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| Empty water bottles, waiting to be filled with maple sap. |
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| PEX tubing, with one side cut at an angle. |
This year, I was a little more prepared. I missed a week's worth of maple sap because I was on vacation, but I came back and started tapping my trees on April 2nd. I was also a little confused as to when I could tap the trees, but it's actually quite simple. The best time to tap a maple tree is when the day temperature is above 32 degrees and the night temperature is below 32 degrees.
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| Drilling at an angle, using a 1/2 inch drill bit. |
I had identified my maple trees during the summer. To start my maple sugaring, I used a 1/2 inch drill to drill a hole into the trees (going no further than 2 1/2 inches into the tree). I used PEX tubing as the spile and as a means for the sap to drip into a plastic gallon jug. So far, I've gathered at least six gallons worth of sap. If I'm lucky, I'll get a cup's worth of syrup after the sap's been boiled down.
Next year, I'm going to reconsider using PEX tubing as a spile. I'm noticing that I've lost a lot of sap that dribbled out around the spile. Next year, I will try not to go on vacation during the spring and have more containers on hand to collect the sap. I'll let you know how my experience goes when I try to turn the sap into maple syrup.
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| Letting Mother Nature and gravity do it's respective work. |
If you want to know more about maple sugaring, check out the following website: http://tapmytrees.com/taptree.html
1 comment:
Try using small PEX.
Here's what I use and my basic method.
1/4" PEX pipe (5' long) = $1.62
20' Vinyl Tubing = $4.59 (will slip over the PEX, so match the ID of the tubing to fit the OD of the PEX)
11/32" Brad Point Drill bit = $4.87
Bucket and lid for each tap.
Make the homemade taps (spiles) out of 3.5" long pieces of 1/4" PEX tubing.
After cutting to length, slightly taper 1/2” of only one end of the PEX with sandpaper. This end will go into the tree.
I’ve found it easiest to chuck the PEX into a drill to spin it, and use #80 or #120 sandpaper to taper the end.
Cut the PEX pipe and vinyl tubing, and haul them to the woods with a cordless drill (with the drill bit) and a mallet or anything to tap the PEX pipe about a half inch into the trees. Drill a hole in the tree NO more than 1.5”, tap the PEX spile into the tree, and slip the vinyl tubing over the PEX pipe. Use enough tubing to reach a bucket sitting on the ground.
Drill a hole in the lid of the bucket lid for the vinyl tubing. The lids don’t have to fit tight, but they do need to stay on the bucket to keep out snow, rain, and bugs. If that happens, it’s no big deal. You’ll be boiling it anyway.
After some trial and error with containers, I discovered that 1 or 2 liter bottles are WAY too small when the sap is flowing well, and also found out that the turgor pressure is enough to blow a well sealed containment system about 10' from the tree when a 2 liter bottle fills with sap and air inside the bottle doesn't escape. Now all of my bottles have a few intentional pinholes in the top to allow air to escape. On that note, I don't recommend any containers smaller than a gallon, and 3-5 gallons is better if you don't have time to babysit the trees all day.
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