How deep do you tap?
An investigation into the impact of tap hole depth on tree health.
Tag: Tapping
Showing 101 – 110 of 121 resources
Are used maple spouts and new spouts equal?
Research results from experiments on sap yield using new and used spouts.
Excerpts of Postings About Leader Check-Valve Adapters on www.mapletrader.com
Feedback received from early users of Leader check-valve adapters, developed by the UVM Proctor Maple Research Center.
Maple Syrup Production
A basic guide to sugarmaking.
Development and Testing of the Check-Valve Spout Adapter
The goal of this project was to find alternative ways to reduce microbial contamination of tapholes. One approach we investigated was to use a check-valve to prevent microbial contamination of tapholes by preventing backward movement of sap from the tubing system into the taphole.
Which side of the tree should you tap?
Thoughts and data on how setting taps on different aspects of a tree can impact sap yield.
Tapping red maple
Sugarmakers should consider tapping red maples to supplement sap production from sugar maples.
What does a taphole do to a tree?
Tapping trees creates a wound that the trees are usually able to heal. But what is the impact of tapping on trees?
The Timing of Tapping for Maple Syrup Collection
There are a variety of reasons why sugarmakers might want to tap earlier than the traditional date: thousands of taps that take several weeks to install, lower snow cover and easier walking before mid to late winter, climate change generally moving the season forward and providing more sap flow weather in January and February. For most sugarmakers, the bottom line is simply this: what tapping time frame results in the highest sap yield? The experiments described below, which were performed between 2000 and 2007, were designed to answer this question.
Comparison of the “Small” Spout with the Traditional 7/16″ Spout
The “small” spout, 19/64″ or 5/16″ in diameter, has been widely available to maple producers since the mid to late 1990’s as a “healthy” alternative to the traditional 7/16″ spout. While now in general use by producers in some regions, particularly those collecting sap by vacuum, the utility of these smaller spouts is still questioned by many sugarmakers, particularly those collecting sap by gravity. This article will review several studies conducted at the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center comparing 7/16″ spouts with small spouts (for the purposes of this article, 5/16″, and 19/64″ will be considered equally as “small” spouts).