Dr. Tim's study on Maple saplings

[Maplesapper]

5000 sapling per acre ??

The Whitetail deer will love it......one sweet natural food plot.

[sjdoyon]

Had a friend email me today about a program story he heard on NPR today about a new method of gathering sap being developed by UVM.

[SeanD]

I listened to it. It's nothing new to anyone who has been following this study. It's nice to hear maple in the news, though.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...n?sc=17&f=1001

Sean

[Michael Greer]

This seems like some sort of industrial craziness to me. Taking one small plot as an example, I've got thirty taps on some 12" trees. There are probablt twenty or thirty young trees around 6" that may get big enough in my lifetime. There are hundreds of small trees, ranging from 1/2" up to 3" and one could cut and suck from these, but for how long? I presume that cutting the tree off kills it, so if we cut thirty of the young ones off, and then next year cut off another thirty, and so forth...in five or ten years I'll be out of little trees, and my young ones still won't be big enough to tap traditionally. I'm sure as hell not going into the woods to plant trees every year. I've got enough to do already, and besides, that's Gods work. As I look around the countryside around here, I see thousands of acres of un-tapped maple forest. If you want sap. go and get it.

[GeneralStark]

This seems like some sort of industrial craziness to me. Taking one small plot as an example, I've got thirty taps on some 12" trees. There are probablt twenty or thirty young trees around 6" that may get big enough in my lifetime. There are hundreds of small trees, ranging from 1/2" up to 3" and one could cut and suck from these, but for how long? I presume that cutting the tree off kills it, so if we cut thirty of the young ones off, and then next year cut off another thirty, and so forth...in five or ten years I'll be out of little trees, and my young ones still won't be big enough to tap traditionally. I'm sure as hell not going into the woods to plant trees every year. I've got enough to do already, and besides, that's Gods work. As I look around the countryside around here, I see thousands of acres of un-tapped maple forest. If you want sap. go and get it.

30 taps on 12" trees? wtf?

Anyway, the point of the study is not about tapping understory maples or lopping off their crowns. You are better off leaving them there or thinning to let the strong ones better compete.

In the study they planted trees in a field and coppiced them.

[GeneralStark]

I listened to it. It's nothing new to anyone who has been following this study. It's nice to hear maple in the news, though.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...n?sc=17&f=1001

Sean

I am pretty disappointed in this report. This study is being completely misrepresented in the media and judging by the comments on the vpr site and on their facebook page, people are not getting the point. VPR should have interviewed Dr. Tim or Abby to get the real story. This is going to get out of hand I am afraid.

[lpakiz]

Micheal Greer,
You should read the whole report. In it, it tells how this system is perpetuated.
No, topping the tree does NOT kill it. In fact, it sends up more shoots, so many that you can tap that cluster indefinitely. Seems soft maples, especially, will readily respond to "topping" by sending up more shoots. You can cut a foot off the the main one each year over several years, saving several others for future topping. Each year, you re-cut one several inches shorter, to get down to good wood, just like tapping conventionally in a new spot of your big tree. You could cut one to the ground, saving others for later,,or you can rotate among several stems over the years. Very interesting concept. The report gives the whole story.
They are NOT advocating cutting down your woods and raising saplings. This is one of several different, alternative ways of making syrup in different situations, like ice storms, diseases, tornado damage, etc. or marginal land, swamps, etc.
Perhaps the two systems can co-exist, so you can develop mature trees while topping saplings as a way of thinning.
Think Christmas tree plantations, blueberry and raspberry plantations. They were once only harvested in the wild. Now look. Perhaps the first time Native Americans saw corn planted in rows, they just shook their heads....

[Revi]

I think it may be something that could be done on good land as a row crop, but if it takes over the woods we will have trouble. Maple trees provide far more than just syrup. They are the watershed for a lot of places, provide saw logs, firewood, wildlife and a number of other crops besides the syrup. Turning them into a row crop will devastate the forest and will eventually end up killing the very things we like to sugar for. Maple syrup will end up being just another product that is produced by agribusiness and it will lose it's brand. How are we any different from Mrs. Butterworth's if we are just another product of giant agriculture?

[68bird]

Thank you Dr. Tim For all your work. Despite all the negativity on this topic from a few, I think it is awesome. To think I could produce this much syrup from a small parcel of land. One question, are sugar maples the only ones you are studying, or are you looking into a faster growing varieties as well? If I missed this earlier on I apologize. Thanks again, Doug

[DrTimPerkins]

I think it may be something that could be done on good land as a row crop, but if it takes over the woods we will have trouble. Maple trees provide far more than just syrup.

We are not suggesting this be used to replace current sugarbush collection methods.