How to Tap Maple Trees for Syrup

11/6/2019

Everyone loves the gooey, golden goodness of maple syrup. We’re talking about the good stuff here. Right from the tree, 100% pure maple syrup. It’s sweet like caramel, but with a shot of environmental woodiness. If you’re wondering how to tap maple trees for syrup, you probably also want to know if tapping your maple trees will damage them.

Read on if you want to find out if you can tap and collect maple syrup without hurting your cherished maple trees.

Tapping Doesn’t Damage Maple Trees

Trees are tough. They can mend from a tiny hole so that you can collect their maple syrup.

Why Not Any Damage?
Drilling a hole creates a wound. But if done correctly, your tree can withstand tapping. So How do you tap a maple tree?

When you drill a hole to tap your tree for maple syrup, it’s usually 2” deep and less than a half an inch wide. To your mature 50-foot maple, that’s an itsy, bitsy hole.

Also, the spot you drill through is full of tiny vessels that let the sap flow. Hurting a few is no big deal. If you aren’t confident about drilling a hole in your maple tree, hire a York arborist to do the task for you.

By the time you take the spout out at the close of the season, your tree will start to repair itself. It will develop new wood to shield its wound. Within a couple of years, the hole will be covered entirely. If you think the wound is not closing properly, contact a local arborist to evaluate the health of the tree.

Reducing the Chances of Damaging Maple Trees

Use a clean, sharp drill.
Drill a hole that’s around two inches deep.
Take out the spout at the end of maple season so that your tree can start to close the wound.
If you tap the same tree every year, drill holes no less than six inches apart from earlier holes.

Tapping maple trees is an age-old hobby. The procedure is not complicated, and you can learn all you have to know in one season. When you have the tools gathered, it takes no more than five minutes to tap a maple tree. You can enjoy naturally fresh maple syrup.