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Tapping Trees for Syrup and Water

June 9, 2024

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If done carefully using the best practices, tapping trees can be done with little to no harm to the tree. Whenever we share information on tapping trees, there’s always at least one comment of concern for possible damage to the trees.

However, any good tree farmer or homeowner naturally has the best interest of their trees in mind. One member in our Planting for Retirement Facebook group who taps their maple, Cindy R. says, “We are counting down the weeks till maple syrup season starts. Usually mid Feb-March.”

Her family’s homestead and farm, Mulberry Apiary, is located in Princeton, MN, and they’re thriving selling cage free farm fresh eggs, honey from their own beehives and also maple syrup from their own trees.

For more wonderful gifts from trees, check out our article on edible tree leaves.

The tiny tree tap hole, if done right, is analogous to donating blood. It’s a tiny hole and heals itself quickly and without damage to the health of the tree.

“Sweet Trees” You Can Tap

Tree water, aka, sweet water is a growing business. Whether it’s your backyard trees, your back 40 or for your survival backpack, knowing how to tap trees for water especially, can be useful and possibly even a life saver.

You’re probably pretty familiar with tapping sugar maples for syrup. We discuss that further below as well. But did you know you can also tap trees like boxelder and walnut for water and even syrup?

Birch is another tap tree for sweet water, and there are at least 5 different varieties of birch you can tap. In fact there’s an entire and growing tree water industry that especially favors birch water which you may also enjoy reading more about.

9 Trees You Can Tap for Syrup

1. Box Elder Tree, Acer negundo

Boxelders will produce sap, but it will be significantly less sweet compared to the sugar maple and yields about half as much.

2. White Walnut (Butternut) Tree, Juglans cinerea

The white walnut tree is most comparable to the sugar maple as far as sugar content and yield is concerned.

3. Black Walnut Tree, Juglans nigra

The black walnut is a good sturdy midwestern tree. It is used mainly for its timber resource, but will produce a sap from fall to spring.

4. English Walnut Tree, Juglans regia

English walnut trees are the most popular of the walnut bearing trees and grow almost solely in California. Sap production can be abundant, especially if the climate during winter and spring is cold.

5. Heartnut Trees, Juglans ailantifolia

Heartnuts produce a sweet sap but with less yield compared to the sugar maple.

6. Sycamore Tree, Platanus occidentalis

The sycamore tree is a butterscotch lovers dream for the sycamore sap taste remind you of butterscotch.

See also Best Canoe for Hunting? The 3 Best Ones

7. Ironwood Tree, Olneya tesota

Ironwood trees produce sap in the late spring months. The volume isn’t high or as sweet as the sugar maple, but it’s there if you need liquid nourishment in the wild.

8. Black Birch Tree, Betula lenta

The black birch tree is found mostly in the East and lends itself best to birch beer (similar to root beer), but does produce a sap for syrup making.

9. River Birch Tree, Betula lenta

The River Birch tree can be a messy yard tenant, but they produce an abundant amount of sap.

Tapping Birch Water Naturally

We have a lot of birch trees around us and love the idea of a natural drip from pruned twigs and small branches of birch for the least harm to the tree. However, you naturally get the greatest water drip from the fresher prunings rather than the spindly ends of branches.

As rookies in tapping trees, we really didn’t want to risk damaging our birch trees just for the experiment.

Tapping Can Damage Birch Trees

“Maple trees heal every year. Now birch trees do not. I would love to tap birch trees to make natural xylitol but I choose not to because I do not have enough birch trees to justify losing even one. Native Americans managed maple tree groves for decades for their sap. They made numerous products from the maple tree. As long as someone knows not to tap in the same place every year and knows how to see if a tree healed then the tree will be fine.”~Cindy Redding, owner Mulberry Apiary

We tried tapping our own birch trees and they gave us clear refreshing water. However, it was definitely water and nothing remotely like syrup. While the liquid from maples is also more watery than what we know and love as the maple syrup that it’s cooked down to be, birch is definitely lighter fresher and more like water than a sappy syrup.

So these would be more for the “sweet water” type beverages rather than turning into something resembling syrup.

Speaking of sweet water versus syrup, if you’d like to learn more about the tree water business you may be interested in this article on how the sweet tree water business is expected to explode into a billion dollar industry by 2025.

If you’re interested in more information you might check out how to tap maple trees, as well as some of the benefits of tree water and how we tapped our birch trees.

