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Identifying Sustainable Practices for Tapping and Sap Collection from Birch Trees: Optimum Timing of Tapping Initiation and the Volume of Nonconductive Wood Associated with Taphole Wounds

Experiments were conducted to determine two pieces of information essential to identify practices necessary to ensure tapping trees for birch sap collection is both sustainable and profitableÑthe selection of the time to initiate tapping birch trees to obtain maximum yields, and the volume of nonconductive wood (NCW) associated with taphole wounds in birch trees. The yields obtained from various timing treatments varied between sapflow seasons, but indicate that using test tapholes to choose the appropriate time to initiate tapping is likely to result in optimum yields from birch trees. The volume of NCW associated with taphole wounds in birch trees was highly variable and generally quite large, averaging 220 times the volume of the taphole drilled, and requiring relatively high radial growth rates to maintain NCW at sustainable levels over the long-term. However, more conservative tapping practices, including reduced taphole depth and increased dropline length, as well as thinning and other stand management practices, can be used to reduce the minimum growth rates required. Producers can use this information to ensure that they use tapping practices that will result in sustainable outcomes and obtain the maximum possible sap yields from their trees.

Publication:
Agricultural Sciences
Date:
March 6, 2018

Hitting the Slope

Analysis of the importance of slope on a variety of tubing systems.

Publication:
Maple News
Date:
March 1, 2018

Getting Started with Small-Scale Maple Syrup Production

Making maple syrup is a time-honored tradition for woodlot owners, and anyone who has even a few maple trees. The process is as simple as boiling sap, but attention to a few details will make for a more pleasant, productive, and safe experience. A warning first, many people who start with just a few tapped trees quickly catch the maple bug; what starts as a handful of tapped trees can expand into hundreds of tapped trees.

Date:
February 2, 2018

Do Invasive Worms Threaten Northeast Maple Forests?

Some maple producers have reported low sugar maple regeneration that could be related to the presence of worms. This second wave of invasion by Asian earthworms is of concern to forest ecologists because of its potential disruption to the forest.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
February 1, 2018

Tree Size Matters

In order to develop models of tree size and yield we measured the sap volume and sugar content from a wide range of tree sizes during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. This article explores the findings.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
February 1, 2018