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New Tapping Guidelines

Here I explain why maple producers should know the growth rate of trees in addition to diameter to determine the number of tapholes per tree.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
October 1, 2005

North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual, 2nd edition

A must have for any serious producer. One of the best books out there that cover all aspects of maple. This book has chapters on History of Maple Syrup and Sugar Production, Maple Resource, Planning an Operation, Managing Maple Trees, Sap Production, Syrup Production, Syrup Filtration, Marketing and many more. With over 300 pages this book is full of wisdom.

North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual (pdf) The maple manual is out of print. It is available instead as a for-sale PDF from Ohio State University Extension. Note that a more recent edition is available on this site here.

Date:
January 1, 2006

Reduced sap yields from tapping into stained wood

What is the impact on sap production when your tap into an old wound? With tubing systems, it is almost impossible to know for sure. This presentation covers preliminary sap yield data from clean tap holes versus holes that hit brown wood.

Date:
February 21, 2019

Reduced Sap Yields When Tapping Into Non- Conductive Wood

According to a recent survey of more than 300 maple producers in the northeast United States, nonconductive wood was hit during tapping on average 4.5% of the time and the responses ranged from 0-41% of the time (UVM Extension 2019 unpublished). Previous research has explored factors that impact the likelihood of tapping into NCW. Significant factors include but are not limited to; dropline length, taphole diameter, tapping intensity (number of taps/tree) and stem growth (van den Berg and Perkins 2014). Other work touched on the relationship between the amount of conductive wood exposed while tapping and yields (Wilmot et al. 2007). But to date, there has been no direct investigation as to the relationship between the percent of NCW is intercepted while tapping and sap yield. The present study sought to understand the relationship between the amount of NCW in a given tap how and the amount of sap collected, as well as understanding if other factors (sap sweetness) might impact total yields between treatments.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
March 2, 2022

Renting Taps to Enhance Viability 

Can access to more taps improve your business? Do you own forest land that you’d like to lease to sugar makers? Mark Cannella, UVM Extension, provides information on leasing taps and different approaches to setting rental rates. He also shares the new UVM Sugarbush Lease Guide and Sugarhouse Lease Guide with participants.

Date:
December 7, 2020

Research into Designing a Walnut Specific Spile

During the 2019 sap season, Future Generations University, with funding from the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, began a series of tapping studies on tree species other than maple. We tapped and made syrup from black walnut trees. We had trouble developing the expected natural vacuum on the 3/16-inch lines, even though they had plenty of slope. We assumed that the problem was related to vacuum leaks associated with a poor seal in the soft wood with the minimally tapered spouts.

Date:
April 1, 2020

Researchers downplay fall tapping

Three-year study finds little payoff in sap yield for sugarmakers who tap in the fall.

Publication:
Maple News
Date:
October 3, 2020

Sap Collection from Small-Diameter Trees

For several years, we conducted research on the collection of sap from small-diameter maple trees. This document outlines the basic concepts, techniques, and applications of this type of sap collection.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
October 1, 2016