Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Maple Syruping 2023
I’ve spotted tapped trees!
It’s not too late to get some golden goodness out of your trees. Although it’s not really gold flowing, it looks more like water!
Weather plays a big role in sap flow. Maple sap runs best when daytime temperatures are in the high 30s to mid-40s and overnight temperatures are below freezing.
This cycle of above-freezing days and below-freezing nights needs to continue for several days, although nature occasionally has been known to provide a good run under less perfect conditions.
You don’t have to have Sugar Maples to make some great syrup. The only difference is the percentage of sugar content in the tree sap. You can also tap Boxelder trees. Perhaps it’s payback for those boxelder bugs we endure each year.
You need about 40 gallons of maple tree sap to make 1 gallon of pure maple syrup.
Interestingly, the United States and Canada are the only countries in the world to produce maple syrup. And only 19 states produce it.
Tree syrup is a completely natural food, meaning nothing is added. Only water is evaporated from the sap.
A tapping tree should be at least 10 inches in diameter from 4 feet above ground. You can generally get 10 to 12 gals of sap per tree. In another life I lived with someone who tapped their own. Here’s the process on a previous Garden Bite.
Trees stop sap flow once their buds set.
Resources to get you started: