check valve adapters

[lew]

I went to Leaders open house on Friday and listened to a presentation by Tim Perkins(?) from the Proctor center about his and Leaders new invention of a check valve adapter for the stubby spiles. His data seemed impressive 1.09 gallons of syrup per tap. They produced enough for only 25,000 to be tested in the field. Like a dummy, I didn't ask when they were going to be available. Did anybody else find out when these were going to be available, and what they thought the price was going to be?

[caseyssugarshack93]

i asked they said in the fall there going to be avaliable, i was at leader today, and i got some im sure we wont get no gallon a tap but i bet longer seasons and more sap my buddy ran 1000 last year mike parker and he said they worked Real good so he said i should use the stubby;s for what im adding on this year which i am and goin to use the check valves for them see how they work, its pretty impressive numbers they were throwing out there

[caseyssugarshack93]

Oh yeah did u get a free sample? i did and so did my dad NOW I HAVE TWO!!! WOOO 2 gallons of syrup here i come !!! woot woot

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

The numbers I heard bandied about for price was in the 40 to 50 cent range. They are still developing the system to put the little ball in it and they are not sure of how rapid a turnover they will have in their mold. A 5 second longer turn around time will create an additional cost of 1 cent per spout. I talked to a couple trial participants and they were duly impressed. I may try them.

[lew]

1 gallon per tap is hard to believe, but even if you could get .75, that would be tremendous. thanks for the info.

[KenWP]

What pray tell are they supposed to do . I take it they keep the tree from sucking back is my take.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Remember, the gallon per tap occurred this year when weather conditions were ideal. Other systems did very well too. Don't plan on a gallon per tap, plan for more sap than you would get without it.
Ken, The check valve prevents the negative pressure in the tree from sucking sap (and more importantly, the bacterial contaminants it contains) back into the taphole when there is an interruption in the vacuum from shutting it down or a leak or a surge of some sort.

[super sappy]

I got a sample at leader and heard the numbers and they were impressive. Just immagine, if half the taps put in Canada were to produce a gallon of syrup per tap.Take that a step further and Imagine half the taps in the US producing a gallon of syrup per tap. I bet guys will really have something to bellyache about when they go to sell bulk syrup . -SS

[caseyssugarshack93]

hey ss were u there yesterday? i got some, the numbers are impressive im sure they wont run not a gallon but i bet better than what were getting, im going to run 3-400 of them to see how they do

[KenWP]

Are they only for vacuum or would they work for gravity. Wonder where one buys leader stuff up here.

[caseyssugarshack93]

they only would work on vac but u could use them i suppto if u wanted on gravity but u wouldnt see a differnce cause when u shut the vac pump off the sap moves backwords cause of the pressure in the lines.

[maplecrest]

i was there both days, got my samples. my grandfather used to put out 500 buckets and make 500 gallons. so it can be done as was said on ideal years. this year i did .6 useing stubbies and new spout adapters and never shutting the vac off. so if what they say is true i could save some power and maybe make more syrup. they are light colored so wont absorb the heat the black ones do. drivind home today going down a back road in fairfield vt. i saw a woods they were used in. so they are out there

[caseyssugarshack93]

maplecrest u must of seen mike parker there were u in the siminar yesterday i was there and mike ran 1000 of the check vavles last year he was asked to do a test, and the one he showed me were black but i bet they changed it to a light color but i dont know but mike said whatever im adding this year go with the stubbies and the check vavle adaptors which im doing and hopefuly they make them for the tree saver spouts so i wont have to change everything over,.

[mountainvan]

What is the effect on the tree of taking the increased amount of sap? Is there less scarring inside the tree? Just wondering if anyone has checked into those issues.

[caseyssugarshack93]

is says on the paper work i got a "cleaner tap hole" but i dont konw about scaring

[Hurdhaven Farm]

The question of whether using such a tap, with yields like UVM was reporting (40+ gals sap/tap)would damage the tree, was asked of Tim by a member of the audience. Tim's response was that this was not looked at specifically with the check valve spout adapter. He did say that all the research done over the years looking at sap yield did not show that trees were damaged by harvesting above normal amounts of sap. The amount is still such a small percentage of what the tree produces that the tree doesn't even notice. He equated it to the loss of blood from a mosquito bite for us.