made a little mersh only the last run. This is on vacuum, I am not sure if I would tap reds without it, they need a little coaxing!

Mike

[maple flats]

I only have 30 reds on my system. I ran seperate laterals to the mains for the reds and when the buds look ready to open on them I walk the mains and seperate those laterals, and cap the fitting into the main. I only have 5 such laterals and only 1 contains any sugars (2taps) which also get pulled along with the reds. These are all in 1 bush and it only takes about 15 minutes to pull them all. I think for next year I will remove those sugars and give them a dedicated line.

[Dave Y]

At least half of my taps are reds and I have never had a problem with them producing buddy sap. The season is usaully over before the sap turns buddy. And so what if it does? you CAN NOT make syrup that you cant sell!

[PerryW]

One good way to separate the Red Maples is to cut them down. Then you know the horizontal trees are Reds. They make great firewood.

[Russell Lampron]

Perry for some of us if we didn't tap reds we wouldn't have anything to tap. I plan to add more to my system next season. My outdoor wood furnace likes any kind of wood that I can feed it so the evergreens, beeches and birches get the saw before any maple does.

It is amazing how much sap you can get out of the red maples when you add some negative pressure. Mine gave up 16 gallons per tap this year at 23'' of vacuum. The six that I had buckets on didn't give much more than a 5 gallon bucket combined.

[maplecrest]

everyone gave me a hard time about tapping the reds in my new bush. but those trees are running clear sap and a lot of it. seems worth it to me

[Russell Lampron]

My grandfather used to call a red maple a weed tree because they will grow anywhere and aren't worth anything. I made a lot of syrup and a lot of money tapping weeds.

[PerryW]

Russell,

I was just funning you. When I started sugaring in 1968, my father bought 25 old wooden buckets and we hung them on the swamp maples and made a few gallons of good syrup.

Also, when I went to UNH and lived in Newmarket, I tapped red maples and made another 5 gallons on the old flat 2x4 pan.

Certainly, with vacuum & R.O., the Red Maples look like you can make some syrup on them.

I have resisted tapping them on my current setup simply because I have enough Sugar Maples; and with straight evaporation in open pans, I like the higher sugar content of the sugars.