North Side v South Side

[Hop Kiln Road]

So I just head Tim Wilmot from Proctor Research talk about sap flow. Pretty interesting stuff. So what do you think, over the course of a season do you get more sap out of a tap on the north side of a tree or the south side?

[Homestead Maple]

So I just head Tim Wilmot from Proctor Research talk about sap flow. Pretty interesting stuff. So what do you think, over the course of a season do you get more sap out of a tap on the north side of a tree or the south side?
I understood from a talk by Tim Wilmot a couple years ago that a maple that is up to 15 inches in diameter, when vacuum is applied to the tree, that you are getting the sap from the entire cross section of the tree so it would not matter where the tap is. Trees larger than 15 inches you would use two taps and would get the same results on larger trees, etc. The Proctor web site may have some info on this.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

The answer is of course....It depends:rolleyes: If the tree is high and dry, it might only run well early in the season when a south tap would be of benefit. Is it a bucket tree or a gravity tubing tree or a vacuum tubing tree? What kind of a micro-climate is it in? Is the drop line new or several years old. What is the weather this year? How many extended warm periods will we have? Lots of variables that will affect the bacteria growth and hence how much the tap on the north will be able to run later in the season.

[Bucket Head]

Don't put too much worry into the North and South dilema. Nobody should be tapping only one side of the tree. Tap the entire circumfrence. It is not healthy for the tree to have all its "wounds" in one area.

Trying to get "maximum yeild" by only tapping southern facing tree area only hurts your sugarbush in the long run. That is not what they call "sustainable" practice.

Steve

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I think over the season, the taps even out. South will run quicker in the mornings, but shut down earlier when it doesn't freeze for a day or two when the north will keep running some. Also, south side taps will normally slow and shut down at the end of the season before north side taps.

Tap the entire tree for better tree health and to space out the tapping damage on the tree.

[HHM-07]

I tap 3 sides of the tree. I try not to tap much on the east side due the wind, the wind will shut them down in a hurry. may not be valid but it's thr way we have always done it .


Dick

[Russell Lampron]

I tap every side of the tree eventually and they will fill buckets on the east side just like they will on any side of the tree. I just look for the old tap hole and tap either 90 or 180 degrees from it. On trees with more than 1 tap I try to stay 6" to either side and of an old tap hole. I also move the tap location up or down from year to year so that I am getting into fresh wood and not weakening the tree.

[Amber Gold]

Has a conclusion been determined to the number of taps on a tree with high vacuum? I'll be running >20" this year...hopefully up to 25". I thought I heard/read that if running that high, only 1 tap per tree should be used, regardless of size. I have 30+ trees >18" that I put 2 taps in. Should all trees be reduced to 1 tap per tree. If running high vac. on a tree with 2 taps, how much extra sap does the second tap yield?

[michelle32]

Josh, I think what was said was no more than two. I beleive this was stated by the Doctor on a test that was done at the college. The post wasn't that long ago. You might still be able to find it. Did you make it to the maple confrence and how was it? Keith

[PerryW]

For an early season, the south side is best. For a late season, the north side is best. But unless you have a time machine, you won't know till after the season is over.

[Dave Lister]

I was always told by the old timers I spoke to to tap on the south side of the trees. But eventually, you run out of space. It always seemed as though I was getting more sap on the sunny side compared to the shady side on the same tree....

[DrTimPerkins]

Has a conclusion been determined to the number of taps on a tree with high vacuum? I'll be running >20" this year...hopefully up to 25". I thought I heard/read that if running that high, only 1 tap per tree should be used, regardless of size. I have 30+ trees >18" that I put 2 taps in. Should all trees be reduced to 1 tap per tree. If running high vac. on a tree with 2 taps, how much extra sap does the second tap yield?

No firm results as yet (real high vacuum has only been possible for a relatively short time), except a couple of general things:

1. Sap will move laterally much further in a tree under vacuum than it will under gravity, so a lower tapping intensity is warranted.

2. Putting two or three taps in a tree will not result in double or triple the the sap (but will result in double or triple the internal damage).

Tim Wilmot (UVM Extension) is doing quite a bit of work on these subjects, but it takes some time to fully answer these questions. We have several studies planned for the next couple of years....so hold tight for a bit.

As for which side of the tree to tap on.....ALL sides. South sides will typically run better in the early season and north sides will typically run better in late season. On average, you get about the same from one side or the other. The best approach is to utilize the full tapping band on trees to avoid cluster tapping and minimize internal damage/decay to the tree.

[Homestead Maple]

Has a conclusion been determined to the number of taps on a tree with high vacuum? I'll be running >20" this year...hopefully up to 25". I thought I heard/read that if running that high, only 1 tap per tree should be used, regardless of size. I have 30+ trees >18" that I put 2 taps in. Should all trees be reduced to 1 tap per tree. If running high vac. on a tree with 2 taps, how much extra sap does the second tap yield?

Everyone from Protor says 2 taps max up to 30" diameter from what I've heard at their seminars.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Perry's got it right: if the weather were equal during all the sap runs of the season then the yields will be equal, but that will never happen.

Tim Wilmot's info is very interesting, particularly the video showing the amount of sap a tree can suck back in under high vacuum. One point he showed was that 50% of his respondants said they were putting in two taps per tree starting at 16" or less and that it appears that with the amount of vacuum being transfered to the trees that the taps were competing for the same sap. It is going to be difficult to project the true cost of high vacuum over 20 years if there is a high tree mortality rate.

Bruce

[SeanD]

I'm glad to hear that tapping around the whole circumference is considered good practice (because I've done it). I saw the Sweetest Drip video last fall and the guy on it said not to go all the way around the tree because it causes too much damage - "girdling" I think he called it. He recommended the "plus sign" approach on one side.

Sean

[The Birdman]

All the one's I have on the south side ran good to day. The one's that are on the north did not run at all. It was a nice sunny 38 deg day sap weather.

[DrTimPerkins]

All the one's I have on the south side ran good to day. The one's that are on the north did not run at all. It was a nice sunny 38 deg day sap weather.

And at the end of the season the north sides will be running and the south sides will be all dryed out.

[sapman]

I always watch Tim Wilmot's "Tree Meteorology" site during the season. 2 or 3 seasons ago, it was amazing to watch the north side far surpass the south side in volume later in the season. I think the north ended up with almost half again the amount that south had!

Tim

[PerryW]

I hang my buckets fairly late (around March 20), but even so, at the end of the season (around Apr 15-20) the south side buckets will be dried up with not even a drop of sap and some of the north side buckets will be full.