Timing of tapping
In recent years, research at Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Research Forest has looked at ways to maximize maple sap production through tapping practices such as spout selection, re-tapping and timing of tapping.
Year: 2021
Showing 11 – 20 of 60 resources
Tapping Walnut Trees: Studies on Walnut Sap Flow
Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) is a tree to consider tapping, and Butternut (Juglans cinerea) has similar characteristics and can produce syrup. When considering tapping, however, it is good to understood that walnut trees and not just maples with compound leaves and big edible nuts. Walnuts have anatomical and physiological characteristics that affect tapping and syrup making.
SapSpy keeps tabs on the sugarbush
During the 2021 season, the UVM Proctor Center tested SapSpy (www.sapspy.com), a relatively new entrant in the sugarbush monitoring field.
Timing of Spout and Dropline Deployment Has No Effect on Sap Yield
This aim of this project was to determine whether early spout and dropline deployment before tapping could be used while maintaining good sanitation levels and high sap yields.
Producing Intense Flavored Maple Sugar Through Vacuum Boiling
How to build a vacuum boiler to make high-quality granulated maple sugar.
Ask Proctor: Defoamer
We regularly get questions from maple producers about which defoamers are the best to use. Of course, the answer is…it depends.
Wound Response to Taphole Rejuvenation Practices
In response to injury from wounds such as tapholes, trees initiate processes to compartmentalize the affected area in order to prevent the spread of infection by disease- and decay-causing microorganisms beyond the wound, and to preserve the remaining sap conducting system (Shigo 1984). This results in the formation of a column of visibly stained wood above and below the wound, and the affected zone is rendered permanently nonconductive to water and nonproductive for sap collection. These processes, along with effects from microbial activity, are responsible for the gradual reduction in sap flow from tapholes over the course of the production season. There has been recent renewed interest in strategies which attempt to extend the standard sapflow season or increase overall yields through the “rejuvenation” of tapholes. As part of a multi-year experiment to investigate the yields and net economic outcomes of several taphole longevity strategies, we conducted an experiment to investigate the volume of NCW generated in response to two of these strategies.
Sugarbush Management and Chainsaw Safety
Maple production requires sugarmakers possess a diverse set of skills in order to tend the forest resource and maintain a productive sap collection system. Maintaining a healthy, diverse sugarbush that maximizes its growth potential requires periodic vegetation management activity. Also known as thinning, vegetation management is the process of reducing competition for light, water and nutrients of crop trees. Felling trees is the key activity in vegetation management and may be done by logging professionals in support of formal forest management plan objectives or by the sugarmaker or landowner on an as needed basis and including response to extreme weather events.
Maple Statistics
Annual data on US maple production.
Keys to high maple yield
Comprehensive video on how to make the most of your sugaring season, covering tapping, tubing, and efficient boiling.