2017 maple syrup season has begun!

Love Locally made MS. It is readily available from local producers. Nothing compares to real MS. It is pure taste, no additives. Goes on a lot of food, not just pan cakes. I even dip strawberries in it.

 

Wish I was there to help out....

I miss those days!

 

I just drink it straight out of the pan after it cools down a bit lol

 

If you have any clean snow left, build yourself a maple flavored sno cone!

 

This is a serious question as I've never done this before.
Do you guys just drill a hole and stick the tap in, or is there more too it?
And once its in, can you turn it on and off?

 

Pretty much.

 

Do you just pick any maple tree or is there certain things that make one tree better than another?

 

You can use any maple tree but sugar maple gives you the best yield!

 

Mmmmmmm maple syrup sno-cones!

 

Scotty Overkill made his own taps. It was made from some plastic hose. I believe it was 1/4" I.D. hose, it was cut at the end so as it looked like a birds mouth.

The hole that was drilled in tthe tree was one drill bit size smaller that the O.D. of the hose so that it fit tight into the hole that was drilled so that it wouldn't leak around the tube.

Next we used gallon jugs to catch our sap. We drilled a hole in the cap of a clean plastic gallon jug the O.D. of the plastic hose so it's a nice tight fit. Drill a small breather hole in the cap so ants can't get in but the perssure can be equalized.

Insert the plastic hose into the cap, drill a small hole through the plastic hose and apply a small ty-rap so the hose doesn't slide out of the cap.

Force the plastic hose into the tree and screw the cap on the jug and wait for it to be filled! That is a very cheap inexpensive was to collect your maple sap.

 

These are what I used to use but without the hooks on them. Just hung cans off of the spouts. The plastic hose set up sure makes life easier!

 

Going to be a slow year unless we get a cold snap. Got these from three trees taped. Mutiple taps.

 

How far into the tree do you drill? Do you have to reach the center? Or is it just as far as the tap is long?

 

If memory serves me right I think 3/8" to 1/2".

 

The sap flows through the Sapwood just under the bark. So technically, all you have to do is penetrate the bark and a growth ring or two to get sap to flow. Of course if you did that, your taps would keep falling out so you have to drill deep enough to support the weight of the bucket or jug or sap lines.

 

2-2.5 inches

 

Thaks for the lesson guys!
Now for the wiseass question.............

When the sap is gone from the tree, does it collapse like when you suck the air out of a empty soda bottle?


Sorry, I just had to

 

I go 1.5 inches and i use 5/16 health spiles and hang buckets I have my black walnuts tapped with drop lines into 5gal pails.