Showing 61 – 70 of 82 resources
A wide variety of cleaning techniques are currently used in the maple industry, including rinsing the system with pressurized air and water, or attempts to sanitize with chemical solutions such as peroxide, bleach, or alcohol. However, the effectiveness of these cleaning techniques in reducing microbial populations and increasing annual sap yield is often questionable.
An important part of beginning or improving the tubing system in a maple enterprise is to have a good estimate of just how much the project will cost. Though there are many variables in installing a new or replacing an old system the cost of materials is predictable. Two factors allow you to make a reasonable estimate of what a sap collection system will cost in materials. The first is the number of taps per acre. The second is the density of trees.
Gravity tubing systems are widely used in many small to mid-sized operations throughout the maple region. This article summarizes the past 3 years of my research on gravity tubing, or tubing without a vacuum pump.
Although a number of factors affect maple sap flow in vacuum tubing systems, it has become increasingly apparent that sap yields are largely a function of two major influences: vacuum level at the taphole and taphole and tubing sanitation.
During the 2011 maple sap season a variety of research trials were conducted at the Arnot Forest of Cornell University and in the woods of a number of cooperators both with vacuum and gravity systems. Research conducted over the last five years has shown that significant increases in sap yield can be obtained by keeping the tap hole from contamination by bacteria and yeast.
A spreadsheet to calculate costs and returns of using vacuum sap collection systems.
This research was designed to examine age-related losses in sap yield in tubing systems operated under vacuum, and to explore different strategies to reduce tubing microbial contamination induced sap yield losses.
A presentation on the effects of vacuum on sap yield and ways to optimize tubing systems.
Because of a new approach to using nano-silver, the fact that PFA has been banned, and the desire to control microorganisms in maple sap collection systems, the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center investigated the use of spouts and tubing containing antimicrobial nano-silver for suitability for increasing maple sap yield.
A vacuum pump attached to a well-designed tubing system will significantly boost sap flow compared to gravity sap collection, by increasing the difference in pressure between the tree, the source of the sap, and the tubing, where we want the sap to flow. A vacuum pump, however, will not deliver much, if any, vacuum to the trees if the tubing system is not tight and leak-free. This article gives basic instructions on how to check for those leaks, and how to fix them.