Tag: Tree health

Showing 1 – 10 of 47 resources

Bark removal and taphole closure with arc-barb spouts

The Arc-Barb Spout (UVM Patent Pending) is designed with a shortened barrel to allow improved sap flow from the shallower, more productive sapwood zones in maple stems.

Publication:
Maple News
Date:
April 30, 2024

Cost of hitting stained wood when tapping

Avoiding tapping near previous tapholes is a common practice in maple production. This is because previous wounds create a zone of stained wood that extends slightly wider and deeper than the taphole, but extends upwards and downwards, often reaching 6-12 inches in length in each direction, affecting a volume of wood approximately 50 times (range of 15-150X) larger than the volume of the taphole (vanden Berg et al. 2023).

Publication:
Maple News
Date:
November 28, 2023

Update on Plantation Maple Research by UVM

For several years researchers at the UVM Proctor Maple Research Center studied the feasibility of collecting sap from saplings as an alternative production method for maple syrup.

Publication:
Maple News
Date:
November 28, 2023

Tapping guidelines for maple syrup production

Guidelines for tapping maple trees have existed for well over 100 years. Early tapping guidelines came about when buckets (gravity collection) were the only technology available for harvesting sap. New tapping guidelines are based on years of research into maple tree growth, sap harvesting practices/technology and a recognition that tree diameter alone does not fully explain all the factors that determine if tapping intensity in a given sugarbush is sustainable. This fact sheet presents sustainable tapping guidelines.

Date:
April 9, 2023

Yields from Early Tapping and Taphole “Rejuvenation” Strategies

Because the impacts on yields of early tapping strategies, with or without subsequent rejuvenation, are likely to be affected by weather conditions which can vary widely from year to year, controlled experiments over multiple years are required in order to more fully assess whether any of these strategies result in greater yields than tapholes made during the standard spring sap flow period, or whether any increases in yield would be sufficient to compensate for the increased costs associated with implementing them. Thus, we conducted a multi-year, controlled experiment to assess the yields of several early tapping strategies, with and without subsequent rejuvenation, relative to the yields of standard spring tapholes.

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Date:
November 20, 2021

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.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
June 1, 2021