New December Journal

Brandon- I think they are pretty good trees and out in the open. I doubt Ill ever put a pump on them as few as they are so thats why I think I may do that. Be fun to see what they do. I was reading a research paper from the 70's and they were advocating up to 80 taps and claiming up to 20 max inches of vac. Im not a gravity man whatsoever but I consider that a fun experiment to see what they do. Plus its quick and easy and more sap. Well see what happens. Theres another 130 tap spot I could do the same thing with but its just a gentle slope with them all together. That would be just several normally loaded lats but the hedgerow one is something that we could see what happens on. They said the vac levels on the natural arent consistent like a pump, different at differant points depending on how good the run etc but it all helps what the heck. Theron

Theron with 90 taps on one 5/16th tubing you had better anchor the end of the line where it enters the tank. That much pressure and it will be screaming thru the air like a fire hose gone wild! Might be a good way to keep the tank pressure washed! LOL
Keep us posted as to how they work out!
Mark

One thing is for sure, it will be good sap quality as bacteria won't stand a chance inside that line. That is one of the reasons I did away with most of my mainlines. I have all my taps on just lateral lines except 170 taps that are on 1/2" mainline and the mainline is only about 100 yards long and I have 3 sections coming into it with aprox 45 taps on lateral lines and the lateral lines are 500 to 700 feet long with many branch lines coming into each lateral so the total length with all the branch lines would probably be 1000 to 1500 feet. The main 5/16" line in each of these 3 sections that dumps into the black plastic mainline acts as a mainline. I used the "Y Forks" for all my entrances. This keeps the lateral lines very nice and tight and I bring them in 12 to 24 inches above the lateral mainline and this way I maintain slope all the time even where it connects to the lateral mainline, it just drops downhill from the "Y Fork". I had my best year ever last year and the highest sugar content I have had in the past 3 years since I started keeping close to exact records. It took 8.5 gallons less of sap compared to two years ago to make a gallon of syrup and the most syrup I had ever made last year.

In my other two bushes, I have 5/16 on my 9 gauge mainline wire with 30 to 40 taps on them and in one bush, I have 2 sections of 5/16" on the same wire. LOL. I use small plastic ties to secure it as the wire was aleady in place where I had black plastic mainline and this keeps the slope constant. I had aprox 80 taps on the one last but, but I didn't like it because I felt it was restricting sap flow too much due to not having but about 1% slope on the mainline section of lateral tubing even though all the taps coming into it had 7 to 10 percent or more in some places. I think it will do better with aprox 45 on each line this year vs 90 on 1 line as I added 7 taps to them.

It's fun experimenting to determine what works best. One a "y" on the farthest tree and a "Y Fork" where it comes into the lateral mainline, it makes for nice snug lines.

Brandon,
What is your syrup / tap ratio?

you take the gals of syrup made that year and divide by # of taps, so if u made 50 gal of 200 taps u made a 1/4 of a gal of syrup per tap

I had 500 taps last year and made 97.5 gallon of syrup all on gravity and my sugar content was 48.42 to 1 sap to syrup which is the best I know of since I starting checking. I usually run 50 to 1 and year before last it was 53 to 1 and 2 years ago it was 57 to 1 or vice versa, I can't remember which. I just know I don't like boiling that much sap to make syrup. I am sure my sugar content would be better if I didn't hold my sap 1 to 4 days before boiling, but working full time and living 1/2 hour away with a family and 2 small kids don't leave a lot of extra time. Besides, I have no sap coming to the sugarhouse and it all has to be gathered with a tractor in 6 different locations in three seperate bushes all different directions and aprox 15 buckets.

Brandon- Does holding the sap have an affect on the sugar content do you think? I can see where it would be real hard to do that away from the house like that with having kids. Thing is you have to use the resource you have access to. Im pretty lucky to have everything here becouse I can be in and out of the house all the time and still get a lot done. If anyone needs me they can just yell of whatever and I can stop. Plus if you want to work for a few minutes you can. I would do it the way you are if thats what I had I probly wouldnt do as much though for the same reasons youve said. Theron

Theron,
I think Brandon is right. If sap sits it loses some sweetness. Bacteria grows and is feeding on the sugar, thus lower %, my understanding anyway.

Update from BIGSAP central- Time of year has got me nervous- Yesterday put 100 and some drops in across the road after it got dark and Christmas was over. Gonna try to put maybe 600 more drops in tomarrow if thats possable and then all the saddles sunday Im hoping. Then I have a few lats left to run over there and thats pretty well done. All that will be left is to do a few mainline connections and hook up the releaser. Then theres three more lateral mains to run. One above my neighbors driveway and then another run I may do above that. I was scouting that out yesterday and theres maybe 150 to 200 good taps on that. That would go directly to the house releaser and with that I think that will max that releaser out on raw numbers. That should be fun to watch if I can get those others in. That releaser is right in the sugarhouse. If its real impressive Ill have Matt do a youtube video of it. If I dont do much away from home this is how sugaring is going to go HOPEFULLY. Wake up, go make coffee, tell the kids to quit fightin, walk out to the sugarhouse on my new concrete sidewalk, climb up the ladder and check the sap level in my big tanks, walk into the sugarhouse and make sure vac gage is pretty well pegged out, Make a new pot of coffee in the sugarhouse, fire up the potbelly and kick back and watch the releaser dump right there next to me. Thats livin. Probly a fantasy too. Lot of stuff to go wrong but Im sticking with the nice fantasy. Theron

BELIEVE IN THE DREAM!!!! When are you tapping?