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Sugarbush Management and Chainsaw Safety

Maple production requires sugarmakers possess a diverse set of skills in order to tend the forest resource and maintain a productive sap collection system. Maintaining a healthy, diverse sugarbush that maximizes its growth potential requires periodic vegetation management activity. Also known as thinning, vegetation management is the process of reducing competition for light, water and nutrients of crop trees. Felling trees is the key activity in vegetation management and may be done by logging professionals in support of formal forest management plan objectives or by the sugarmaker or landowner on an as needed basis and including response to extreme weather events.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
June 1, 2021

Wound Response to Taphole Rejuvenation Practices

In response to injury from wounds such as tapholes, trees initiate processes to compartmentalize the affected area in order to prevent the spread of infection by disease- and decay-causing microorganisms beyond the wound, and to preserve the remaining sap conducting system (Shigo 1984). This results in the formation of a column of visibly stained wood above and below the wound, and the affected zone is rendered permanently nonconductive to water and nonproductive for sap collection. These processes, along with effects from microbial activity, are responsible for the gradual reduction in sap flow from tapholes over the course of the production season. There has been recent renewed interest in strategies which attempt to extend the standard sapflow season or increase overall yields through the “rejuvenation” of tapholes. As part of a multi-year experiment to investigate the yields and net economic outcomes of several taphole longevity strategies, we conducted an experiment to investigate the volume of NCW generated in response to two of these strategies.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
June 1, 2021

Keys to high maple yield

Comprehensive video on how to make the most of your sugaring season, covering tapping, tubing, and efficient boiling.

Date:
May 26, 2021

Why sap may not always flow well in early season

Maple producers know that when the temperature starts to rise in the spring, sap flows can’t be far behind. But when the weather starts to warm early in the spring and temperatures seem favorable for good sap flows, they are sometimes left wondering why the sap hasn’t started to run. There are several explanations for the disconnect between warm air temperature and a lack of flow during
the early season.

Publication:
Maple News
Date:
May 7, 2021

Chemical composition and properties of maple sap treated with an ultra high membrane concentration process

Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis are membrane concentration processes originally used by maple syrup producers to preconcentrate the sap to a moderate °Brix level (8–16 °Brix). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of new membrane technology to concentrate maple sap to ultra-high °Brix and to investigate the effect of this concentration on the chemical composition and physical properties of final sap concentrate. Maple sap was concentrated up to 42 °Brix using two industrial membrane units. The contents of main solutes increased with the °Brix of concentrates depending on the specific rejection rate of the membranes tested. A slight and significant decrease was observed in the availability of some solutes such as K+, Mn++ and polyphenols in ultra-high-concentrated sap. However, the apparent organoleptic and physical properties of these concentrates have not been altered. According to the results of this, the new membrane process allows to produce ultra-high °Brix concentrate of maple sap with interesting properties. However, further works have to be performed on this technology to more precisely determine the highest °Brix level that will minimise the affect on chemical composition and properties of concentrated sap and the corresponding maple syrup.

Publication:
Food Control
Date:
May 1, 2021