Maple Trees: From Sap to Syrup, Pt. One
Posted by Devon Akmon | Filed under Gardening
It’s that time of the year. With daytime temperatures rising above freezing and nighttime temperatures dipping back below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, maple trees are being tapped for sap! We have two silver maples in our yard and this year we’ve decided to try our hands at making homemade maple syrup. Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing how this project progresses. Hopefully it will end with some quality maple syrup!
I recommend checking out TapMyTrees.com if your interested in trying to produce your own homemade maple syrup. We purchased the starter kit with plastic buckets. The kit affords you to tap up to three trees.
To get started, the first step is to identify your maple trees. This is a much easier task when leaves are on the tree, but it is possible to determine the type of tree in the winter too. The most commonly tapped maple trees, in order of both preference and highest level of sugar content, are:
- Sugar Maple
- Black Maple
- Red Maple
- Silver Maple
Once you have identified a healthy maple tree, you’ll need to use a 7/16 bit to drill a hole 2-2.5 inches deep into the trunk. Drill at a slight angle upward. I recommend drilling the hole three to four feet from the ground on the south side of the tree. It is possible to have more than one tap per tree. According to the Cornell Sugar Maple Research & Extension Program:
A healthy tree 10-17 inches in diameter (31-53 inch circumference) should have no more than one tap. A tree 18-24 inches in diameter (57-75 inch circumference) should have no more than two taps. A tree larger than 25 inches in diameter (79-inch circumference) should have no more than three taps.
Once the hole is drilled you can now gently hammer the spile with hook into the tree. Next, hang the collection bucket and lid (I highly recommend using a lid!). Finally, hope for ideal weather conditions and wait for the sap to flow. The sap collecting period should last anywhere from four to six weeks. The sap should appear clear and you can expect to collect anywhere from 5 to 10 gallons of sap per tree. Keep in mind that it takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make make one gallon of syrup!
Drill a hole 2.5 inches into the trunk.
Install the spile and hook and hang the bucket with lid.
A detail of the spile
The final package. Hope for sap!
We’ll share more as things progress. If you live in the Ann Arbor area then I also recommend reading these two articles on tapping maple trees:
- Ann Arbor Chronicle: Tapping Ann Arbor’s Sap
- AnnArbor.com: Wildcrafting – Maple sugaring in the city and the country
Good luck!
- Devon Akmon
Tags: Gardening
One Response to “Maple Trees: From Sap to Syrup, Pt. One”
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Devon Akmon Says:
April 13th, 2010 at 8:25 AMUnfortunately, we had some unseasonably warm weather at the end of February and into March. Therefore, we didn’t have much maple sap collection this year. We were only able to collect and boil down enough sap for two servings of maple syrup (which were quite tasty!).
Speaking to this, I won’t by writing a follow-up article on converting maple sap to syrup this year. Until next spring…
