Do you tap 10" - 12" maples?
If yes, how much would they yield on a good day?
What is the smallest maple you have tapped?
Do you tap 10" - 12" maples?
If yes, how much would they yield on a good day?
Depends....you collecting with gravity or vacuum? Are the crowns in the canopy (dominant or co-dominant) or are they intermediate or suppressed? Are the trees crowded or do they have space to grow?
We tap trees down to 9" dbh with 5/16" spouts as long as they are healthy and have room to grow with no other serious stresses. Never more than 1 tap. If you're using 7/16" spouts, wait until trees are 12" dbh.
https://mapleresearch.org/pub/m0218treesize/
Last edited by DrTimPerkins; 02-18-2021 at 12:24 PM.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
I'll add one more variable. If I have a damaged tree or one I know is going to be culled within the next few years or will never make a good tree it get's tapped even down to 6". Once I tap these I usually cut them down within a year or two. If they are good straight healthy trees I stay within the 10"> rule.
125-150 taps
Smokey Lakes Full pint Hybrid pan
Modified half pint arch
Air over fire
All 3/16 tubing
Southern Ohio
We shoot for 10”. I’m sure we may have tapped an 8” or 9” one in the past.
305 taps on 2 Shurflo's, 31 taps on 3/16" and 229 taps on gravity. 565 in all
Mountain Maple S3 controller for 145 of the vacuum taps
2x6 Darveau Mystique Oil Fired Evaporator w/ Smoky Lake Simplicity Auto Draw
Wesfab 7” filter press
I stay with the 10" rule also, unless I am in line with my tubing then I will bypass those trees and go to the 12" inchers, just my personal preference. I use all 5/16 taps.
2004 - 2012 2x3 flat pan 25 to 60 taps
2012 2x3 new divided pan w/draw off 55 taps
2018 - didn't boil surgery - bought new evaporator
2019 new SML 2x4 raised flue high output evap. 65 taps
made 17 gal. syrup
2020 - only put out 53 taps - made 16.25 ga.l syrup
2021 - Didn't work out
2022 - 25 taps on bags / 8 taps on 3/16's line - late start
Thanks guys.I have been by passing those 10 inchers with small crowns thinking they would
not produce well.This is just a hobby for me and i have only been tapping the bigger trees. I gather
everything on foot so it would be easy to do the small ones as i walk by.
Go ahead and put one 5/16 or 1/4 inch tap in them.
2004 - 2012 2x3 flat pan 25 to 60 taps
2012 2x3 new divided pan w/draw off 55 taps
2018 - didn't boil surgery - bought new evaporator
2019 new SML 2x4 raised flue high output evap. 65 taps
made 17 gal. syrup
2020 - only put out 53 taps - made 16.25 ga.l syrup
2021 - Didn't work out
2022 - 25 taps on bags / 8 taps on 3/16's line - late start
I tapped a 5" tree back in 2005 thinking I'd be culling it out the next summer. That tree got tapped every year for about 12 years before I cut it for firewood. It gave sap every year but I never knew how much nor what the sugar % was. I tapped first in a pattern around the tree at 2 heights above the lateral, then 2 years below the lateral before I cut it down. I never hit brown wood when I tapped. The first 4 years I tapped with the 3' drop straight up, essentially, then I tapped 6 years just a few inches above the lateral, the last 2 were below the lateral, about 2'. The lines were all on vacuum.
This being said, I do not endorse tapping under 10".
Last edited by maple flats; 02-20-2021 at 11:04 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.
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