plastic 5 gallon pails

[muddyfootprints]

I have a bunch of 5 gallon plastic buckets and I am looking at purchasing some more taps, in the past I have used plastic taps with hose running to the bucket at the base of the tree. I am trying to decide if I want to go with some leader aluminum taps and drill holes in the side of the bucket and hang the bucket from the tap or continue with using the plastic taps and hose.

Any comments or suggestions would be great

pros or cons

Thanks

[KenWP]

Which do you think is best. If you like the tube and bucket system stay with it. I do know that wind sometimes likes to steal pails when doing it that way. I did both ways last year and actually prefered the bucket on the tree as it was bit easyier to instal and the tube dosn't slip out on you.

[lpakiz]

Any time I used buckets or pails on the ground, I had a hard time making them stand straight up. The ground around the tree was always pushed up like an anthilll. Plus you have to anchor them or weight them to keep them upright.

[morningstarfarm]

I personally prefer to use the tubing into pails..I just went to the local dollar store and bought a bungee cord and attached the buckets to the tree..I've had a full 5 gal pail pull a tap right out of a tree when mounting direct to the tap....Just my 2cents

[Gary R]

I do both. I prefer hanging the bucket on the tree. I use the 5/16 leader alum. spouts. I've had 4 gal. of sap in them and never lost one. Buckets on the ground do work well for me though. It's just one more extra step when emptying them to deal with the tubing. Just find a level spot and put a rock on the lid when on the ground.

[Dennis H.]

I did what everyone else mentioned. My 5 gal buckets were on the ground with tubing into them. and I had 2 gal buckets which I hung from the tree with the Leader aluminum spiles, Hookless ones.

I found that for me the ones with tubing were a pain to deal with when empting them. I left the tubing in the bucket and just carefully dumped the sap out without putting to much stress on the tap, I didn't want it to come loose and leak. I did have to put a rock on top so that it would fall over if it got windy or a squarril decided to use it as a perch.

The ones hanging on the tree were real easy to empty never had any problems with them pulling out, now they were 2 gal buckets. It was just the lids tended to fly off in the wind. I cant remeber a single bucket blowing off though.

To put the hole in the side of the bucket for the Leader Aluminum spiles I used a short lenght of 1/2 copper pipe heated with a small torch and melted the hole in the side. My feels were that when I melted the nole it cause a reinforced ring of plastic right at the hole to make it stronger. Just my thought.


Oh yeah almost forgot. with placing the bucket on the ground and using tubing you can use the same bucket for multiple trees if they are very close together.

[Wanabe1972]

I like the buckets on the ground. It seems later in the season if the temps get high you can sneak the bucket around behind the tree or a shady spot. Also I would drill the holes in the top of the bucket real tight so you have to force tubing through it and they wont leak. Then to empty them you just pop the top off, dump your bucket and pop it back on. I've done buckets like this for years without any trouble.

[buxtonboiler]

I have about 25- 5 gallon buckets out. Personally, I prefer putting the on the ground for a couple reasons. 1. they can't fall off in the wind or whatever. 2. I can cover them with snow to keep the sap cold. I run tubing down to the side of the bucket. If you go through the top, you are apt to get rainwater leakage into your bucket.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I like the buckets on the ground. That is what I started out with and is as stated you drilled a slightly smaller hole the tube will never pull or fall out. Use plenty of tube so you can pick it up and dump. You want it in a area that will alow 2 buckest the full one and the transporter. LASTLY Take a utility knife and cut the snap ring off the tops leave as much as the lip you can so the lid will shove on and stay in place but you can fling it off without getting pissed and off you go.

[Low budget maple]

I use a four gallon bucket hanging from the spout. I tried the tubing in the pail trick and it worked well. Just didn't care for the yellow puddles on the lids from the local male dogs !!! GROSS !! I hung mine ever since I saw that

[Haynes Forest Products]

I bet its snow and rain from the trees leaving the stain water.

[MapleME]

Haynes, I think you are correct I get it too.

BUT to keep this going- I am acing a similar dilemma. Last season I had a number of buckets fly away that were on the ground with tubing.

Have people here had a full 5 gallon bucket hang full on a tree w/o pulling the tap out?

The buckets at lowes are on sale for 3 bucks with lids. Hard to turn down compared to a 3 gallon leader metal bucket that is 20 bucks without a lid.