Dr Tim beat me to it, but he does it with more authority than I do.
The best practice for next season is to tap 180 degrees from last year, the following year try halfway between the last 2 years and the next year go opposite that. On an older tree you will see evidence of where you tapped for several years, while the hole will heal over the outer bark will show where taps were. If you don't want to drill with just 1 hand so you can catch the drillings, lay a piece of old white sheet or tee shirt under where you are drilling, then examine the shavings, if you are not getting any white shavings, you have drilled into a compartmentalized area. A maple tree seals off any section where the tree was losing sap. It can be from a tap hole or a broken limb. Maybe that big limb you so carefully tried to be under at one time had a broken limb, especially in late winter. When a maple tree detects sap loss it compartmentalizes that area and for the rest of the tree's life, little or more often no sap flows in that area.
The above pattern for tapping is mostly if on vacuum, tubing, If on buckets the pattern was generally more simple. Basically, move over from last year's tap hole 2-3" and up or down 6". If you got very little or no sap last year, you might want to move over 5-6". Then the following years move over the 2-3", always moving in the same direction.
Last edited by maple flats; 10-19-2020 at 09:08 AM.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.