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A new foreign invader could have a substantially negative impact on the eastern North American hardwoods in general, and sugarbushes in particular. The Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula, SLF) was first detected near Philadelphia, PA in 2014 and since has spread throughout much of the Commonwealth and has been sighted in about a half dozen New York counties and in several sites in southern New England.
What happens when taps are set into wood impacted by previous years’ taps.
Technological advances by maple equipment manufacturers, continued outreach and education by local, state, federal, and provincial maple organizations, and widespread adoption of new management practices by producers have revolutionized the maple industry over the last 20 years. The design and layout of sap collection systems and advances in vacuum pumps and releasers has resulted in higher per tap sap yields well beyond the old standards. Increased per tap volume has been matched with modern high brix reverse osmosis systems and efficiency gains in evaporators, pushing the economic potential of making maple syrup to new heights. Value-added products, niche marketing and branding, and social media and online platforms, coupled with health conscious and savvy consumers,have altered the retail sales landscape and linked rural maple producers to consumers around the world.
Looking around your woods youÕll see that there are far more trees on the landscape than you have time to measure. The science of forestry has taught us that similar stands (ones that have the same species composition, size classes, productivity, and management history) do not need to undergo a 100% census to get an accurate picture of what is there. Foresters use sampling methods that inventory stands to get an accurate representation of what is in them and the quality of the resource.
This study showed that sycamore does produce a sweet sap flow that can be boiled down to roduce a syrup. That syrup had a nice taste, that some people say has a butterscotch like flavor. This is a new sap and syrup product, that will need more work to develop taping strategies that could lead to its commercial production. Likewise we need more information on the sap and syrup chemistry before we can provide guidance to potential syrup producers.
How producers can effectively set taps below the lateral line.
Accepted tapping practices for 7/16 inch spouts with no vacuum called for tap holes to be drilled 2-2.5 inches deep. Later practices for 5/16 inch spouts under vacuum, call for drilling the tree to a depth of 1.5 inches. The reason for the reduction in depth, was to reduce the occurrence of drilling into dead wood, especially on trees with a long history of tapping. This can lead to reduced sap yield. When the 2018 season left us with an unusually low sap yield, the question arose: does tap depth matter when the system is under vacuum?
When looking to expand the maple industry people often look at the large acreages of forested lands in the public domain. In West Virginia, 16.5 percent of the land is in public ownership, and in Virginia, 17.1 percent. Of that, the largest acreage is managed by the federal National Forest System (NFS). Sugarbush owners adjoining NFS lands might look across the line to tapable maple stands in the national forest. Private citizens or community groups could also look at public lands as a way to get in the business. In this study, we investigated an example of a community group, the Mt. Rogers Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad, that is running a successful maple sugaring operation by tapping trees in the adjoining George Washington-Jefferson National Forest. We examined the sugaring operation and the impacts that the sugaring operation is having on the Whitetop community.
ItÕs been 10 years since the ALB was first reported in Worcester, Massachusetts, and since then 24,179 ALB-infested trees have been found and removed, including the four trees mentioned. This has dramatically changed the character of the heaviest hit Worcester neighborhoods, Greendale and Burncoat, and resulted in a massive reforestation effort. Those neighborhoods were the center of the infestation and nearly every single host tree, including street trees, were removed in the effort to eradicate this pest. The DCR ALB Reforestation program, Worcester Tree Initiative, the city of Worcester, and the other five municipalities in the regulated area have replanted thousands of trees. Today, those young trees have become established and have started to provide much needed shade and wind breaks.
One of the more common questions producers have when about tapping maple trees is Òhow deep should spouts be driven in to the taphole?Ó. Unfortunately, there is not a simple answer, since different spouts have different dimensions, variable degrees of taper and steps, and are made of different materials with dissimilar degrees of Òstickiness.Ó Regardless, the importance of driving spouts in to the proper depth is readily apparent: if spouts are driven too shallow there is a risk that spouts can leak vacuum or heave easily during freezes, but if driven too deeply, small cracks may form which cause liquid and vacuum leaks or alternatively, the reduced amount of exposed wood surface area inside the taphole caused by driving spouts in too deeply may reduce sap collection.