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Thread: Dr. Tim's study on Maple saplings

  1. #31
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    Thanks Dr. Tim.

    On the front page of today's Boston Globe-

    http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle...qqK/story.html

    Peter
    1991-1993 traded sap for syrup, 30 taps
    1994 small flat pan outdoors 30 taps
    1995 barrel stove, small pan outdoors 30 taps
    1996-2011 homemade 2 X 4, sugarhouse, 50 taps
    2012 new 2 X 4, 60 taps

  2. #32
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    I don't think it'll lead to what they think it will. It still takes years to grow those saplings. Maybe if you suck from low branches of a young tree then chop it down and replant once it grows too large and so on.

  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Revi View Post
    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?
    The trend has been for people to move towards foods produced closer to home and I don't think people will stop buying from their local producers. Tubing, vacuum and other systems have mechanized maple syrup production and people still look for local producers. If production does increase and maple trees are planted like Christmas trees that are harvested and replaced in cycles, perhaps we'll have other benefits like better forest preservation instead of having miles of tubing running here and here or lowering the price of maple sugar and syrup to where it can replace the majority of the artificial stuff out there.

    Quote Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins View Post
    We are not suggesting this be used to replace current sugarbush collection methods.
    I know you're not suggesting that, but I think in some places this could happen. I look at areas near me with open farm land slowly becoming developed. Why wouldn't you want to have a nice row of trees planted there to keep the land open and in agriculture? That could lead to producers in those areas expanding in lieu of adding capacity in the woods.
    About 300 taps
    2'x6' air tight arch
    Semi complete 12'x24' sugarhouse in Somers, CT
    My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CapturedNature
    My eBook: Making Maple Syrup in your Backyard

  4. #34
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    Tim: Just wondering, because of the more rapid growth rate, would red maples be better for this method than sugar maples? A few years ago I thought about doing the same thing when I saw a freshly cut birch stump gushing sap. What made you guys think to do it?

  5. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ittiz View Post
    Tim: Just wondering, because of the more rapid growth rate, would red maples be better for this method than sugar maples? A few years ago I thought about doing the same thing when I saw a freshly cut birch stump gushing sap. What made you guys think to do it?
    Red maples may be better suited in a couple of ways:
    - faster growth
    - multiple stemmed habit
    - good sprouting ability
    - less attractive to deer

    The ideas arose from a research project we were doing to better understand how sap moves in trees under vacuum. We determined at a certain point that we should have exhausted all the liquid in the tree, but we were still getting sap, yet the wood moisture content was not going down. The only explanation was that we were pulling water out of the soil, up the stem and out the taphole. Under that scenario, the top is superfluous. To test that, we cut the top off a sapling and connected vacuum to it.
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by DaveB View Post
    I know you're not suggesting that, but I think in some places this could happen.
    Yes, but it wouldn't necessarily replace existing traditional sugaring, just add to it.
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins View Post
    The only explanation was that we were pulling water out of the soil, up the stem and out the taphole. Under that scenario, the top is superfluous. To test that, we cut the top off a sapling and connected vacuum to it.
    Isn't the sugar created during the summer months and stored in the roots for the winter? Shouldn't the sugar run out, you know after a certain point be pulling nothing but water out of the stem?

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ittiz View Post
    Isn't the sugar created during the summer months and stored in the roots for the winter? Shouldn't the sugar run out, you know after a certain point be pulling nothing but water out of the stem?
    Sugars are made by the leaves during the summer. They are stored throughout the wood (branches, stem, roots), primarily as starch (insoluble form of carbohydrate). In the spring, the trees wish to mobilize this carbohydrate reserve, so they begin to convert some of the starch into sucrose (sugar). This conversion goes on for a period of time, and is stimulated by the same freeze/thaw that produces water uptake and sap exudation.

    That is a long way of saying that no...the sugar won't run out real quickly....any more than it does in a normal tapped tree.
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  9. #39
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    In my area, the Boxelders, (Manitoba Maple), are a very agressive invasive plant. They reproduce like bunnies, and grow out of every crack, fence, flowerbed, and weedy edge. On old abandonned places, they make up the majority of new growth, and seem to crowd out more valuable species of trees. Cutting them in the spring is like turning on a faucett, and their regrowth is beyond amazing. This method might be the secret weapon to turn tree killing from destructive to profitable. Dr Tim, I suggest you run this test on a stand of Boxelders. If you can kill 'em, it'll be considered a success.

  10. #40
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    from my perspective this is really cool!
    I planted several hundred reds about a decade ago. the deer have been brutal on them so very few are single trunk real trees most are multiple trunked regrowth. my father has been on me for several years to cut them down to one trunk.. but every time i do the deer rub on the single trunk and I am right back where I was. so I have just left them alone.
    I can see lopping a sucker per year and suck the heck out of them..
    unless I missed something.. Thanks Doc you Rock!

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