Suckers for Sap

www.sciencefrid...
For centuries, maple syrup producers across New England and Canada harvested sap by drilling into the bark of fully grown wild trees. While commercial syrup producers have adopted vacuum pumps and plastic tubing to aid these efforts, recent experiments at the University of Vermont's Proctor Maple Research Center may further pull the industry from its pastoral roots. By vacuum-sucking sap directly from the cut tops of juvenile trees, the researchers increased syrup production 5 to 6 times per acre compared to the traditional sap collecting methods.
Produced by Luke Groskin
Music by Audio Network
Additional Video and Stills by Kieth Silva © Across the Fence, Abby van den Berg, Mark Isselhardt Shutterstock, Leonora Enking, Ben Ramirez, Sally McCay, Jim Hood, Kevstan

[@MehmetBoysal]

I never thought about what this statement meant before. "There's a sucker born every minute" Now I do.

[@benbostaph4928]

Maybe my math is off, but how dense are the acres these numbers are coming from? You should get 0.5 Gallons of syrup per tap and 80 -120 gallons per acre. That means you need 160 - 240 taps per acre to get the type of yield on mature trees. With vacuum system no more then two taps per tree Most people are happy with 60-70 taps per acre getting between 30-35 gallons of syrup. I just had 60 taps in 2019 on bags and got 12 gallons of syrup. Not anything close to vacuum. Please correct my math if wrong.

[@michaelsouza786]

coconut syrup commonly called nerra is 10% (not toddy)and can be harvested throught the year and taste better then maple syrup ,each tree gives 1-2 liters per day ,good for dibetics

[@jeangiachino4497]

Wow thanks I will definitely try this!

[@capt.sparrow34]

Sure they increased the amount of syrup you can get from an acre of land by 6-7x but they also increased the supplies cost by 15x. Equipment costs will never allow saplings to be used commercially. Can't imagine anybody wanting to spend $1.00 on a tap, a fitting and tubing to get .07 gallons of syrup. You would have to have 15 taps, fittings and tubing to get one gallon of syrup, not very profitable. Add to that, how many years before a sapling is usable and how much labor per year planting and tending saplings? Do they keep producing the same amount of sap year to year? I know that tapping a tree destroys the part of the wood that has been tapped above and below the tap for several feet hence you never tap the same spot twice. Doesn't seem to me that a sapling would take to well to having it's top cut off and sucked on every year.

[@soveriegnborn]

I believe the leaf at 4:51s is a silver maple.

[@robertdesroches9642]

Leaf shown at 4:51s is not a mapleleaf but from a red maple

[@Florida1213]

Syrup sacrilege is right. Chopping the tops off of saplings but keeping them alive to harvest their juices. It's like some kind of evil Matrix scenario.

[@wyattkeehner1798]

I make maple syrup with Dan and Dorinda potter and their kids and my daughter great river maple

[@mikecoxlong6890]

does this work for natural rubber ?

[@pratherat]

I thought maple syrup came from bees. The trees just protect it.

[@BariumCobaltNitrog3n]

chuckle

[@killerfrozie5003]

Some fake maple syrup Is well kind of made up of a hint of sweetener like honey. And real farm grown maple syrup is expensive cause it takes a load of time to actually grow trees.... But would you want to eat a pancake with no actual maple syrup? Not me that's for sure

[@cowpoke02]

maybe tap a fat root . re tap one hole or brach off the baby tree so it don't go in a little to the center of the tree. use a couple branches , cut it off 2 inches sticking out of tree center . create a tap or two on baby trees . mona try it . let many grow tap other half .. great idea . make money immediately .

[@cowpoke02]

plant tree;s and don't tap in far or tap a branch end ,. extra tree/s to abuse while other tree's grow . 3/16 taps . tree is that old it could probably get tapped in few years or just tenor or branch. probably refurbish the same small hole every year . gives options to starting out with no tree's or plantation . probably safer ways to get sap and leave the top on .. i saw maple hedges . new they were tough .