tree size for tapping

[maplemark]

did I read somewhere on MapleTrader that people are tapping 6 inch trees?
when I started , years ago ,a tree the size of a bucket was the standard. I've been away for years and now back at it and wondered if standards have changed?

[Thad Blaisdell]

There are many ways to do it. I tap some trees even slightly smaller than 6" but, they are mostly trees that I plan to cull over the next 5-10 years.

[brookledge]

years ago when I used 7/16 taps I used the 12" rule then when I went to the health spouts I dropped to 8". I'm sure there are a lot of 6" trees that get tapped. They may get called bigger when asked though. I personally think a 6" with a full crown in the open is a lot safer to tap then the same size tree in the forest struggling for light.
keith

[Thad Blaisdell]

I tap the ones that I will eventually cull out. I figure that I might as well suck the life out of them if I can. Kinda sounds like a vampire....:evil:

[PATheron]

Maplemark- I go by the 8" min with 5/16 and 10" min if I was to hang a 7/16 bucket. Thats what I do if I tap off my property. ON my own property I have a cull tree stand that was thick with maple. Im cutting trees out of there everyyear and its looking great. I went through and marked the best trees every 30 or 40 feet. Thats what will remain someday. Then I went in and tapped everything. In that stand I use quarter inch taps exclusively. Even on the larger trees. I didnt want to hurt the trees on purpose becouse I wanted to tap them a while as Im thinning them. I drill them shallow and its opened up enough now that everything is pretty vigerous. From what Im seeing they look great. Heal right up and look terrific. Ive cut out most all of the real small ones now so theyre mostly probly around 6 inches the smaller ones. There still pretty darn thick. I dont think you could kill one of them when there opened up like that tapping them but Im no expert. Maybe there are some long term damage I dont know but they look to heal up and keep right on growing. I wont touch anything off my property less than 8 inches. The property owner wouldnt understand the cull tree thing. You dont want a bad reputation. The first year I tapped down here was a real good year just by happenstance. I had 1250 nice taps proper size and then I went up in that cull tree stand and tapped 300 cull trees. These trees were like maybe 4 inch trees. They were all way to tight and I probly cut most of them out the very next year. That year I did do a half gallon and out of 1550 taps maybe 300 of them were those dandelion greens. Thats a pretty large percentage of my total taps. They must of done something or my good taps really did a lot. Theron

[PATheron]

One other thing I forgot to mention yesterday was about cutting those small trees out. That stand was so thick of maple poles that Id say the first cut I must have cut half the trees out and when I looked at them I was pretty surprised. I started counting the rings and I was cutting out three inch trees that were 25 years old. I really do a lot of thinning becouse the results in tree health and growth are unbelievable. My first thought was dont cut any of them and just tap them but it doesnt work that way, they wont heal at all tight like that and the good ones will grow much slower too. Theron

[brookledge]

That was my point. The 6" tree in the forest may be 30 years old compared to a 6" out in the open growing at a 1/2" per yr. So you have to be the judge on the health of the tree and decide if it is worthy of tapping
Keith