Sap sak questions

[Low budget maple]

Hello folks. I am pondering purchasing sap sak. Looking for some pros and cons if anybody has some input. Any wood be greatly appriciated. Merry Xmas to all !!! Boil on !! I hope Santa brings me sumpting shinny and stainless

[KenWP]

Your going to get lots of pros and cons. They really let you know if they are full from a distance since they are bags. They also are knowen to wear holes in the bag against the tree from the wind. If they are cheap enough they probbably are worth trying out. No place close by me sells them around here.

[tapper]

I have quite a few of them. They work great in wooded areas but are a waste of time and sap on roadside trees where they are more vulnerable to the wind. If you want some let me know.

[bison1973]

I like them. No washing buckets. They keep out snow and rain.

[PARKER MAPLE]

Im Also Pondering Them, How Much Would One Set Up Be. Sac, Holder And Tap??

[dschultz]

Im Also Pondering Them, How Much Would One Set Up Be. Sac, Holder And Tap??

Where I get my supply's the holder is $3.50,sac is .25 and the spout is $1.95.
And if you have squirrels they like to climb on the bags and put pin holes in them from their claws

[RileySugarbush]

That's all we use and we like them just fine!

[sapman]

I think I used 100 of them a couple years ago. I felt they were worth getting, given the price of buckets. But as said, wind is really tough on them. One good thing, the holes in the holder are big enough to use the CDL stainless spouts with. Just drill your hole straight in, not angled. Sugarbush Supplies in MI was my best bet for purchasing saks and holders, even with shipping.

Tim

[johnallin]

We like the bags alot, it is easy to pour into the collection tank - kind of like a built-in funnel. Cost was a factor and storing bag holders takes up less room than buckets for sure.

I do keep some Gorilla Tape on hand to patch up small holes when they appear, normally from me not holding them high enough whilst walking through the briar patches. Still a good idea to keep a few spares on hand though...

[Rhino]

Besides our pipeline systems, we put out 1000 bags. The sap seems to keep well in them. Used to get blue colored ones but last year switched to clear. Found a person who custom makes them and he uses a thicker plastic then the blue sap sacs. They are not rodent proof but last year we never had a hole from the wind blowing them against the tree or from brush. Had him make me 32 inch long ones also for my pipeline networks, they hold around 5 gallons, only drawback is a little heavy to take off the tap. Have a buddy who makes holders from pvc pipe, cant remember if he uses 3" or 2 and a half inch pvc but he cuts the pvc pieces around 4 inches long and he drills a hole in the side .(really, any kind of tap made works with these, even plastic pipeline taps that the barbs are broke off). He then uses a hose clamp to secure the bag to the pvc under the drilled hole. I had my doubts about the holding power but after i put my finger in the hole,and he started pulling on the bag, I realized my finger would of snapped off long before the bag would of slipped. I forget what the price per each would be but it was alot less then bag holders. other benefits are storage, a 50 gal. barrel will hold alot of them. He uses a rechargeable drill to fasten the hose clamps. Takes about the same time as bag holders once you get the hang of it. Another option is rubber maid totes with covers. Sometimes on sale you can find 18 gallon totes with covers for $3.80 each, We use alot of them for pipeline networks also, around 15-20 taps to each one,and we made sure they were next to the logging trails for easy collecting. The 140 sap sac holders that we use with the custom made 32" bags have 3-4 taps running to each one,and they also are right off the trail. Nice thing about these are they are usually all worth collecting instead of running to each bag that only has a half gallon in.