My selection process:
1. Find trees that produce little helicopter seeds.
2. Drill
3. Retire
What everyone is saying is right on point.
My selection process:
1. Find trees that produce little helicopter seeds.
2. Drill
3. Retire
What everyone is saying is right on point.
My woods is 3 hours from where I live and work. Only get there on weekends during the season. (4 more seasons and I retire and can sugar all I want). I am using all drop lines. I started out using fry oil containers (about 4.5 gal). These worked well in that you can see how full they are and they empty easily and keep the critters out. Drilled a hole in the cap to fit the line. The first year I had no foaming issues probably due to the residual oils in the jugs. They clean out pretty easily but take a lot of room to store. My whole garage ceiling if filled with hanging strings of fry oil jugs. Someone told me they break down after a few years but I haven't seen that yet. I also made platforms with a bungy cord to keep them in place when empty so the wind doesn't blow them over. I started transitioning to frosting pails after I started finding a consistent supply of a few a week in the recycle dumpster of my local grocery store. These 4 & 6 gallon pails clean easilly and stack together so storage will be easier. Downside is the lid has a rim and is recessed so rainwater will collect and mix in with the sap. Also the lids are hard to open when it's cold out. This year I made spouts for 60 of the pails out of PVC pipe that should minimize those two issues. When I started out I only saw maple supplies from Amazon and eBay so I was paying $1 a spout for plastic spouts. Now I know where maple supplier is and picked up 100 spouts for $20. When visiting Vermont this year I saw where a big 250K producer had a huge pile of old taps and lines they replaced and left them there for the "little guys" like is to take. After reading more articles here on old vs new taps it makes sense to replace every year. I just need to test that on my own to get over my frugality.
Dan of Jack & Daniel's syrup.
2021 - First time tapper, 40 TAPS, 7 GAL syrup
2022- 105 taps, 17 gal syrup,
2023- 143 taps, New permanent 12x16 shack. Lost my father in law Jack who helped me build it. His name lives on in our syrup. New Badgerland filter press.
Easier to do in the summer. I've tapped a couple of oaks by mistake my first year. Now I mark my maples in the summer and know why I never hear about oak syrup.Originally Posted by spacetrance
Dan of Jack & Daniel's syrup.
2021 - First time tapper, 40 TAPS, 7 GAL syrup
2022- 105 taps, 17 gal syrup,
2023- 143 taps, New permanent 12x16 shack. Lost my father in law Jack who helped me build it. His name lives on in our syrup. New Badgerland filter press.
You aren't the only one to do that.
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
Could you drill a hole in the side of the bucket below the rim and run the drop in there? That way there’s no hole in the lid.
Sugaring since 2000.
2022 - 113 taps on tubing and gravity. Homemade evaporator and RO.
2023 - 120 taps on 5/16 and gravity added a float to the pan an built a new 5x400gpd RO
Drilling a hole in the side of the bucket would solve the problem of rainwater getting in but it's still doesn't solve the issue of getting the cap off when it's cold and the plastic stiff. I have a metal lathe in my garage so I was able to turn PVC pipe into spouts that snap into a hole drilled in the top of the bucket. It's a very tight fit so I don't think it will leak. Then I bought 2" snap-in caps that will be quick to remove and dump the pails when I go collecting.20230206_220651.jpg
[20230206_220707.jpg 20230206_220730.jpg
So glad pictures are working again on this site.
Dan of Jack & Daniel's syrup.
2021 - First time tapper, 40 TAPS, 7 GAL syrup
2022- 105 taps, 17 gal syrup,
2023- 143 taps, New permanent 12x16 shack. Lost my father in law Jack who helped me build it. His name lives on in our syrup. New Badgerland filter press.
That’s really slick! Nice solution.
Sugaring since 2000.
2022 - 113 taps on tubing and gravity. Homemade evaporator and RO.
2023 - 120 taps on 5/16 and gravity added a float to the pan an built a new 5x400gpd RO
Wow, fancy! I just make a hole slightly smaller than the tube, warm the end of the tube in hot water, and then squeeze it in. It's very tight that way. Then when I set the bucket on the ground, the ground is always uneven, so one side of the bucket is higher. I set it so the tube is on the high side, and when water/ice/snow builds up it runs off the side before it gets to the tube.
Dan - you're the first person I've seen here with a further commute to your sugarbush. My drive is two hours. Gets pretty old by the end of the season!
One other thing - I don't snap my lids shut. For two reasons: one, as you say, when it's cold it's a b!tch to get the lids off, and two, if you get a really good seal, you'll create back pressure and the sap won't run as well into the buckets. I just seat the lid around the flange in the bucket and put a rock or a chunk of branch on top of it.
Gabe
2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13 gals
All taps on buckets
MajorWoodchuck,
First, let me say "hello neighbor!", I am just north of you in Crystal Falls, MI. I like your solution to the bucket caps!!! I, too, am happy that pictures can be posted again... as I am very new to the syruping thing (I moved here from Alabama back in 2020), reading about what someone is doing is not the same as seeing those pictures.
Suburban sugar bush
My sugar bush is in the front and back yards of the houses on my neighborhood. I tap a variety of Silver Maple, Autumn Blaze(Silver Hybrid), Red and some sugar. I tap trees of all sizes, 10' to 5 feet in diameter. Some are in creek beds some are on the top of a hill.
Generally speaking the only advantage (predictor) to sap production I have seen is the trees access to abundant water. That said all of my best trees are on hills.
I will by moving this summer and buying my own sugar bush. My plan is to have exploratory taping with 75 bags each year and slowly build my tubbing system out each year and Taping an additional 75 trees with bags. I have found there are lots of poor producing trees out their(fire wood) and the only real way to identify them is to put a bucket or bag on it and see what it produces.
2019 2.25 Gallons of Syrup on 6 Taps
2020 12.5 Gallons of Syrup on 37 trees and 54 Taps
2021 25 Gallons on 70+ Trees and 100+ taps.
2022 42 Gallons on 60 Select tress with 120+ taps
2023 only doing 75 taps this year. Last year was overwhelming.
Silver, Autumn Blaze, Red, some Sugar
Smoky Lake Dauntless with Blower and Divided Pan.
I will be experimenting with cold shock gravity filtering.
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