Cutting off trees to get sap. Its just wrong.

[Cedar Eater]

I have never heard of this. How is sap collected once the tree is cut?

Read this about the maple syrup revolution.

[Cedar Eater]

How can anyone say its OK to cut the top of a tree off just for sap.

How can anyone say it isn't? A tree is just a plant. It's not like they're cutting off someone's head to draw blood. I hear all kinds of emotion in what you're saying, but do you fret over the death of millions of Christmas trees every year? If this method ever becomes economically feasible, those who harvest the "traditional" way will be able to charge a higher price, just like those who stick the "organic" label on their bottle.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

I heard a sugar maker by me tried this this year because their bush was hit with straight line winds in july, didnt see it for myself but when the person told me what they saw while snowmobiling I knew what the people were trying to do.

is it right or wrong who knows inbreeding is and that still goes on. just need to make sure your trees have a couple branches that come out

As for bloggers spouting off and knowing nothing of what they are saying we just have to be better and know what we are talking about when we rebut there stupid comments

[saphound]

Thanks for the link, CE. As a few people asked at the end of the article, my first question would be what happens to the sapling with no crown? It will probably send out new shoots, but enough to support the life of the tree? If so, can you lop it off again the following year, or let it develop for a year or two before cutting the crown off again? I think how often saplings need to be replanted will be a large factor for the private landowner, less so for big agro.

[Cedar Eater]

my first question would be what happens to the sapling with no crown? It will probably send out new shoots, but enough to support the life of the tree?

It either dies or it doesn't, probably depending on how hard you suck on it. Some guys use tapping to kill unwanted small maples when thinning their sugarbush, so I'm sure you can suck a sapling hard enough to kill it. If it sends out new shoots, you would have to selectively cut them so that only one or two survive to use the old stump. If you cut above the first living branch on the stem, that branch will become the new main stem and will take advantage of the already well-established root system.

I've actually been thinking about using this idea to start making a sugarbush on some flat marginal farmland that I own. It's heavy wet clay that barely produces corn when fertilized heavily. It's mostly only good for hay. If I can start seedlings in pots, plant maybe 40 per year in a single row, and keep the voles, bunnies, and deer off them while they grow, I could maybe start harvesting and replanting rows in about 10 years. The problem is that I probably already have more projects on my list than productive years left in my life, but leaving behind a tappable maple plantation wouldn't be a terrible thing.

[DrTimPerkins]

I heard a sugar maker by me tried this this year because their bush was hit with straight line winds in july....

Any attempts by others to do this are seriously hampered by the lack of any commercial devices (the "sap caps") to collect the sap. It is not as simple as a baggie over a cut stem.

However....this is exactly the type of scenario we think this method would be helpful in recovering from.

[DrTimPerkins]

It either dies or it doesn't, probably depending on how hard you suck on it.

How much vacuum you put on it has little effect on survival. Survival depends upon a couple of things....size of the stem (intermediate-sized stems put out shoots better than small stems or large stems) and light exposure (saplings in the open resprout vigorously, those in the shade either die or have minimal sprouting). We've cut some stems 4-5 yrs in a row and as long as they're growing in the open, they keep resprouting.

[saphound]

Interesting, Dr. Tim. On those saplings you've cut now for 4-5 years, have you seen any affect on sugar content in the sap? I ask because it seems like the big yard maples with the huge crowns tend to have higher sugar levels..or so I've read here. What is the average sugar you find from your test saplings? Thanks.

[DrTimPerkins]

Interesting, Dr. Tim. On those saplings you've cut now for 4-5 years, have you seen any affect on sugar content in the sap? I ask because it seems like the big yard maples with the huge crowns tend to have higher sugar levels..or so I've read here. What is the average sugar you find from your test saplings? Thanks.

SSC in saplings is similar to mature trees. It drops off somewhat faster during an extended thaw than in a mature intact tree, but because they are smaller, they freeze more readily (which stimulates the starch to sugar conversion), so that overall the seasonal average tends to be similar for saplings and mature trees. One interesting thing is that because much of the crown is gone, these saplings have only a limited space to store carbohydrates....the remaining stem and branches, and that (at least the stem) is right where we can get at it, as opposed to a mature tree where much of the stored carbohydrate is stored where it cannot be accessed by maple producers (in large branches).

[maple flats]

This new method really destroys the ethical reputation of making maple syrup and being good stewards of nature that we all enjoy striving for.

I disagree, if you are taking a forest , cutting it down to plant for this method it might hurt our reputation, but planting to an open field that was not in maple production before or was in a traditional field crop or was fallow is what good farming is all about. Maximize your production with the lowest cost investment ($ or time).
While I haven't tried this yet, if the "caps" become readily available and the methods more completely studied, I may, on land that is now just mowed to keep the brush from reclaiming it as early succession woodland.