Big Leaf Maples-Maple Ridge, BC

[Maple Ridge Tapper]

Maybe it's just me but that looks like an awful lot of taps in one tree. Is it a tree you plan to cut down?

There is actually 6 trees there Berkshires. Hard to see from the picture angle. With the Big Leafs it is common to put multiple taps in each trunk if the trunks are big enough. The tap holes heal up perfectly with no harm to the trees.
That one group of 6 trunks produced 80 liters of sap in only about 5 hrs of sap running. It's one of my best producers.

[Galena]

Hi Clinkis. It' more robust and has flavors of caramel and butterscotch notes. It's very, very good I hear and gets more robust as the season goes on. That's info from the other tappers out here I know though. I personally haven't tried any yet

But you can get exactly those same flavour notes from any maples, not just big leafs. I have gotten caramel and butterscotch notes from my bush of sugars. Somewhere there is a flavour wheel showing flavours you can expect to get.

[Maple Ridge Tapper]

But you can get exactly those same flavour notes from any maples, not just big leafs. I have gotten caramel and butterscotch notes from my bush of sugars. Somewhere there is a flavour wheel showing flavours you can expect to get.

Just finished my first batch of Big Leaf syrup ever. It is the most amazing syrup I've ever had. So full of flavor like no other I've ever tried honestly. My daughters said it reminds them of toffee and butterscotch. They had french toast with it this morning. Can't wait to finish my next batch tomorrow.

Will have 300 taps in by the end of next week. Next project is making a homemade RO system to cut the water boiling hours down. Only regret is living on our property with all of these trees for the past 5 years and just getting to tapping them now :O

[Maple Ridge Tapper]

We are having an odd tapping season this year out on the West Coast of BC. Our first taps went in December and had some decent flow then some warmer weather came in and had up and down flow on and off over the past few weeks. The last few days have been giving us some decent flow but the weather temps have been very inconsistent so far.
Loving our new hybrid evaporator made by PJ Inc. A huge step up for us from our wood stove we used last year.

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[Quabbin Hill Farms]

Our sap has been running very little off and on over the past few weeks. I put a bunch more taps in the other day and still have around 60 or so more to put in. One of the larger trees I tapped the other day had 6 good size trunks on it and I was able to put 15 taps in the one tree.
We should have some decent sap flow weather coming this week. I've only got about 120 liters of sap so far but hoping for a lot more coming soon. Our Winter weather is supposed to carry on here for awhile longer so combined with some decent sunny days the sap flow might get better yet.
Yes the Big Leaf syrup fetches some good dollars here. Chefs love to cook with it too.
Some pics of some tapping we've been doing lately:

15 taps on a single tree is very bad as sugar making goes. When you make a tap hole an area of about 1 1/2 to 2 inches around and extended up and down from the tap hole becomes plugged with sugar sands and sap will never flow through that area of the tree again until the sapwood grows over it which could be 20 years. I have trees that are 3' feet across and I never place more than 2 taps this makes the tree sustainable for many years. You keep making 15 tap holes in that tree and you will soon run out of places to get a good tap.

[Maple Ridge Tapper]

15 taps on a single tree is very bad as sugar making goes. When you make a tap hole an area of about 1 1/2 to 2 inches around and extended up and down from the tap hole becomes plugged with sugar sands and sap will never flow through that area of the tree again until the sapwood grows over it which could be 20 years. I have trees that are 3' feet across and I never place more than 2 taps this makes the tree sustainable for many years. You keep making 15 tap holes in that tree and you will soon run out of places to get a good tap.

Thank you for your advice. This season I put less taps in that tree. But It is a multi trunked tree. Not a single trunk tree like Sugar Maples are. We have Big Leaf Maples on our property that have up to 12 full size trunks from the same coppice. A very common occurrence with Big Leaf Maples to have multiple full size trunks.

One coppice Big Leaf with multiple full size trunks can produce up to 10 times the sap of a single trunked Sugar Maple per day when the sap is flowing

Only large single trunked trees are getting more than one tap on our property now.