Posting the results of reaming - LONG
I'll give lots of information and numbers hear, so read on if you are interested. We have never reamed before, but the conditions seemed to warrant it this spring. We are southern Vermont.
We have 2287 taps total. 1745 are on 3/16 lines going into 3 separate 3/4" mainlines of around 600 taps each. Our average length of lateral is 512 feet, with 21.1 taps per lateral. Most situations achieve at least 20' of vertical drop after the last tap with a few exceptions with a tap close to the mainline. This system as performed well in varying stages of completions since 2014. The majority of the laterals are new in 2016, with all new taps for 2018.
The balance of our taps 472 buckets (mostly 5/16" aluminum spouts) and 70 on 3/16" directly into our holding tank at the house. We tapped out all lines on Feb. 14, and the buckets between the 17th and 19th. Between Feb. 16 and Feb 29 we collected a total of 17850 gallons of sap or 7.8 gallons/tap. The distribution is fairly consistent between buckets and lines with lines giving about 30% more sap/tap. There are often days when the buckets run and lines don't due to frozen mainline. Sap sugar in buckets is often a point or two higher than lines. There is a lot to be said for buckets. We learn quickly which trees are always the champions.
This collection had all been on bare ground. Then the snows and cold came. Sap did not run in any appreciable amount except a small run on March 6 and March 12. By the time things opened up again on March 23, we had had more than 5' of snowfall and temperatures just below zero. During that stretch of no sap, the lines would try to run when the sun came out, but the mainline stayed frozen solid. We have some stretches of dense shade in a hemlock area. The lines filled completely and often we could see sap and junk backing up to the tap holes. I believe that this prematurely caused the holes to begin closing. The buckets nearly filled during this two week period, with some going over. However, they never thawed enough to be collected. The 70 taps (two lines) coming into our main tank at the house had many small runs during that period with no ice restriction.
On March 23 the weather warmed enough for a run. This chart shows buckets and lines over the next time period (sap/tap in parentheses) This ignores the sap going directly into the tank at the house since we cannot measure that easily. The rounded numbers are obviously off a few percent. We had no freezing temperature since the night of March 23, but the buckets went more and more as the weather warmed By March 28 we realized that something was wrong with the lines and made the choice to ream. On March 29 100 taps were reamed (remove tap, drill same hole, replace) and on March 30 the balance were done. The results were immediate. No freeze until the night of 3/30. Zero only indicates no collection, not necessarily no sap available.
Buckets 3/16" lines
3/23 400 (.84) 0
3/25 300 (.63) 240 (.13)
3/26 300 (.63) 0
3/27 400 (.84) 240 (.13)
3/28 480 (1.01) 180 (.10)
3/29 420 (.89) 2000 (1.15)
3/30 0 1900 (1.09)
3/31 560 (1.19) 2000 (1.15)
4/1 0 1600 (.92)
4/2 440 (.93) 2000 (1.15)
4/3 330 (.70) 0
4/4 0 2400 (1.38)
4/10 0 800
4/11 900
4/12 1700
4/13 1200
4/14 1200
4/17 1200
4/18 1300
4/19 1400
4/20 1200
4/21 1000
4/23 900
4/24 180
Bucket total for the season - 6330 (13.4 gallons per tap)
Line total for the season - 43110 (23.8 gallons per tap)
Line totals after reaming - 25540 (14.1 gallons per tap)
Buckets and lines together - 49440 (21.62 gallons per tap) - 801 gallons of syrup at 62:1
The buckets are our baseline. This was obviously a good run for them in comparison to previous years. We wish we had reamed several days sooner. Things are frozen up hard again. I cannot speak to what will happen. I have read much that reaming is a short-lived benefit. The unusually cold conditions make us hopeful that the runs will continue. Either way, we have benefitted this year. The reaming was done in 18 hours by one energetic 15 year old, so about 100 taps per hour. A very good cost/benefit!
I do not know what affects this may have on tap-hole closure and healing. Did we transfer anything harmful from tree to tree? We will watch things closely to try to make this assessment on tree health. I do not plan to do this as normal practice by any means.
Edit: (see updated numbers) The buckets quit running altogether and were taken down on 4/11. Even the 20 or so that had been reamed experimentally on 3/29 had stopped running. All sap from that date onward is only from the 3/16" lines. It was almost like having two separate seasons. Taps were pulled on 4/23 and 4/24. We'll report back on hole closure at some point in the future. All of this was boiled down on a 3x12 Hurricane with a piggyback - No RO! We're tired.
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Originally Posted by blissville maples
