For the last few winters, I have tapped Sugar Maple trees at
World Bird Sanctuary for their sap. I started tapping Sugar Maples in late
January, in preparation for a maple syrup cookdown at World Bird Sanctuary on
February 17th.
The sap is the sugary fluid which flows from trees during
the warm days of winter. There are
many trees in the maple family, including the Silver Maple, Red Maple and Box
Elder – but the sweetest is the Sugar Maple.
These two Sugar Maples show how the ascending sap oozes from small cracks that may have happened
during winter months, and from holes made by woodpeckers and insects. This is
why the bark is so dark on the left tree.
It is wet with sap.
To tap a Sugar Maple, I drill a 3/4 inch deep hole about 3
feet off the ground at an upward 45 degree angle. This does not harm the tree.
I insert maple taps that I bough online into the holes. These can be bought online with other
supplies for sugaring. The tap is
pushed in until it plugs the hole.
After the 2 or so weeks of tapping I take the tap out of the tree and
the tree heals itself.
After inserting the maple tap I hang a can to catch the sap
as it drips out. On a good day we
may get a gallon a day from one tap!
As stated above, trees naturally leak some sap, and natural crevices in the maple tree allow the sap to
puddle. This is most likely a
popular tree with the woodland creatures!
Covers are installed above the cans to keep out rain and
snow.
It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of pure maple
syrup. We are off to a great start
collecting sap and will have a public maple syrup cookdown on February 17th,
starting at 10am. Please join us!
Submitted by Joe Hoffmann, Sanctuary Manager
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