Birch water is currently one of the most popular “sweet waters”, but knowledge is important to avoid damage to the trees.

Tapping Maple Trees for Home Grown Maple Syrup!

If you’ve bought maple syrup recently, then you know how expensive it is to buy 100% pure maple syrup. Yet there’s no comparison in quality and taste of real maple syrup versus those that say “maple flavor”.

When is Tapping Season?

As with all things in nature, the season is dependent on your location. Tapping trees occurs later in colder regions and earlier in milder regions with most tree tapping occurring from mid February to mid April. The best time to tap trees is before the trees bud out, and when the highs are in the 40°F’s and the lows are below freezing.

Tap maple trees before the trees bud out.

What Kind of Trees Can I Tap?

The best maple syrup comes from sugar maple or hard maple trees because their sap has the highest sugar content. You can also tap others but the end product will taste a bit different and the boiling process takes a little bit longer.

You may want to tap the soft maples, birch, or box elder for sweet water.

The tree must be healthy with a full canopy of leaves in the summer – thanks to the magic of photosynthesis, the more leaves a tree has, the sweeter its sap. One tap hole can produce up to 12 gallons of sap in a season (which boils down to approximately one quart) and larger trees can accommodate more than one tap. Most sugar makers follow this taps-per-tree rule:

The more leaves a tree has, the sweeter its sap.

How to Tap Your Maple Tree

Now for a how-to video about tapping maple trees. MI Gardener shows you how to tap maple trees for best results and health of the tree, including when to tap, how to tap, and where to tap.

Maple Tree Tapping Facts

Best Maples Trees to Tap for Syrup:

Sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum), aka, rock or hard maple, are best producers
Red maples (Acer rubrum) also provide sweet sap

See also 6.5mm Creedmoor for Coyote Hunting? Best Ammo (Round, Load, Cartridge) for a Successful Coyote Hunt Hunting Calibers 04 Apr, 2020 Posted By: Foundry Outdoors Is the 6.5mm Creedmoor a viable caliber/load/round/cartridge for coyote hunting? The accurate answer is “it depends”. However, the goal of this article is simply to address the question of whether the 6.5mm Creedmoor is within the ideal range of suitable calibers to harvest coyote. As with anything, the devil is in the details. To answer the question completely, we would need to evaluate the downrange distance to the coyote, the bullet type, the grain weight of the bullet, the physical condition of the firearm, the size of the coyote in question, the shot placement, the local wind conditions, the expected accuracy of the shooter, the ethics of the ideal maximum number of shots – the list goes on. [Click Here to Shop 6.5mm Creedmoor Ammo]What we can do is provide a framework to understand what average conditions might look like, and whether those are reasonably viable for a shot from the average shooter to harvest a coyote in the fewest number of shots possible, i.e., ethically. Let’s dive right in. In the question of “Is the 6.5mm Creedmoor within the ideal range of suitable calibers for coyote hunting?” our answer is: Yes, the 6.5mm Creedmoor is A GOOD CHOICE for coyote hunting, under average conditions, from a mid-range distance, with a medium grain expanding bullet, and with correct shot placement.Let’s look at those assumptions a bit closer in the following table. Assumption Value Caliber 6.5mm Creedmoor Animal Species Coyote Muzzle Energy 2300 foot-pounds Animal Weight 30 lbs Shot Distance 100 yardsWhat is the average muzzle energy for a 6.5mm Creedmoor? In this case, we have assumed the average muzzle energy for a 6.5mm Creedmoor round is approximately 2300 foot-pounds. What is the average weight of an adult male coyote? Here we have leaned conservative by taking the average weight of a male individual of the species, since females generally weigh less and require less stopping power. In this case, the average weight of an adult male coyote is approximately 30 lbs. [Click Here to Shop 6.5mm Creedmoor Ammo]What is the distance this species is typically hunted from? Distance, of course, plays an important role in the viability of a given caliber in coyote hunting. The kinetic energy of the projectile drops dramatically the further downrange it travels primarily due to energy lost in the form of heat generated by friction against the air itself. This phenonemon is known as drag or air resistance. Thus, a caliber that is effective from 50 yards may not have enough stopping power from 200 yards. With that said, we have assumed the average hunting distance for coyote to be approximately 100 yards. What about the other assumptions? We have three other primary assumptions being made here. First, the average bullet weight is encapsulated in the average muzzle energy for the 6.5mm Creedmoor. The second important assumption is ‘slightly-suboptimal’ to ‘optimal’ shot placement. That is to say, we assume the coyote being harvested is shot directly or nearly directly in the vitals (heart and/or lungs). The third assumption is that a projectile with appropriate terminal ballistics is being used, which for hunting usually means an expanding bullet.Various calibersA common thread you may encounter in online forums is anecdote after anecdote of large animals being brought down by small caliber bullets, or small animals surviving large caliber bullets. Of course those stories exist, and they are not disputed here. A 22LR cartridge can fell a bull elephant under the right conditions, and a newborn squirrel can survive a 50 BMG round under other specific conditions. Again, the goal of this article is simply to address the question of whether 6.5mm Creedmoor is within the ideal range of suitable calibers to harvest coyote - and to this question, the response again is yes, the 6.5mm Creedmoor is A GOOD CHOICE for coyote hunting. [Click Here to Shop 6.5mm Creedmoor Ammo]This article does not serve as the final say, but simply as a starting point for beginner hunters, as well as a venue for further discussion. Please feel free to agree, disagree, and share stories from your own experience in the comments section below. Disclaimer: the information above is purely for illustrative purposes and should not be taken as permission to use a particular caliber, a statement of the legality or safety of using certain calibers, or legal advice in any way. You must read and understand your own local laws before hunting coyote to know whether your caliber of choice is a legal option.Foundry Outdoors is your trusted home for buying archery, camping, fishing, hunting, shooting sports, and outdoor gear online.We offer cheap ammo and bulk ammo deals on the most popular ammo calibers. We have a variety of deals on Rifle Ammo, Handgun Ammo, Shotgun Ammo & Rimfire Ammo, as well as ammo for target practice, plinking, hunting, or shooting competitions. Our website lists special deals on 9mm Ammo, 10mm Ammo, 45-70 Ammo, 6.5 Creedmoor ammo, 300 Blackout Ammo, 10mm Ammo, 5.56 Ammo, Underwood Ammo, Buffalo Bore Ammo and more special deals on bulk ammo.We offer a 100% Authenticity Guarantee on all products sold on our website. Please email us if you have questions about any of our product listings. Leave a commentComments have to be approved before showing up Your Name * Your Email * Your Comment * Post Comment

