Tapped in NW PA and Questions about Tubing and Reds.

[Frank Ivy]

Noted this morning that it was sunny and above freezing, so I tapped. First time tapping for tubing and first time tapping with professional stuff (i.e. not milk jugs and sumac spiles.

Question 1 - The end of my tubing line has a run from a very small tree (just tappable) for 30 or so feet to a two tapper tree. That run is almost horizontal - just about a 4-5 inch drop in total. Any problem there? I tapped the end tree up about 10 feet just to get that drop. Should I take it out, or will sap flow and not cause issues?


I BRIXed a bunch of trees.

The six sugars that I tapped and put line on were all about 1.7%. They were all in a wooded area on a hill facing south, all with neighbors. I was disappointed with that number.

Then I tapped a Sugar and a Red that are in the field, with no neighbors. Got 3% on the sugar and 2% on the Red.

So I got curious, and I checked a bunch of other reds.

Interestingly - 4 or 5 in the field, no neighbors - 2%.

Really big, old Red in the woods with the tubed sugars - no sap on north side, 1% on south side.

Medium Red in the woods with the tapped sugars 1%.


Question 2 - is there a correlation between sugar content and having/not having neighbors?



Thanks to the good doctor for suggesting that I get a refractometer and thanks to him as well for suggesting I might tap the reds. Thank you Tim. I entered this forum a newb with the bias that reds were not suitable for tapping. Had I not come here, it may not have occurred to me to have tested them.


The math is simple, right? I have to boil off 48 gallons to get a gallon of sap at 2%, and 32 gallons at 3%.



I'd be better off in some ways tapping the reds out in the field than the sugars in the woods, it seems.

[ctjim]

tapping that high up to get the drop you need should be fine, at least for me it works as i have some flat areas w/ gravity lines and i have to use a ladder to tap the end ring trees. we tap almost all reds and sugar content always seems to vary i'd say about 2% and under. they also seem to run very different some will run like crazy and others very little, although that may be due to my ground and some being in a seasonal brook/swampy area. my cousin has about 200 reds on vac and they seem to do really well on the vac.

[Ridgeland Farm]

tap them all! sap is sap whether its 2 or 3%.

[KenWP]

You far better off tapping lots and getting lots to boil then some and getting less to boil. Lot's of people figure you have to tap sugars only. Like the whole province of Quebec.
Still trying to find somebody who knows what kind of maple has little leaves that are silver on the bottom. The leaves look like sugar maple leaves almost but small and the tree has thick coarse bark.

[Sugarmaker]

Frank,
Did you get much of a run today? Sun was warm but the wind was still a little brisk.
I chose not to tap yet. Some mixed rain on Sunday night may bring on a run for you.

Chris

[heus]

Tapped today in Andover Ohio 2 miles from Pa border. South facing taps ran very well, except for my biggest trees. I wasn't really expecting them to run at all,. Started this morning when temps were around 20 and couldn't believe many were running.

[waysidemaple]

Tapped today around 10am. It ran like crazy for most of the day, wind wasnt bad to late but by then i had enough to run the block arch. Looks like ill have 1/2 gallon from today. Plan on doing the same tomorrow then heading back to school.

[Frank Ivy]

Frank,
Did you get much of a run today? Sun was warm but the wind was still a little brisk.
I chose not to tap yet. Some mixed rain on Sunday night may bring on a run for you.

Chris


Chris - I had the taps in by about 3PM. 8 on line and 2 with buckets.
I sent the kids out at 6 and they brought back 2" in a 5 gallon bucket.
Boiled that down to . . .

A half pint!!

G-d I love making my own food. Maple syrup is an awesome treat.

Tomorrow is going to be 34 and sunny Chris. I'll let you know how it runs.
If I make the decision to tap the Reds really close to my house rather than the sugars way in the back . . . I'll put out 13 more buckets tomorrow.

I guess I figure that the 10 day forecast around here is really unstable, and, given that we're getting later in the season, there's less of a chance of a losing sap to closing up.

IDK - I'm winging it a bit. The long look weather is over freezing for the next 3 days.

Did somebody say that rain will help? Wow. Wouldn't have guessed that. Would have thought sunshine would help.

We'll see what happens . . . my goal is only 6 gallons - start small!

[johnallin]

While plumbing in the sap tank in the sugar house I stopped to put one tap in today, just to see what was going to happen. It was sunny and in the high 30's and I couldn't take it anymore. It ran pretty well at first but ended up with only about 2" in the sap bag.

Will check on it tomorow, but I think the trees are still too cold here. Anyone else in NE Ohio having a run?

[Hurry Hill Farm]

Its all about photosynthesis. Trees in the field have the ideal situation: 80% crown, 20% trunk, lots of sunlight and leaves for making sugar in the summer and your harvest during sugaring.

Hurry Hill Farm
Edinboro PA

[Frank Ivy]

Just to let the folks know - Put out 10 more buckets today. Sap running as I was drilling. Will update tomorrow morning as to volume, but it's bright and about 35, so something is running.

Getting 3.5% out of my field sugar.

[Frank Ivy]

Checked buckets about 5 pm - not much sap at all - 2 inches in the bottom of a 2 gallon aluminum bucket.

[jrthe3]

frank where ya located

[Frank Ivy]

Located a couple miles south of Albion.

Got about 5-6 gallons out of about 16 taps in the last 30 hours. Not winning any awards, but we'll have a nice breakfast tomorrow!:)