Hello again...Im glad to see the eastern gang is returning and posting . Looks like the season has started for some of us....
Well i couldn't resist I started tapping yesterday to flush out my laterals and main lines figuring the next few days would have enough of a run to clear out the ipa solution left in all summer.
I was very surprised almost all of the tees i tapped started dripping as soon as the drill bit was removed. I tapped almost 70 trees about another 30 to go....after my first main line area was tapped (22 spils) I went back to it about a hour and half later and the flow was impressive..
So just out of curiosity i check the sugar content and it was 2.6 brix .. I couldn't stop myself i had to check my main feed line of 46 spiles it was flowing like a river and the brix was 2.3. I will tap the remaining trees today and start actually catching sap late today or even tomorrow to allow a good flushing of the lines.
This year I tapped higher on the trees to allow the drop lines to be straighter and to help stay away from previous year tap holes. Most of my drop lines are installed from 5 to 8 feet up the trunk.
I do have questions tho....
1 Does sugar content usually go up as the season progresses or is this sugar content I am seeing a bit of a spike when trees start to flow?
2 Does tapping trees higher on the trunk make a difference in sugar content and flow?
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