Originally Posted by
Jeff E
The only thing I would add regarding this is that the farther in the tap goes, the more sap would is covered, or sealed off so sap wont flow out of it. Basically you want to drill the hole as straight and clean as possible, and then just seat the tap so it seals with the wood, leaving as much sap wood open as possible.
Interesting, I just go till I hear the thunk no matter what. I also set by stopper on my drill bit (piece of 5/16" tubing) to 2" so I drill in the tree 2". Probably with the bark you are talking 1.75" on a normal tree. On a large tree with allot of bark, Iwill actually peel off a section of the bark that Iwant to tap or I will try to tap in between the bark where it isnt as thick.
On gravity, the farther you tap into the wood the more sap up to about 3" I believe. On vac, it doesnt really matter as much. 2" is a pretty good overall depth ration between tree health and you getting sap. I do not really know how far the tap goes into the tree once I hear the "thud". I will have to measure that this year and figure out how much area there is between the end of my tap and the end of the hole.
FIRST GENERATION SUGARMAKER
First boil 2/22/2012! Went Pefect!
3,500' of laterals
1,000' of mainline
2012 - 105 taps on gravity, 12 sap sacks.
2013 - 175 taps on gravity, 25 on sacks = 200 taps for 2013! Second year.
2014 - 250 taps on gravity, 25 on sacks
Tapped on February 16, 2014
2015 - adding vac sap puller no more gravity for me!
275 gallon holding tank for 2014
20'x30' Sugarhouse