Best Maple Trees:

Look for trees with large draping crowns for best results

Syrup Yield:

Average yield is 5-15 gallons per taphole
Potential yield can be 40-80 gallons per taphole

Syrup per Gallon of Sap:

10 gallons of sap to produce one quart of syrup

Sugar Content:

Average maple sugar content is between 2-3% and is typically
- Higher in AMs
- Lower in PMs

Minimum Tree Diameter Size for Tapping

10″ diameter for 1 tap
20″ for 2 taps
25″ for 3 taps

Distance Between Tapholes:

Vertical Distance: minimum 2′ over or under a former tap hole
Horizontal Distance: no closer than 6″ from the side of an old taphole

SOURCE: You can access more good how-to information from the University of Maine Extension Service.

Next, we look at how to make maple syrup, learn how to boil maple sap to make maple syrup. This is GardenFork.TV[1]https://GardenFork.TV

For more explicit step-by-step instructions on how to tap maple trees, this article put out by University of Maine extension service should answer all your questions. They also have a “Print” function and videos.

And… if you want to know how to make Maple taffy… here’s a video on just that!

How to Make Maple Taffy (la Tire D’Érable) Reveena’s Kitchen

How to Make a DIY Evaporator

In this video you’ll find some detailed pics at the end of the video along with cost of materials.

One of our community members shared this information on her process. They’re tapping their tree now in zone 7b, because it’s been a mild February.

Backyard Maple Tree Tapping in Zone 7B

Contributor, Kimberly Constanzo

It’s our second year tapping our silver maples for maple syrup. It’s a low budget approach, and we will only get a small amount of syrup but still so worth it!

Kimberly uses stainless steel tree taps she got from Amazon.

We love her DIY tap buckets! We even used ziplocs for some of ours. Especially for the ones we tested from clipped branches, for the least impact. Some worked some didn’t. The branches clipped back the furthest were the best.

And here’s a photo share on the GardensAll Facebook page by Catherine Bell, tapping some of her Vermont Maple Trees.

And if you’d like to ponder the possibility of getting into the sweet water business, you may be intrigued with this article on this anticipated billion dollar industry. And lastly, more blessings from trees in this article on edible tree leaves.

Wish you happy tapping and healthy trees!