Maple Sap Harvesting

Tapping the Trees

Each year, the same sugar maples are tapped for sap. A small hole is drilled through the bark and into the cambium, typically in late January or early February. This allows sap to flow freely into the hole and out through the tap installed there. Damage to the tree is minimal, and a healthy tree will completely close this hole in a single growing season. Less healthy trees may take longer to recover; this is dangerous primarily because the hole functions as an entry point for the most serious threat to trees in any forest – fungus. 

Lines vs. Buckets

In the majority of sugar bushes, thin tubes suspended from the trees weave their way throughout the forest. These lines collect the sap that trickles out through the taps described above. All the lines of the forest lead back to the sugar camp, where the sap is processed.  

Before lines were used, sap was collected in buckets hung from hooks at every tree. As the buckets filled with sap, gatherers would carry larger pails, often on snowshoes, from tree to tree collecting the sap from the buckets. The sap was then transported in a larger reservoir pulled by tractor or horse. Though some small producers still use a traditional bucket system, the arguments for using lines are compelling: old buckets can leach lead into the sap, warm weather can spoil sap in buckets more rapidly, and buckets can often have flows that aren't worth emptying for several days. Bucket systems also require all-weather road systems in the sugarbush, which can damage the forest floor. 

Sap Storage

The large reservoirs where sap is collected and stored before being transformed into syrup need to be cleaned on a regular basis. As temperatures warm in the spring, bacteria accumulate in the sap and on the equipment. Daily cleaning is required to prevent the production of poor-quality or spoiled syrup.

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