Tubing VS individual buckets.

[Sugar Bear]

This year I did two sets of tubing runs into 30 gallon barrels. One run has 10 taps on it and the other has 6 taps on it. I also did 5 individual buckets.

The runs have absolutely no sags in them and excellent pitch.


So far in the first little run ...

The 5 individual buckets have yielded 12 gallons of sap.
The 10 tap tube run has yielded 10 gallons of sap
The 6 tap tube run has yielded 8 gallons of sap.

Should I expect better flow from individual buckets?

Am I missing something?

[Stiets]

I am still learning myself. This is my first year on 3/16 tubing. I have 2 lines out. One with 25 taps and one with 17 taps. I usually have buckets tapped where the lines are. So far this year the tubing is pulling more sap then buckets would have. One line has 15" vacuum and the other 20" vacuum from the elevation drop. How much vacuum are you pulling on your lines or how much elevation drop do you have on your lines?? One other thing to consider is that it is still early in the season. Depending on the location of the trees the sap might run better in one spot than others. I see you are in CT, as am I by Danbury. The ground is still frozen is spots so hang in there and see what happens once the temps get better. What part of CT are you from??

[82cabby]

This is a complete guess but i would say the buckets are better because the taps are fresh and also at these low volumes you don't have natural vacuum kicking in. I bet it reverses in March.

[Sugarmaker]

Good question!
Hear is my 2 cents, with some questions.
Have you tapped these same trees before with buckets and recorded the amount of sap gathered?
I tapped my rented roadside sugar bush with buckets for several years before I tubed it. I had a pretty good idea how the trees ran.
After moving to short run tubing several years ago, I think I get about the same amount of sap from known bucket trees during the season. Know if I bring on a new group of trees with no base line on sap qty. I have gotten suprised, with more and less sap in some cases.
Hope that helps?
Not all trees and locations are created equal!
Regards,
Chris

[Scm]

..........

[Sugar Bear]

I am in Weston CT

I do not know how to measure vacuum in inches on my lines or what exactly that means.

My lines are 5/16"

My 10 tap run is in Hopewell Junction, NY at the base of the Mid Hudson Valley. It is well pitched south facing slope and will run on sunny 34+ days. 4 of the taps come down a 30 degree slope ( I am a former mountaineer and skier) 2 come down a 20 degree slope and 4 are on relatively flat slope at the bottom of the hill but have decent pitch downward from each to the 30 gallon barrel. This rig produced about 10 gallons of sap. While I have tapped other trees in Hopewell the past two years I have not tapped these trees on this run.

My 6 tap run is in Weston CT on a straight well pitched run that I have taped in the past and have run well.

My 5 buckets are in Weston CT and perhaps they are just on bigger and better trees. They too have run well in past years.


The air Temperatures at my taps on the North end of Weston are nearly identical to the air temperatures at my taps in Hopewell Junction. The taps in Hopewell are at near sea level, while the taps in Weston are near 500 feet in elevation. The taps in Hopewell have a better southerly exposure.

While Hopewell is farther north of Weston I would say that in the past two years the sap flows a little sooner and better in Hopewell Junction.

[Sugar Bear]

This is my first year with tubing to a tank. Previous years were all drop lines to buckets.

[berkshires]

My lines are 5/16"

I don't do anything with lines, but from everything I've read, 5/16" is too wide to maintain an unbroken column of sap, so you won't see much natural vacuum. I imagine that would be especially true given how steep your sugarbush is.

[Sugarbush Ridge]

Slope,,, slope,,, slope,,,, % doesn't mean much. If I have 90% slope over 20' drop vacuum will be almost exactly the same as 20% slope over a drop of 20'. It is the drop in elevation NOT the slope.

[georgelineman]

I am across the river from Hopewell Jct. and a little south. I was on all buckets. This season we have made three runs of 3/16 tubing 225' with 17 taps 130' 13 taps and 130' with 10 taps all to 55gal drums. the long run has about a 20' drop the other two only have about a 6' drop. and we still will have 41 still on buckets. We plan on tapping on the 10th of Feb. We get just about the same weather as Hopewell cant wait to se how this season goes.
george