Tapping Maples

Chris_Robinson

Chris_Robinson

Location
Montreal West, Qc
I have a wonderful 34" DBH silver maple in the middle of my backyard. It is the centerpiece of my yard and provides a lot of shade in the summer. It is home to a number of squirrels and birds at various times of the year and it's just awesome to look at. My wife has purchased a bunch of taps and wants to tap it this spring to get "maple water". I think the idea is pretty cool, however I want to make sure the risks of opening the tree up to any diseases are extremely low. I assume that the methods for tapping a maple tree that are generally accepted by the maple syrup industry are the best for extracting the sap from the tree, but are they really as harmless to the tree as they seem? Obviously a maple syrup operation doesn't want to lose their trees so they do their best to minimize the damage that the drill holes do to the trees. But these trees are essentially being farmed for syrup. Their purpose is to produce syrup so drilling into them is a given. My concern is that I may run the risk of opening my tree up to diseases if I drill a tap hole into it. Granted the risk is probably minimal, but how minimal?? My tree isn't being farmed for syrup and it doesn't necessarily need to be drilled into. (Although if I don't I'll have many-a-days of a "grumpy wife" to deal with and I may be putting my own well-being at risk!! :P ) Here are the main risks that I can think of:

The trunk appears to be relatively free of decay so I don't think there is much risk of drilling through wall 4 of compartmentalized decay. Either way, the drill hole is only 2" deep at most so this situation would only apply to relatively newly compartmentalized decay, of which, I'm almost certain there is none. There are a couple of rotting stumps and all kinds of wood chips and mulch decaying in my backyard. I'm pretty certain that most are saprophytic but who knows what micro-organisms may be present in those heaps of chips?? I worry that with a drill hole in the spring, some spores from an unknown parasitic fungi may drift over, or splash up in the rain, and make their way into the drill hole. The tree is healthy and would probably be able to ward off most fungal infections...but do I want to take the chance that it won't?? I know that the hole is VERY small and pruning wounds are much larger and collectively make up a far larger amount of wounding....but I have always pruned my tree in the winter to reduce the risk of infection.

Does anybody have any experience or thoughts on tapping backyard maples and the potential risks to the health of the tree itself?? Am I being over-cautious here? Any insight is appreciated. Cheers.

Chris
 
Get some 5/16 taps. Not the old school 7/16.
Be conservative. Only do 2 taps. You may only want to do 1. A big silver could put out a couple gallons a day for 1 tap. Which is a lot if you don't know what you're going to do with it....
I always have worried about tapping yard tree and introducing decay...the small 5 16th tap holes will seal over in 1 to 2 years in a healthy tree, the bigger the hole the longer it takes to seal.
With responsible tapping I don't see much risk. But if you throw half a dozen holes in that tree for the next 10 years I think theRe could be a problem.
Take it with a grain of salt. These are my observations. I've sugared for about 10 years and do 200 buckets in my neighborhood. Small time hobby.
It's fun, but also a slippery slope. It's easy to see how 10 taps could turn into 1000 taps real quick...
 
I lived in the heart of sugaring country for 25 years (Vermont) and never saw a silver maple tapped. Its not that they weren't around. I wonder if the sugar content is lower and maybe not worth the effort.
The big difference between sugar maple and silver maple, when talking about compartmentalization, is sugar does it well, silver does not.
Just a thought is all, worth researching the sugar content. Is it worth it?
Good luck with the wife
 
My mother was born in NH, on a 500 acre forest, w/ a small truck farm.
The family ran 2 wood fired, sugar houses to produce syrup.

I live in Chardon, OH; the maple syrup capital of Ohio; home to the spring "Maple Festival".

Silver maples have less sugar content than, sugar maples.
They also leaf out in the spring earlier, which then degrades the taste quality.
Sounds like you could easily use 2 - 3 taps.

I have a neighbor who has tapped approximately 12 to 15 trees in his yard for the last several years, with no ill effects.

Many years ago, my father made a deal with a couple nephews to made syrup.
They would collect the sap; he would boil it down to syrup; they would split the product.

"Family Feud !" ................. the boys were very upset by how little syrup they received !

Both required a LOT of energy; one physical, the other gas / electric.

Go for it; but as stated, figure out what you're going to do with that "sugar water".
 
