Buckets Vs. Vacuum

[argohauler]

Couldn't believe it when I heard it. My syrup supplies suppliers son and his uncle both made syrup this year. They both had around 400 taps. The uncle had vacuum in a fairly young bush with southern exposure. The son had roadside trees on buckets. The son made more syrup at almost 150 imperial gallons (178 US gal.) or 1.7 litres per tap ( .45 US gal/tap) The uncle had health spiles and made sure their were no leaks. The uncle was stymied as to how the nephew could make more.

They figure on the nights where it didn't freeze very hard or not long enough, the roadsides froze better to get a better run. I wonder if the uncle kept his vacuum running all the time it was above freezing?

Anybody heard a similar story?

[Justin Turco]

Maybe those roadside trees just had a higher sugar content. They often do. Does using vacuum get you a greater increase in water than what you gain in sugar? For example: You take twice as much sap from the tree but only get 25% more syrup? A tree only has so much sugar right?...

Justin

[Bucket Head]

I could'nt comment on their weather conditions there, but the sugar content has a lot to do with it.

I know folks who tap all small "telephone pole like" maples, in the woods, with just over 1% sap. We tap all roadside and hedgerow type tree's with an average sugar content of over 3%.

They boil three times as much sap as we do but get the same syrup totals.

Tree size and location play a big part in sap and syrup totals.

Steve

[chrisnjake9]

whats the idea behind keeping the vacuum on when its above freezing even if it isnt running at the time what do you gain

[markcasper]

chrisnjake: running the vacuum all the time above 32 degrees tends to keep the trees running, even start them running. I have had days where it doesn't freeze, but didn't get out to gas up the pump in time. The result was sap running well within 1/2 hour. There was not a drop out of the mainline before starting the pump.

In regards to the roadside trees. It most likely was the increased sugar% making up the difference and then some. I had a cousin years ago that tapped 40 holes and made 40 gallons of syrup. The trees were all in a cow pasture, had large crowns and they were sloping to the south.

[Mark-NH]

"young bush" vs mature roadside maples. Not a fair comparison. What do you think that young bush would have done with just buckets?

[peacemaker]

road sides still would have beat them

[220 maple]

I agree it is difficult to compare two different bushes, but what would be a neat test if all the road side trees could handle two taps each, one side hang buckets, the other side put tubing and a main line with high vacuum, I bet somewhere someone has tried that?

Mark 220 Maple

[sapman]

My results over the years would support what everyone is saying. I've always been all roadside and never made less than 1/3 gal./tap. This year I tapped a woods with vacuum for the first time, and only kept half my buckets going. Sugar from the woods started at 1.9% and went down to 1.2% at the end. Roadsides were 2.5-3, down to 2. If time and help were not a problem, I would have loved to keep all the buckets going.

Tim