Tap holes drying out.

[Mark]

Cognitive dissonance

[maple flats]

While I likely should I don't ignore anyone's posts. I do at times let them slide.
Back when I said the CV taps aften ran 3.5-4 months Still wet, that was still wet as I pulled the taps, 2-3 weeks after I finished collecting sap. That was from tapping before Jan 20 and pulling taps mid to late May. My latest ever boil was 4/20 or 21 and I only once boiled sap that was under 1.6%. My typical season average is between 1.9 and 2.1%, my extreme spread has ranged between 1.6 and 2.4%. The only season I ever was below that was in 2017 (if memory serves me, I'm not near my production book). That season my highest 1 day % was 2.0% and it was only 1 day, it went down from there. From my trees my low that season I believe was 1.4% (but my season average was very slightly over 1.6%) but on my last boil I actually bought 840 gal of 1.0% but told them I would not buy anymore. It still made great tasting dark.
If you choose not to use CV taps that's ok, but there is no need to do your best to sour every new comer or those interested in experimenting to try to maximize their production. While I don't have the numbers in my head, for earlier years, using CV taps I made .52 GPT in '18 and .48 GPT in '19, on 26-27" vacuum. By the way, the '19 figure includes about 40% of my taps on 3/16 laterals, pulling from below the mainlines. To get that I change taps, tees and connectors in the 3/16 every season and new drops after 3 seasons . For good production you must keep the vacuum high, fix leaks every time the vacuum drops (on mine, I run 26-27", every time it falls to 25" we find and fix the leaks) and you must clean the tubing post season.

[Ed R]

To the o.p. Jim; In the past I've had to trim the limbs on some of the silver and red maples in my yard during December and they did not bleed a drop of sap while an adjacent sugar maple I trimmed just poured sap out through the spring. When I eventually tapped the trees during the typical spring season (late Feb) both the soft maples and sugar maples ran well. I don't think I could make any fall syrup here using those soft maples. So it might not be tap hole drying (since they never ran) that is the issue but rather tree physiology, weather/climate that is the issue.

[Jim Foster]

To the o.p. Jim; In the past I've had to trim the limbs on some of the silver and red maples in my yard during December and they did not bleed a drop of sap while an adjacent sugar maple I trimmed just poured sap out through the spring. When I eventually tapped the trees during the typical spring season (late Feb) both the soft maples and sugar maples ran well. I don't think I could make any fall syrup here using those soft maples. So it might not be tap hole drying (since they never ran) that is the issue but rather tree physiology, weather/climate that is the issue.

Thanks. Hoping the taps I bored earlier and abandoned, don't seep bad...

Jim

[220 maple]

Dr. Tim, I am using copper spiles I made from electrical connectors, (It works, just not the best deal but all I could afford this year.) drilled out, soaked in Clorox overnite, washed with soap and rinsed good. New plastic hose. Clean drill bit. Used all the cautions. Not splitting the wood when tapping them in. Drilling the holes 2" or so. Weather was anywhere from single digit to 30 at night. 30's to 50's daytime. But realize now that the tree was frozen early on here too. Tapped Sat and Sunday and sap was running but really only a short time as I didn't have enough to gather on 40 buckets to even be worth my time. Temps the days I tapped last that had sap running was 47-11, 52-22, and 54-24. But cooled off since then and too cold to run for a few moere days now.

Jim

I cringle when ever I read someone is using copper pipe for spiles! In the 60's the telephone guys wanted to cut two water poplar trees on the neighbor's property, trees had grown up into the telephone line, neighbor lady said no, so they left, my dad said so what the trees will die, the telephone linemen had driven a copper nail in them! One time I gave a friend of mine a copper steeple, he had asked his neighbor if he could cut a tree so he could see to get out of his driveway onto the highway landowner said no, oddly the tree died anyway? I don't thick copper and trees are friends?

[Jim Foster]

I cringle when ever I read someone is using copper pipe for spiles! In the 60's the telephone guys wanted to cut two water poplar trees on the neighbor's property, trees had grown up into the telephone line, neighbor lady said no, so they left, my dad said so what the trees will die, the telephone linemen had driven a copper nail in them! One time I gave a friend of mine a copper steeple, he had asked his neighbor if he could cut a tree so he could see to get out of his driveway onto the highway landowner said no, oddly the tree died anyway? I don't thick copper and trees are friends?

Guess I never heard anything bad about copper mixed with trees. Time will tell I guess.

