Trying 3/16. Wont flow?

Hey guys , I switched from 5/16 to 3/16 this season. We have had some favorable weather the last few days so I tapped 10 trees earlier in the week. Im running tap down to buckets on the ground with about 3ft of drop. All of the 3/16 set ups I checked this evening were full of sap but very little if any was making it into the bucket. Kinda like holding your thumb on the end of a straw full of water. Is this normal? Does 3/16 fill up completely and pressure pushes out the drops at the end? I pulled the taps from the tree and the sap released immediately. They started dripping after that. The couple of 5/16 I had were dripping like normal. Now , we are not experiencing gushing flows so maybe it takes greater tree pressure on 3/16? Thanks in advance for advice!!

3/16 is not generally used on buckets because you don't have enough drop in elevation (or have mechanical vacuum).
That being said, was the sap flowing out the bottom of the tube? If yes, just wait until you get more favorable weather. If the temps there in Tennessee below freezing over night and in the 40's during the daytime and the trees had time to thaw you may have another issue, like were there drill shavings left in the taphole? To remove them, do not blow into the hole, use a little twig to clear, and use a fresh twig on each hole.

Question I hear a lot about not blowing in the tap hole to clean out the chips. I can under stand that but why would you have to use a different twig on each tap hole just asking ? I use a stainless steel dental pick to clean mine out am I ok to do that ?

It will still flow just give it time. Here is a link to Cornell's maple info videos, you'll find some answers there

As others have said, your set up is not the recommended use of 3/16 but the sap will flow. Takes a little bit of time for things to thaw out. Good Luck and enjoy

The reason to use a different twig on each is to prevent cross contamination, if micro-organisims get on the twig you used on one hole, you don't want to then use the same twig on the next hole.

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Originally Posted by maple flats

The reason to use a different twig on each is to prevent cross contamination, if micro-organisims get on the twig you used on one hole, you don't want to then use the same twig on the next hole.

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Ok sounds good I will start doing that plenty of twigs thanks.

As always , thanks for the input and knowledge. I usually clean out the tap holes with a twig. The weather has been pretty perfect really , highs in upper 40's. ,lows in 20's. I suppose I should have done some research on using 3/16 as drops to buckets. The lack of fall makes sense. Good thing I only bought 500ft of it!!!! Anyhow , Im going to check them tomorrow , If nI have the same results , Im switching back to 5/16. My season is EXTREMELY short down here , I get very anxious......

I have always used 5/16's on my drops to buckets, 3/16's seems to small for a good flow into the bucket.

esetter- if you have fall through your bush, why not just buy some tees and run a lateral and hook in your trees to a central collection point. You can even do multiple lines. Even 10 feet of fall would be better than what your doing.

Buckeye , The few drop lines that I did (pretty much two trees to a t to a bucket) out produced the others. You are correct. Once the flow peaked , the drops straight to buckets did produce but not what I expected. Im around 15 gallons collected at this point. I boiled down 12 gallons earlier in the week to two. Im gonna boil down the rest tomorrow. I had a friend at a brewery test my sap , its 2%. Im thinking its going to make about a quart and a pint total. Thanks for the advice again!
P.S. If anybody has any left over sap at the end , Id be willing to make a trip to come get enough to make a gallon or so. Our season is possibly over , gonna hit 60 Monday!!