Maple Trees Do I Tap Same Hole Again

In this article, I will bear witness you, step-by-step,how to tap a maple tree for syrup.

If yous have never tried this earlier, it might seem a scrap intimidating—but don't worry, the process is pretty easy. Information technology all starts with having the right gear and and so following these 4 easy steps.

Equipment you will need to succeed once y'all learn how to tap a maple tree and brand syrup

Here is the equipment that will help you lot tap the tree:

Maple tree tap, either with a drop line attached (shown to a higher place) or with a hook and bucket (shown below). Discover the best tap kit here.
Cordless drill
Maple tap drill bit (to drill a hole for your tap)
- Not a lot of mystery here–you want to match the right size drill fleck to the type of tap you lot have, there are a few unlike size taps on the market
Tape measure
Sharpie marker
Rubber mallet

How to tap a maple tree step 1: Finding the correct tree to tap for syrup

Find a maple tree on your holding. Hopefully, you took find earlier winter. Maples are the trees with iconic leaves similar the ones shown here:

red leaves from maple tree — There won't be whatsoever leaves on the tree when it is time to tap, and so it is best to explore and ostend during Autumn

That won't help you much, when it's tree-tapping time, because in that location shouldn't be any leaves on that tree.

Once you lot're certain you lot have a maple tree, you want to be certain that the bore of the trunk is at least ten inches (across). If your tree or trees are smaller than that, you should expect until they are larger.

If you aren't sure how to measure the diameter, you could measure the 'waist' of the tree past wrapping a measuring tape around the body and divide by iii.fourteen (or just ostend the tree is more than 31.4 inches around.

Nigh sap

The tree depends on the sap for diet. When the tree is larger, it has more leaves and therefore is able to create and store more sugar. While y'all should be able to tap a maple tree safely yr after year, the yield volition be much smaller from a smaller tree and the risk of injury to the tree is much larger, which is why it is not recommended.

Footstep 2: Drilling the tap pigsty

The step in how to tap a maple tree is literally to drill a pigsty into the trunk that is between 1.5-two inches deep. So that you lot don't have to make an 'eyeball judgment', have the tape measure and measure 1.5 inches from the tip of the maple tap drill flake and mark that point with a line, using your Sharpie marker.

My maple tree tap is a 5/16 inch diameter tap—so I have a maple syrup tap drill bit that will brand a five/xvi inch diameter pigsty in the tree.

To drill the hole, try to expect for a spot on the trunk of the tree where there the bark will permit you to set up the chip cleanly so that you can make a smooth, straight hole.

Level the drill, place the flake upward confronting the bark and commencement drilling at full speed, if possible. Y'all will have to lean into the drill to get it to 'bite'. Once information technology catches, the drill should practise the remainder of the work.

Drilling a maple tree before inserting the tap — A quick tip here is to marker the drill bit before you lot commencement drilling and then you know when to finish

Gently and smoothly, button the chip into the tree until yous can't run into your marking anymore.

Should y'all hold your drill at an bending when you tap a maple tree for syrup?

A lot of the info I establish online recommended that you hold your drill at a slight upward bending to facilitate the dripping of the sap.

I drilled my trees at a ninety-degree angle (not tilted upwardly) and it appears to have worked. I think the angle matters more if you are using the quondam-school spiles.

Old-school spiles are just spouts where the sap drips out into an open bucket. As such, I tin meet how the slight angle would assist the gravity flow of the sap.

I was using a smaller diameter maple tree tap that sits at a xc-degree angle, and then I tried my all-time to drill a flat hole.

Stride 3: Inserting the tap/spile/spigot

Now that you've made your hole in the tree, it'due south time to tap it. Have your maple tree tap and push it into the hole with your hands as far as information technology will go.

Maple tree tap and drop line inserted in a new tap hole — The maple tree tap should fit snugly in the newly drilled hole. Tap information technology in with your mallet. The blue line is a drib tube that runs the sap into your collection bucket

Hopefully, yous made a nice clean pigsty. If so, the spile/tap should fit snugly in and likely won't go in all the style without a little help.

It won't take long for you to get a sense of why information technology's called tapping…

Take a rubber mallet and smack the broadest office of your maple tree tap in until it sits snugly inside the hole.

Step 4: Setting up the collection bucket

Hang your bucket over the spile, if you're using an old-schoolhouse tap.

maple tree tap and bucket — You can tell from the blueprint of this spile the bucket fits on a hook just beneath the tap

Or insert your driblet line into your collection bucket.

plastic bucket with hole drilled in lid with a blue drop line coming from the maple tree tap — I used the same drill bit to drill a hole that my drop line would fit in. Information technology wasn't a perfect fit, so I had to wiggle the scrap effectually to widen the pigsty a little bit

And that is how to tap a maple tree.

Seriously. That'southward it. All you accept to exercise now is wait for the temperature to exist right and for the sap to run. The tree will do the balance.

You tin can watch this video to see for yourself:

Of form, the next footstep is to plow that maple tree sap into syrup.

Learn how to make maple syrup from tree sap here.

