Tapped a couple of maple trees.

[jackelope]

So these big leaf maples will produce liquid to make syrup just like back East? Is that so... What about a maple in the yard?

Not even close to just like back east.

Not talking about quantity, I meant flavor and sweetness of sap

I don’t think they’re the same thing. Might be wrong.  It’s probably a matter of opinion. Lots of maple syrup/sugar/candy production where I grew up back east. I’ve had and still get lots of the good stuff from back there.

[GWP]

Thanks for sharing this. Did you buy or make the taps yourself?

I bought a 12 pack of maple tapping spiles and tubing 2 years ago. They were all plastic. I’m down to 9 now because we had some eastern gray squirrels here for a while and they chewed up 3 of them going after the sap. Just got home from work and checked the jugs....not much sap today. Maybe 8 ounces at most. My wife checked them this morning and there was just a little bit. Must of stayed cold throughout the day here. With the forecast I saw last night I was sure that the sap would run today. Didn’t happen. Maybe tomorrow.

Maple glazed Eastern Gray Squirrel! 
I had no idea it took that much cooking down to make maple syrup.

[Blacktail135]

 Just got home from work a bit ago and checked my jugs...got a gallon of sap today. The sap is still flowing. I’ll check it again in the morning but as it looks now I’m thinking I may not get 5 gallons of sap this year unless the weather cooperates. Anyway I plan/hope to take some pics when I boil it down to syrup and explain the process (as best I can). So far I’ve got 2 gallons of sap that should yield 4-6 ounces of syrup.

[Dan-o]

This has been a cool read. 

I know next to nothing about this, so fun to follow along.

Thanks.

[LDennis24]

Yeah I have to say I know plenty about tree species and varieties etc but didn't even think about the fact you could tap a big leaf maple! I do have to say though that I am a firm supporter of protecting old growth trees and have seen some massive Big Leafs that I wish could somehow be protected from any assault on their well being. Same with some massive Hemlocks and Firs I've come across in the woods West of Mt. Adams. I cringe every time I see an old tree being cut down for development! 

[Skyvalhunter]

Of coarse you do know that a majority of those old growth hemlocks are dead on the inside. Have you seen where a timber sale of old growth Hemlock was done. The wood ends up being chipped or dumped and left for rot. Now the fir, Spruce, etc are a different story. Sorry thread drift. My dad used to draw sap back in Wisconsin. Was a pretty popular thing back there. Be anxious to see your finished product.

[Blacktail135]

 I got 2 gallons of sap today. I’m up to 4 gallons of sap so far. Went ahead and started vaporing off the water with a slow cooker instead of going with a hard boil on the deep fry turkey cooker. Hoping to get more sap but the weather ain’t cooperating, according to what I have read that I need for the sap to run. We’ll see. The buds on the trees are still dormant, so that’s good.

[Blacktail135]

 I understand the desire to protect “old” trees. Next year I would like to tap some black walnut trees for syrup sap. My neighbor has a few. My daughter has one that is about 6’ in diameter on the butt but I’m not gonna tap that one due to the risk of inviting disease into it. It’s just too grand of a tree.

[Blacktail135]

 Here’s a pic of my first bottle from 2 years ago that I gave to a neighbor/friend.

[Stein]

What do you do when you are done, remove the tap and plug it with something, leave it or something else?

[Blacktail135]

 I just remove the tap and let the tree heal on its own. Had read that to plug the tap hole could trap bad bacteria that’s not good for the tree.

[KFhunter]

Look what popped up on craigslist

https://spokane.craigslist.org/grd/d/chattaroy-maple-sap-tap-system-and-how/7278763987.html

[pianoman9701]

I hope it works great for you!  I grew up sugaring in NH, great late winter-early spring activity.

Where abouts? I moved here from Fitzwilliam (south of Keene) 32 years ago. My science teacher had a sugar house and tapped thousands of trees using poly tubing and troughs to collect. His science class would take part at least one day each year. 40:1 ratio for grade A Amber. 

[Stein]

I'm bummed, all we have are fir trees and blackberry bushes, pretty sure neither of those will work.

[C-Money]

Real Maple syrup is sure good. A local producer near my home town in Pennsylvania taps my brothers trees. They sure collect a lot of sap, and make a ton of the delicious syrup. I miss it!! Hard to pay for it when I'm use to getting it for free.