400% more sap using vacuum harms trees and makes poor quality syrup?

[GeneralStark]

This article in the Concord Monitor written by our neighbor seems to have been written out of concern for the maple industry but the author should have checked her facts before discrediting the efforts of other sugar makers. She references our maple operation because we use wind, solar and firewood to make our syrup. In my opinion there a few grains of fact scattered through the piece but those facts are mixed with incorrect statements that give a bad impression of the maple industry. It may be true that new technology allows maple producers to make more very late season syrup that is not table grade and should not be found for sale in retail containers. If she is proud of her method of production she should promote her methods and not cut down others in the industry with misleading statements.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/Sustai...dustry-8393460

Tim - The piece you posted is not the original article you reference, correct? It looks like this is an opinion piece written in reference to the original?

Either way, what you posted is certainly nowhere near factually correct, and she provides no sources (besides the nampm in relation to tapping guidelines) to substantiate her claims.

It's too bad that people have such a hard time distinguishing between journalism and opinion...

[Sugar Bear]

Wait till she gets wind of the newest technique of lopping of the tops of saplings and sucking them dry.
Will probably come up with a new group. P.E.T.T

I'm certain we can all agree that this method is guaranteed not to cause any harm to the tree.

Ha Ha Ha!

Even so it should not matter. They are farm raised trees and that makes it ethical. Just like the farm raised animals we eat.

I think its important that the impact of vacuum lines be more carefully evaluated then it is.

Here is the bottom line ...

"Anybody who argues in favor to either side of the impact of vacuum is doing so to support their own cause"

On the other hand my instinct tells me that any tapping of a tree at all is harmful to the tree.

I still tap my trees anyway! No vacuum lines though.

If I thought I could make enough money I would attach vacuum cleaners to every single one of them. Ethical or not!

We rape the land ... its in our nature!

P.S. Is it ethical to shoot the birds that are tapping the heck out of some of my GORGEOUS maples?

I am thinking about it.

Cheers

[NH Maplemaker]

I sure hope Dr Tim reads this article ! Would luv to get his take on it!

[southfork]

My guess is tapping trees and harvesting sap utilizing any method has saved many a forest from becoming pulp or veneer, it is all relative.

[Starks sugarbush]

Been tapping some trees 60 years and they haven't fallen over yet!

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[DaveB]

I do hope that the NH association or someone responds to this person. She obviously doesn't know what vacuum does and needs some serious education. It's pieces like this that give producers a bad name and what makes it worse is that she is also a producer!

[Jmsmithy]

I find it hard to believe this was written by a sugar maker with any real knowledge of current production practices. Her assertions aren't even close to factually correct. In fact, they are so off base the figures are delusional. How about the Monitor fact checking this and see who's correct? Contact ANY state sugarmakers association, NY, NH, VT etc and give them these "facts" and they very well may laugh out loud. What a shame this nonsense gets disseminated as "fact".

[Russell Lampron]

Which one of us is doing more harm to the trees. Me with my 5/16 taps or her with her big old 7/16 taps. My next door neighbor had some big old sugars cut down last fall and gave me the wood. These trees were huge and had been tapped since they were about 12" in diameter. You could clearly see the staining from the taps and the stains from the 7/16 taps that were likely 100 years old were much larger than the stains from the 5/16 taps that I had used when I hung buckets on them.

As for the amount of sap from vacuum compared to buckets I generally only get between 50% and 100% more depending on the season.

As for the flavor of the syrup vacuum and RO make no difference if you concentrate to 18% or less. I have set up a taste test here and most people thought that the RO syrup tasted better. Also there have been many awards won for best tasting syrup with syrup made by producers using RO machines.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

More Fake News.

[Russell Lampron]

More Fake News.

Afraid not! This woman lives 1 town over from me and I think she truly believes what she is saying is true. The Concord Monitor should have checked to see if her facts were true before they printed the story.