Topic: Sap Production

Showing 1 – 10 of 279 resources

Drivers of Sap Flow in Maple

Sap now in maple trees has been described many times. Milburn and O’Malley (1984) provided the first well-accepted modern description,which was later modified and improved by Tyree (1984), then further by Cirelliet al. (2008). Stem pressure and now in maple were then mathematically modelled in detail by Graf et al. (2015) with additional refinements and comparison with field-derived measurements by Zarrinderakhta et al. (2024). While these articles provide extensive detail into the anatomy and physiology of the science of the sap now mechanism, they are somewhat unavailable to most people. A good general description of the sap now mechanism is described in more modest detail in the Third Edition of North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual (Perkins et al. 2022), so won’t be discussed at length here. Rather, this article is aimed at describing pressure gradients and the sources and magnitude of those pressures as they related to sap exudation from maple tapholes.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
December 15, 2024

Characterizing maple sap flows

Individual sap flow events are highly variable and dynamic, ranging from slow, weeping flows that last for days to short bursts of high flow that last for only a few hours.

Publication:
Maple News
Date:
May 24, 2024

Bark removal and taphole closure with arc-barb spouts

The Arc-Barb Spout (UVM Patent Pending) is designed with a shortened barrel to allow improved sap flow from the shallower, more productive sapwood zones in maple stems.

Publication:
Maple News
Date:
April 30, 2024

Drop and spout sanitation review

Considerable research has been conducted by the Cornell Maple Program and University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center on the effects of spout and tubing sanitation on improvements in sap yield and economics.

Publication:
Maple News
Date:
April 30, 2024

Ask Proctor: Tiny Bubbles

Maple producers using tubing often observe bubbles emerging from the tree within the spout or first few inches of tubing when the sap is running. If the spout is not seated properly, leaks may occur.T hese are most noticeable as rapidly moving streams of small or large bubbles. At other times, these are not leaks, however repeated or overly aggressive attempts at seating spouts to make the bubbles stop can create leaks that further attempts at spout seating will only make worse.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
March 15, 2024

Spout colors can affect sap temp at the taphole

We reported in a previous article (Does Color Matter?, The Maple News June/July 2018) that color influences the degree of solar warming of spouts during sunny, windless days and can impact sap yields.

Date:
December 19, 2023

Innovations in Maple Sap Collection Systems: Reducing Clogging in 3/16” Tubing

Natural vacuum created in3/16” tubing has been a boon for many maple producers in stands where sufficient grade allows it to function properly. The column of sap moving downhill in 3/16” tubing doesn’t readily allow air bubbles to pass, but rather pushes them out of the system, creating a vacuum (Wilmot 2014, Perkins and van den Berg 2018). Unfortunately, several years of use have demonstrated that 3/16” tubing systems can be prone to clogging by microbial masses (Wilmot 2018, Perkins and vanden Berg 2019), especially at fittings (Childs 2019) where the internal diameter is greatly reduced.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
December 15, 2023

Ask Proctor: How does Sap Move Near Tap Wounds

Because of the vertical orientation of the dominant anatomical feature of wood (vessels and fibers), sap within the stem of maple trees moves primarily in a vertical direction, either upward during as the tree is freezing/uptake phase or downward (mostly) during the thawing/exudation phase. When a tree is tapped, a zone of impermeable wood forms around the wood.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
December 15, 2023

Update on Plantation Maple Research by UVM

For several years researchers at the UVM Proctor Maple Research Center studied the feasibility of collecting sap from saplings as an alternative production method for maple syrup.

Publication:
Maple News
Date:
November 28, 2023

Sweet Talk: All Things Maple

This ongoing podcast features interviews with researchers and educators about topics related to maple production and marketing.

Date:
June 27, 2023