I've done both backyard tapping and research on tree response to injury from boreholes, similar to those made by tapping. Sounds like you know not to go too deep and others have mentioned limiting (greatly) the number of taps. Look up the cooperative extension guides to tapping that the various states put out (New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, etc.). I expect that the Province of Quebec puts them out as well.
Silver maple sap is generally less sweet and the trees are somewhat less good, perhaps, at compartmentalization of the injury. If you had Acer saccharum handy, you'd never tap A. saccharinum...but folks even tap A. rubrum if nothing else is handy. I will add that they differ phenologically as well. In a mixed stand of sugars and reds, the reds start to run a little earlier.
I do note that the OP mentions "maple water". When I was tapping in central NH 30 years ago, a couple of oldtimers would come by during the season, not looking for syrup, but looking for raw sap to which they attributed all sorts of "spring tonic" benefits. I was always happy to give away a quart or two of straight sap. I have to say, that it is best consumed at dawn or sunset, straight from the galvanized bucket, looking up at the local mountains and hills. For syrup, a single tree or even a single dozen trees will be disappointing and would not be worth the effort to me. Your results may vary.
If you want this to be a regular thing in future years, be sure to stagger the holes from successive years and don't line up taps hortizontally or vertically. The extension guides will have all of that. Look at last year's tapholes. If there is no sign of closure, don't tap again. If they are fully closed, then you should be good to go...but within the published guidelines of numbers of taps.
 
A local guy tapped my neighbors trees, then came straight up the road and tapped mine without my permission. I was a bit upset but then watched a public tv show where they said the tap goes less than an inch into the tree. So that made me feel better, but then I saw the guy did 3 taps on one tree. To me that is too much.
 
Thanks everyone. I'll mull it over a bit but I think I'll start conservatively this year. A single tap on the tree and watch how the tree responds before proceeding next year. I know that silvers aren't as "sugarey" as sugar maples but my wife is after the "maple water" and not the syrup. She has heard that it is full of great minerals and nutrients and has seen it sold in a number of health food stores. I'll take the advice of KTSmith and drink straight outta the bucket! Cheers everyone!

Chris
 
UpstateGrinder said:
A local guy tapped my neighbors trees, then came straight up the road and tapped mine without my permission. I was a bit upset but then watched a public tv show where they said the tap goes less than an inch into the tree. So that made me feel better, but then I saw the guy did 3 taps on one tree. To me that is too much.
Click to expand...
I'd have cried...laughing as I pissed in the buckets!
 
I tapped 3 trees on my property...2 Norways and a silver. The Norways started flowing today. The water from one is quite tasty. Refreshing with a hint of a sugarey taste but from another one it tastes more like...well...the tree. The only thing I can think of is that the one with the "tree taste" is less vigorous and is less exposed to the sun (its right in the middle of a stand of Norways). So less sunlight and vigor=less photosynthesis=less starch converted into sugar in the sap? Also, the silver maple didn't flow a single drop. The drill-hole was an inch and a half in from the bark (the bark on a silver is pretty thin) and 5/16" in diameter. Exactly like the Norways. Do different species flow at different times/rates? It was about 10 C yesterday during the day (or 50F for those of you down south!) and very sunny! It dipped down to -2C or 28F overnight and back up above freezing today. The bucket on the silver is facing dead south. The Norways are facing east and north. What could cause this lack of flow? Could the southern facing part of the silver's trunk have warmed up so much in the sunlight yesterday that it didn't get cold enough overnight to initiate the pressure needed for sap flow??
 
Chris_Robinson said:
I tapped 3 trees on my property...2 Norways and a silver. The Norways started flowing today. The water from one is quite tasty. Refreshing with a hint of a sugarey taste but from another one it tastes more like...well...the tree. The only thing I can think of is that the one with the "tree taste" is less vigorous and is less exposed to the sun (its right in the middle of a stand of Norways). So less sunlight and vigor=less photosynthesis=less starch converted into sugar in the sap? Also, the silver maple didn't flow a single drop. The drill-hole was an inch and a half in from the bark (the bark on a silver is pretty thin) and 5/16" in diameter. Exactly like the Norways. Do different species flow at different times/rates? It was about 10 C yesterday during the day (or 50F for those of you down south!) and very sunny! It dipped down to -2C or 28F overnight and back up above freezing today. The bucket on the silver is facing dead south. The Norways are facing east and north. What could cause this lack of flow? Could the southern facing part of the silver's trunk have warmed up so much in the sunlight yesterday that it didn't get cold enough overnight to initiate the pressure needed for sap flow??
Click to expand...
Slivers are known for some sugar content. In fact there is a nursery around here with a strain of Sliver with a higher then average sugar content for Silvers. Never heard of Norway being tapped. Birch yes, fetching $350-$400/ gallon! You get 1 gallon from at least 100 gallons of birch sap, as opposed to Sugar Maple at 40:1.
 
So of the 3 trees, one particular Norway maple produced the "sweetest" tasting sap. My wife decided to boil down the 8 litres that we had collected. It ended up making over 300 ml of syrup! That's a ratio of over 30:1!!! Anyone have any idea if this is normal or do I just have one super sugarey Norway??
 
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