I've noticed alot of seed this year, interested to see, as I've never kept track, how this affects sugar...
Alot of masting for others this spring??
I've noticed alot of seed this year, interested to see, as I've never kept track, how this affects sugar...
Alot of masting for others this spring??
18x30 sugarshack
5100 taps high vac
3x10 inferno with steampan
7'' wes fab filter press
10'' cdl air filter press
D&G 3 post reverse osmosis w/recirculation
Lots of seeds on my sugar maples this year.
1000 taps on vac down to 100+ buckets 99% sugars
2x5 SL Hi-Output Raised Flue Corsair evaporator
SL Short bank press with CDL diaphragm pump
Leader Micro 1 RO for 2024
Constantly changing
2010:36 gal 2011:126 gal 2012:81 gal 2013:248 gal 2014: 329.5 gal 2015:305 gal 2016:316 gal 2017:258 gal 2018:147 gal 2019:91 gal 2020:30 gal 2021:30 gal 2023:50 gal Total since 2010: 2047.5 gal
Tapping the same trees my great, great and great grandfathers tapped.
Full of seeds and they seem on the small size.
Seed production does take a good bit of carbohydrate from trees, but whether masting has significant effects on sap sugar content (SSC) the following year is still debated. The one peer-reviewed study published so far (Raap and Crone 2015) has some very serious methodological flaws, the primary one being they used maple syrup production as a proxy for sap sugar content. It is likely there is some effect of masting on SSC, but probably not nearly as large as the original paper suggested.
Of course, while there are seeds on the trees now, there is no knowing until later whether they will become filled (requiring a good deal bit more carbohydrate to do) and viable or are aborted for some reason, or how widespread a phenomenon it will be this year.
The following paper might be of some interest http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/Does%20Mast...entrations.pdf
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
I did notice they were small also, maybe they will drop some prematurely like fruit trees.....
So the trees make carbs as Soon as leaves unfold??
I've heard or the way I understand it is that larger say hundred year old tree has ample reserves of carb and or sugar for utilization in following years. For example a 30" diameter tree may hold enough carbs and or sugar to produce say 10-15 gallons of syrup if there was a man made way to make water convect through the tree to release all the sugar it contains at that given time- of course there would maybe be a carb to sugar conversion issue without the tree being in a natural process- but in theory there could be say 10-15 gallons worth of sugar In that tree at any time
18x30 sugarshack
5100 taps high vac
3x10 inferno with steampan
7'' wes fab filter press
10'' cdl air filter press
D&G 3 post reverse osmosis w/recirculation
Here in Potsdam, NY I'm seeing trees that are covered with seeds and way short on leaves. The leaves make the sugar...
Michael,
Are you seeing eastern forest tent caterpillars? This end of the county has an over abundance.
No science here, research or a degree. Old sugar maker told me once that maples seed every seven years. The years just before they seed are good sugar runs. The year after they seed is not because the spent their energy on seed production. All I keep track of here is sap, weather, sugar content and total syrup production. It maybe a coincidence but I have been here long enough to see heavy seed years and the following season it seems I would be better off working than sugaring.
30x8 Leader revolution, wood fired blower, steamaway/hood. 903 taps all but 54 on pipeline and 3 vacuum systems. Hauling sap this year with a 99 F350 7.3 diesel dump and of course back up is the Honda 450 and trailer.
Definitely seeing more of those than last couple years,. They seem to be eating the nettles beside one of my maple, I torched them anyway.......
Maple maniac- I am going to be paying attention this spring, but time tells all, always has always will, and if you've documented this decrease in past then.......do you have any numbers, like sugar down a .5 or less GPT syrup?
18x30 sugarshack
5100 taps high vac
3x10 inferno with steampan
7'' wes fab filter press
10'' cdl air filter press
D&G 3 post reverse osmosis w/recirculation
I have a dozen maples in the back yard by my sugar House. They are all the same size and variety and Heath. Three of them are loaded with seeds and the rest are not. What is the difference in them. I should mention they are also in a row with equal sun and soil and moisture. The one tree had some many seeds that the ground is literally carpeted with them.
2021 230 Taps on vacuum
Smokylake 2X6 pan set with auto drawoff
Homebuilt 2 4x40 membrane RO
Homebuilt filter press
Rebuilt arch with under and over the fire air we have named V 2.0
Smokylake steam bottler
Hoods and preheater
500 gallon vertical polytank to store sap for RO
Adding a laser eye to my bottler for autofill/stop