Tap size

[Groves]

I'm on buckets....but not bucket spouts.

I instead prefer to using a short run of tubing to whatever container I'm using. A bucket, a jug, whatever.

It's time for me to replace all my spouts. What's the latest thinking on size?

I now see them at 7/16, 5/16, and smaller even.

Does it make a difference? I'm not on vacuum.

[tuckermtn]

5/16 or 19/64 is the way to go now...health spouts, etc...take your pick. do you use sanitary extensions? even for tubing-to-bucket set ups I would reccomend them...

[Woody]

Can someone please explain these health spouts. I keep seeing the term but havn't a clue on what they are or why they're called that. Does it just refer to the smaller 5/16's diameter being healthier for the tree? Also, what are those sanitary extensions all about?

thanks

[dschultz]

I went from 7/16 to 5/16 tubing health spouts 2 yrs ago.And will never go back to 7/16.And I even use the tubing spouts to hold my 5 gallon pails on the tree's and haven't had one fall off the tree.
Dan

[Groves]

I went from 7/16 to 5/16 tubing health spouts 2 yrs ago.And will never go back to 7/16.And I even use the tubing spouts to hold my 5 gallon pails on the tree's and haven't had one fall off the tree.
Dan

I see mapleguys.com also have 1/4 inch health spouts. Too small or even better?

[Dennis H.]

The info that I got on tap size is that when using gravity, Buckets, do not go below a 5/16 tap. The 1/4's are most effective with vac.

The main point with the 5/16 spouts is that the tap hole heals quick and it causes less staining in the tree than the 7/16, and the difference that you will see in sap volume is so little that its better to have a healthy tree.

[KenWP]

I used both sizes of taps and found the same amount of sap from each. Most of the 5/16 holes are healed up and many of the 7/16's have not started even. I will say there are some that have healed already but most haven't. if I could painlessly find 5/16 bucket spouts I would be useing them this coming year but they are hard to find around here so far. I did hang 2 gallon buckets off of 5/16 tubeing spouts with no problems once I figured it all out.

[brookledge]

The reason they are called health spouts because they are "healthier" for the tree. The tree can heal quicker with a 5/16 hole and if it is totally done in the growing season it is better for it to ward off disease and other pest invasion.
The taps smaller than 5/16 and 19/64 are refered to as micro spouts and haven't had much sucess. Most have found that the spout will plug up and sap volume will be decreased.
keith

[jenigl12]

Two years ago as an experiment on making birch syrup I used some plastic health tube-spouts on some birch trees. I cut the tube-fitting end off and hung 4 gallon buckets on them just like I do with the maples. When installing the spouts I left just enough room to slide the bucket on. They seemed to work very well and very cost effective compared to the bucket-health spouts available. I wish I could have continued to try it last year, but I'm in college now and our spring break doesn't line up with syrup season like how it was in high school. The only negative thing I wonder about doing that is how long would the taps last since there is so much weight in a spot that isn't designed to hold weight?

[mapleack]

Health spout is one companies name for a 5/16 spile and refers to the small size being healthier for the tree. The hole is roughly 1/3 smaller than a 7/16 and will produce almost as much as a 7/16 on gravity and every bit as much when under vacuum. The sanitary extensions are intended to cut down on the introduction of bacteria into the taphole from the start. It's bacteria growth that stops sap flow near the end of the season, so if you put an old dirty tap in the hole when you start, you're giving the bacteria a jump start to grow and reducing the amount of sap you're going to get. Even if you boil and scrub a plastic spile that's been used, there's still going to be some amount of bio film in place that is an instant breeding ground for bacteria. If you're only doing 20 taps in your yard, you may be able to scrub and come close to new, or close enough that you don't care, but for bigger producers with thousands of taps, the small expense of a new extension every year is offset by the increased sap production it yields.




Can someone please explain these health spouts. I keep seeing the term but havn't a clue on what they are or why they're called that. Does it just refer to the smaller 5/16's diameter being healthier for the tree? Also, what are those sanitary extensions all about?

thanks

[DrTimPerkins]

We conducted several years worth of research comparing 7/16" (large, standard) and 5/16" (small, health) spouts on both gravity (buckets) and vacuum. In general, small spouts produce nearly the same as large spouts, particularly under vacuum, create a significantly smaller would, and the taphole closes much faster.

We did some work with smaller spouts also (microspouts) and found they produce about 65% as much sap as a small spout.

In our own operation we exclusively use small spouts and have had far less issues finding good healthy wood to tap into. We also use only one tap per tree (except sometimes in research projects) for a variety of reasons.

The summary paper can be found at http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/smallspout.pdf

[SilverLeaf]

The summary paper can be found at http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/smallspout.pdf
Dr. Perkins - was all of your research in this paper done on Sugar Maples and other hard maples? or do these findings compare to the expected results one would find with soft maples as well?

I tap exclusively Silver Maples (it's all I've got!) and, due to early bud break, have a little shorter season. So worrying about my tapwounds closing up is never an issue for me becaue the sap gets "buddy" first anyway. I've always heard that a big factor in why the 5/16 produce almost as much in a season as a 7/16 is because of the longer season before the hole dries up. But page 22 of your paper doesn't seem to indicate that that's always the case. (although three years' of data maybe isn't enough to say for sure?). Do you have any thoughts on this? I'm obviously curious whether I could switch to 5/16 in my small operation without noticing a big decline in production.

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Perkins - was all of your research in this paper done on Sugar Maples and other hard maples? or do these findings compare to the expected results one would find with soft maples as well?

I've always heard that a big factor in why the 5/16 produce almost as much in a season as a 7/16 is because of the longer season before the hole dries up.

All our work was done on sugar maples. The results for red and silver maple should be similar, but the wounds (stain column) would be larger in those species compared to sugar maple.

No, length of season is not a factor if the spouts you're comparing are the same age. New spouts will last a bit longer than used spouts though.

[KenWP]

I have 6 huge silver maples in the yard and used 5/16 on some and 7/16 on others and found that it depened on the weather and what side of the tree I tapped on. On one tree the small spouts just poured and on others very little came out. On another tree that had small ones and no sap I drilled in a 7/16 spout on the other side of the tree and got decent sap the last two days before they budded. On the slivers the big holes healed as fast as the little ones which wasn't so on the reds and black maples and sugars. I have a few big holes on them that never healed period .

[DrTimPerkins]

I have 6 huge silver maples in the yard and used 5/16 on some and 7/16 on others and found that it depened on the weather and what sice of the tree I tapped on. On one tree the small spouts just poured and on others very little came out. On another tree that had small ones and no sap I drilled in a 7/16 spout on the other side of the tree and got decent sap the last two days before they budded. On the slivers the big holes healed as fast as the little ones which wasn't so on the reds and black maples and sugars. I have a few big holes on them that never healed period .

Sap will typically flow out of the south side of the tree earlier in the season than the north, and later in the season from the north due to differential freeze and thaw patterns in the tree early on, and temperature-induced bacterial growth inducing sap flow cessation (taphole drying) on the south side sooner than the north.

It sounds from your experience that you might have some areas of internal damage in those trees where there is little growth. That is why when we do studies we try to do a number of trees and average the results.

[ABS5405]

Ken
EMBEE Plastics makes a 5/16 plastic spout for buckets, we have good luck with them. They call them "tree savers". Some folks around here claim they give more sap than 7/16.

[bobsklarz]

Alas!!!
Another age-old question answered by the Trader!
" Does size matter?" :lol: