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A History of Taps and Tree Size

The current ‘traditional’ tap hole number guidelines involve adding a tap for each 5 inch dbh above 10 inches dbh. ‘Conservative’ guidelines involve placing one tap in trees 12 inch dbh and a second tap in trees more than 18 inches dbh. The reasons behind the traditional guidelines are not stated in the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual, but the conservative guidelines are suggested when there is concern for tree health. The purpose of this article is discover where these guidelines came from and to re-establish the reasons why they exist.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
February 1, 2004

A History of the Gooseneck: The Brower Sap Piping System and the Cary Maple Sugar Company

The initial application of plastic tubing for gathering maple sap in the 1950s was indisputably one of the most significant technological developments of the maple industry in the twentieth century. However, the first viable tubing system was introduced over forty years earlier as a gravity drawn system made completely of metal.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
October 1, 2005

A Mathematical Model for Maple Sap Exudation

Sap exudation refers to the process whereby sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum) are capable of generating significant stem pressure in a leafless state, something that occurs to a lesser extent in only a few other related species such as birch and walnut. This exudation pressure is what causes maple sap to flow from a taphole in sufficient quantities to be harvested and processed into syrup. Exudation has been studied for well over 100 years and has been the subject of many scientific studies, but there is as yet no definitive explanation for how such large pressures can be generated in the absence of transpiration (i.e., when no photosynthesis occurs to drive the flow of sap).

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
December 1, 2014

A model of the tapping zone

This article is intended to accompany the Tapping Zone Model available to download at the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center (UVM-PMRC) website. It provides a general explanation of the model and how it can be used. The model can be used to estimate the chances of hitting conductive and nonconductive wood when tapping, and this can be used to assess the sustainability of current or planned tapping practices.

Date:
February 8, 2014

A Model of the Tapping Zone

A model that calculates the proportions of conductive and nonconductive wood in the tapping zone of a tree over time given user-input values for tree diameter and tapping practices.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
February 1, 2014

A New Method for Pricing Sap

While you may think that sap pricing should be relatively simple and easy to understand, there are actually many factors that can and should affect sap prices. This article presents a new method for pricing sap and explains how it differs from the traditional pricing guidelines that have been posted annually in the Digest.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
February 1, 2012

A New Take on Sap Collection

A new method of gathering sap from sugar maple saplings is being tested.

Publication:
Farming, the Journal of Northeast Agriculture
Date:
June 1, 2014

A production survey of sugarmakers

A summary of the current state of maple production in New England is based on surveys returned from approximately 163 sugarmakers in April, 2009.

Publication:
Farming, the Journal of Northeast Agriculture
Date:
December 1, 2009

A Silviciltural Guide for Developing a Sugarbush

A practical guide for the management of a sugarbush. Guidelines are established for the manipulation of stand density and stocking to promote the development of healthy vigorous trees with deep, wide crowns, the necessary attributes for highest possible yield of sugar-rich sap.

Date:
January 1, 1974

A Slow Boil: Marketing’s Long Game

A common marketing mistake is starting with the tools: social media, labels, or logos. Instead, marketing starts with: the business story, business goals, and identifying customers.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
December 1, 2018