Quick tips on how to tap a maple tree

Always tap a tree that is at least 31 inches effectually the trunk (or 10 inches in diameter)
Mark your drill bit between 1.5-2 inches, so you know when to stop
Pick a twenty-four hours when you expect the weather to be bouncing back and forth between xx and 40 degrees Fahrenheit
Empty buckets will blow around. Brand certain they are tightly fastened to the hook or weigh them downwardly if sitting on the ground.

FAQ

Hither are answers to a few questions asked about how to tap a maple tree for syrup.

How deep to drill a maple tap hole?

The ideal maple tap hole depth for a v/16 inch tap is between 1.v – 2 inches (38-51mm), including the bark. The almost recommended depth is 1.5 inches, but there are trade-offs. A depth of 2-inches likely maximizes the book of sap within a flavour, while the depth of i.5 inches may be more advantageous over the lifetime of the tree.

There are at least ii important phenomena in play with respect to determining the ideal maple tap hole depth. A deeper pigsty will creates a larger area of tissue to describe sap from behind the tap, increasing the potential volume. However, once the season is over, it also creates a larger area of sap-conducting wood in future years.

The maple tree will also put new, fresh rings of forest out effectually those initial holes. In about xviii years with average growth, a Sugar Maple will have put on an boosted 1.5 inches of rings of new growth–healthy, sap-conducting forest. It is not hard to imagine the additional risk at that betoken of drilling right through the good wood and striking bad woods, substantially ruining the harvest from that tap.

I recommend you make up one's mind how deep yous plan to drill before you head outside and utilise a Sharpee to mark your drill bit with a line to bear witness where you lot intend to stop, to avoid over-drilling.

1.5 to 2 inches is how deep you want to tap the tree — you but want to drill a hole that goes into the torso i.5-2 inches

For more than data virtually how deep to drill a maple tap pigsty, check out:

Bosely, Wade, Perkins, Timothy D., van den Berg, Abby Yard. "Effects of Tapping Depth on Sap Volume, Sap Sugar Content, and Syrup Yield Under High Vacuum." Mapel Syrup Assimilate. March 2021.

Wilmot, Timothy. "How Deep Do You lot Tap?" Farming, the Journal of Northeast Agronomics. October 2011.

Should y'all drill the tap hole straight or slanted?

A maple tap hole volition yield the same volume of sap and syrup regardless of whether the tap hole is drilled strait (perpendicular) or slanted (angled up). This was demonstrated in a written report from the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Inquiry Center (Perkins and Bosley 2020).

How deep to fix the maple tree spout in the tap hole

A maple tree spout is properly tapped when it sets in about 0.75 inches into a 1.5-inch hole, including the width of the bark. Driving the tap deeper reduces the sap yield. Setting the tap shallower may crusade leaks or the tap to pull out during the flavour.

Can yous tap maple copse also early?

Yeah, you lot can tap maple trees as well early on. If you tap too early on, you may end up with less sap over the flavour because those days that are too cold will yield trivial to no sap. At the aforementioned time, the tap hole will only exist productive for ~6-8 weeks (~ish. That's simply a generality), so the risk is that you use the precious sap-producing window upwards on cold, non-producing days. You can read more almost building a plan to tap your maple tree, here.

ice on tree branches because it is very cold — If you lot tap likewise early in the season, information technology may be too cold to produce sap on many of the days

When to tap maple trees?

Figuring out the right fourth dimension to tap is ane of the hardest aspects of learning how to tap a maple tree because information technology involves prediction and luck. The best time to tap maple copse is when y'all would expect the temperature to exist (largely) in the 20s at night and 40s during the day (Fahrenheit). Learn more virtually when to tap maple trees here.

What to read side by side

Learning how to tap a maple tree is only the beginning of this fun new hobby for you to explore. Simply learning how to tap a maple tree for syrup is only the kickoff role of the journey. You lot need to know the right time when to tap, you need to collect the sap and then concentrate information technology into the delicious syrup.

Check out these next articles to learn what y'all need to learn:

Maple Syrup: When to Tap a Tree
Best Maple Tree Tap Kit
How to Make Maple Syrup From Maple Tree Sap
Read my log/summary from 2019
See how the 2022 season went
Glossary of terms

Conclusions about how to tap a maple tree

I hope this article helped provide some show to give you confidence about the right fashion to tap a maple tree. Only please don't get overwhelmed. I started tapping the trees in my yards with a lot less data than this–and it WORKED! Don't sweat the small stuff, don't permit fearfulness of perfection keep y'all from starting this awesome hobby. If you take any questions, please go out a comment beneath. Thanks for reading!

References

Bosely, Wade, Perkins, Timothy D., van den Berg, Abby Yard. "Effects of Borer Depth on Sap Volume, Sap Saccharide Content, and Syrup Yield Nether High Vacuum." Mapel Syrup Digest. March 2021.

Perkins, T.D., and Bosely, W.T. "Tapholes: Straight or Slanted?" Proctor Page: News from the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Enquiry Center. April 23, 2020.

Wilmot, Timothy. "How Deep Do You Tap?" Farming, the Periodical of Northeast Agriculture. Oct 2011.

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