Tapping our Maple Trees

Tapping our Maple Trees 
This is our 2nd year for tapping our handful of Maple trees. We only have silver maples- while this gives us a nice sweet syrup when all said and done, it is a little different then Sugar Maples. Silver maples are not ideal for syrup-making for a couple of reasons. The first reason is the low sugar content of the sap. Silver maples have thin, watery sap with relatively low sugar compared with some other maples. In addition, silver maples tend to leaf out earlier than other maples. Once leaf buds start developing, the flavor of the sap becomes unpleasant. However, gotta use what's on our land. 

The tapping season varies from region to region but generally starts in early March and lasts until mid-April. When the sap starts and stops running depends greatly on day and nighttime temperature fluctuations. Watch the weather forecast – sap starts flowing when the temperatures are below freezing at night but climb to the 40°F and above range during the day hours. Because the sap “run” is triggered by the freeze-thaw cycle
Tapping the tree and collecting the sap, which is thin and water like, is the easy part!

Items needed:
Drill with a 5/16 bit
Taps and food safe tubing- normally blue in color https://amzn.to/2XSNIfZ
 Buckets or 2lt pop bottles to collect sap
This is the kit we use, enough for our needs!


Most of kits use a 5/16” spike so that is the size drill bit you’d need. Select a wood-boring drill bit and mark it with tape or a marker at 1½” from the end. This mark will show you where to stop drilling so you only go into the sapwood. Pick a spot on the tree trunk approximately four-feet off the ground below a large branch or above a large root. If using a bucket or jug that will sit on the ground, be sure your tubing will reach the bucket even after the snow melts underneath it.
Drill at a slightly upwards angle into the tree and do not go deeper than 1 ½”. Shavings that come out of the hole should be creamy or light yellow.
Push your spike in to the drilled hole, give a light tap with a hammer- Don't want your spike to crack or plug your hole. Just want it snug! 
Attach your collection bucket. 

A little note about buckets: Must be food grade Do no use old milk Jugs- The fat the milk leaves behind can never be washed out and will degrade you collection and make it sour.
Check local restaurants- I have found bakeries that will sell them at a low cost of not free! Not all 5 gallon buckets are Food Grade Safe! 
Each day, you will come back collect your sap. Sap left sitting in buckets can grow bacteria – this is not harmful as the sap will be boiled but the bacteria will eat away at your sugars which will affect the syrup’s taste. If you can’t boil your sap every day, it can be chilled for a few days until you’ve collected enough to cook. Normally, a single tap hole produces between one quart to one gallon of sap per flow-period.
Generally the ratio of sap to syrup for the sugar maple is 40 to 1 (40 gallons of sap yields one gallon of syrup)  Our Silver Maples have had the same ratios.

 Printable PDF from Iowa State Extension Office

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