Yo, I'm tapping a Box Elder tree (Acer negundo, a species of maple) in my front yard. All maples are tappable for sap, it's just the sugar maple that has the most sugar in its sap.
This is a part of my ongoing micro-urban permaculture experiment. It certainly is exciting.
Well, the days are above freezing and the nights are almost freezing, so I figure it is the perfect time to tap. I didn't have the right bit (7/16) but I had a 3/8 bit so I wiggled it around a bit in the hole to get the extra 16th of an inch. I drilled 2" into the tree, and it is about 10" in diameter. Then I squirted the hole out with tap water and bashed the tap in. I fashioned a pail out of an old gallon jug hung it on the tap. The sap was running wildly already, and I got pretty excited about doing this on a larger scale.
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1 comment:
AF-
It's Caleb Stengel here... Can't believe I found your blog and music... looks pretty interesting... I went to Jr. High with you- we almost sank a canoe on our trip across the lake and the Jesus and Mary Chain got us banned from the orchestra classroom forever... you should write me at ye ol' email address...
calebs@ud.thompsonhowle.com
I'd love to catch up wit'cha...
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