Tap holes drying out.

[Jim Foster]

I've read on this site both that early drilled tap holes do and don't dry up in a short amount of time. And while I live in a completely different area of the world than you guys do, a lot dryer ( the great American desert) almost all of the holes I drilled Jan 2nd have gone dry. Never ran sap either. Spiles with plastic hose to buckets, Gravity. Today I drilled holes in new trees and nearly every one was dripping. Went back to the early drilled trees, drilled new holes and most of them started dripping. Not exactly how you're supposed to do it but..... All my trees are Box Elder as Maple are scarce here.

Jim

[old tom]

Isn't a Box Elder in the Maple family? Should be the same unless its a different tree in the desert country.

[Pdiamond]

True name for a Box Elder is an Ash Leafed Maple. They are quite tapable, usually just a lower sugar content.

[Woody77]

They make good sugar but dont have the same maple flavor. And as far as re taping dont worry they are a very tough tree. The syrup reminds me of honey.

[tpathoulas]

When I first was introduced to making maple syrup, I started with Box Elders. They were/are very prevalent on my property. They poured sap. My boys were so sick of hauling sap I figured this would only last a couple of years. I never had any holes dry up before we were sick of hauling. It does make a nice syrup. Very sweet almost nutty flavor. Not as strong of maple flavor but the syrup tastes better than a broken branch smells. It took us about 80-90 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. As our addiction grew we moved on to Sugar Maples.

[Jim Foster]

Oh, the flavor of our Box Elder is excellent! Everyone that's sampled what I made last year were surprised at the taste and I have more people interested in buying it than I can make. Last year I had 12 taps or so, this year around 130. Have the fever!!

Jim

[DrTimPerkins]

... almost all of the holes I drilled Jan 2nd have gone dry.

So about 6 weeks. That is normal. What type of sanitation were you using for your spouts and tubing (how'd you clean them or did you use new spouts)?

[Sugarmaker]

I was thinking the same as Dr Perkins. 6 weeks is all I would expect. Now the not running part. We need to review a little more. Are you drilling approx 21.5 to 2 inches deep? spout is set gently with no tree splitting? have freezing and thawing cycles to start and stop the flows? You should be getting sap I think Although I know nothing about the box elder. I would suggest you sell every thing and move to Albion PA! I will then act as a enabler for you to spend lots of money on shiney syrup stuff and make some good maple syrup.
Regards,
Chris

[blissville maples]

I don't know what your weather is like but many people are tapping too early. You should not be tapping when night temps are consistenly single digits and teens, unless you have 100,000 taps. Your first 4-6 weeks are prime after that flow goes down, I don't care what anyone says tree biology here is the same as tree biology anywhere!! Nothing can prevent this even the beloved CVS, if tapholes ran forever the tree would never heal!!

Understand this- tap Holes close up it's that simple. Be careful who you listen to. Heard one guy talking a 14-16 week old taphole producing- yeah ok producing what a cup per tap- that's not producing sorry that's dreaming and I don't believe it for a minute. I drill mid February and by end of May they are starting to heal with new cambium growth in taphole so you tell me if they run solid for @6 weeks?? By week 8-9 I've gone from 1200-1400 gallons per day per tank to 600-700, likely from tapholes aging and plugging.

Like I said be careful, when money is involved people will say anything. Experience is the best policy not a study on paper. As far as research if it's not reproducible time and time again then it's not credible.

Not sure about box elder but on sugars you'll get a solid 4 weeks of 100% capacity on vaccum. .....near 75% for the next 2 weeks, then you will lose really quick as temps start hitting the 50s

It sounds as if you tapped too early if you didn't get any sap. When there's mud the sap is running! Buckets don't last but a few weeks so timing is crucial.

[maple flats]

On gravity tap holes will usually dry up in about 6 weeks if using new taps and tubing or properly cleaned tubing and new taps. On high vacuum taps can go as long as 3-3.5 months, sometimes even 4 months, still wet but not much flow. Again, with good sanitation and high vacuum (over 25").