Jim

[blissville maples]

Hi Folks...

In case you're wondering why I don't respond to this...it is because I don't see the posts. Blissville is on my "ignore" list (highly recommended). I can see that he posted, but not the contents. I don't need to see it because has been the same exact thing every year and it is a complete waste of time and energy to attempt to have a reasonable exchange with folks like this. If you don't like CVs, don't buy them and don't use them -- it's that simple. Over 35 research studies at several stations have shown time and again that they work, but the results will vary somewhat depending upon the individual circumstances (age of tubing, vacuum level, vacuum management, releaser type, etc).

Folks who complain this like are going to complain...in fact, when CVs first came out, the people who complained about problems the most were those who never used them (how they had problems with them when they never tried them I fail to comprehend). There were advertisements placed in maple publications putting them down even before they were on sale. Haters gotta hate...trolls gotta troll. At some point you have to just stop feeding the trolls and they go away. Life goes on quite nicely without them.

TP

It's funny how we live in a world where if you don't like what someone says and it contradicts the deceitful information you give others you ignore them, happens alot in washington too.

So dr Tim- are we all lying that cvs don't work for us? Absolutely not. I asked a simple question how come you cannot answer it seems like you should have all the answers for this you have answers for everything else

Are west the wrong elevation, what's the scoop? They made absolutely no difference the 3 times I used them how come- why can you not answer this, I mean you created them. Many people see no difference with them and we're not just trying to disagree i have way better things to do. I just get extremely upset when people try to pad their pockets with boatloads of money from people who work hard for it when something has a many discrepancies as the cvs. There alot of deceit on this country don't ever forget that and it's all started by money!!! After all money is the most evil thing in the world people steal lie cheat and kill for it just to simply have a better social status and be better than their neighbors.

I don't chill out when someone is portraying how good something is when there are plenty of other results that show otherwise buy mini sugar makers have been doing this for years. Furthermore mr. Perkins has used a lot of money and been paid to boot to do all this research I doubt if penny has come out of his pocket. so he plays in the woods a little with all this money he's been given develops a half-ast device which really only works on paper patents a product and is making boatloads of money off it at the expense of everybody else. And everybody's happy about this??? Listen this is maple sugaring we're not putting men on the moon just about anybody with some common sense could be given thousands of dollars and come up with the results he has it would be very hard.

You know furthermore maple sugaring is not rocket science pretty much anyone with some common sense, time and money could come up with the results dr Tim has, were just all working day jobs that's all....

Again- are we all lying that cvs did not outperform other spouts in our sugarbushes? Absolutely not, i have better things to do then make up s*** and lie. I just have a real problem with a lot of things to go on in this world and people like me are called checks and balances

Hey don't forget the ignore button is at the bottom of the page for all you Democrats who can only have it your way!!
over the years I have decided to not castrate myself and tell things like they are, someone has to otherwise we'll all be puppets on strings controlled by one body!!

Stand up for yourself folks, even the best experiments and scientist have been wrong.

[blissville maples]

Trolls trolls trolls.... seriously can you say anything stupider.....is that seriously what you call someone who disagree with you and you can't turn them?

Get a life I'm not a troll I'm the opposition!!
Sorry you don't like it
Sorry this isn't one sided
Sorry that they didn't work for me
Sorry that I spent an extra 1000 dollars on them in 6years
Sorry they dont work than an .18 spout.

I could go on and other also.....

Stop saying the rhetoric like i have 16 week old tapoles still producing....oh buy a cv and tap in december and wait for 5 gallon of sap in january.

You have all been tricked into being told get the early runs buy CVS!! What early run? The 1000 gallons of sap you got in january on 10ktaps is that seriously why you went to cvs.? You call that a run? It's sap but is not a run...that will happen in march!

[saphound]

Hey 'yall..haven't posted in a while. Had to take last year off due to a bad car accident. Anyway, I tried those clear 5/16 CV taps a couple years ago. They worked good but my only complaint was most of them broke when I tried to get them out. Seems like its a more brittle plastic, the black ones have never broke. I had to drill them again with the same bit to get the plastic out of the tree. This was a couple dozen I bought off ebay...I don't remember who made them. Anyone else had that problem?

[ChaskaSap]

This is my first year doing this and have 29 of those clear jobbies tapped. Didn't even consider this would be an issue. Although I'm just lightly finger twisting them into place. Hoping that technique reduces my chances of breakage...fingers crossed!