How ToArticle
Pruning Maple Trees
Help your maple trees grow and ward off diseases with pruning. Learn when and how to start pruning maple trees.
Read More July 28, 2015 | Blain's Farm & FleetHow to Tap a Maple Tree
If you’ve ever dreamed about enjoying your own homemade maple syrup, straight from the tree to your breakfast table, you’ve come to the right place!
The first step in making your own maple syrup is to tap your maple trees. By tapping your maple trees, you’re one step closer to making your dream of creating homemade maple syrup a reality.
Follow this guide from Blain’s Farm & Fleet to easily start tapping your maple trees!
Selecting the Right Maple Trees
First, you want to make sure you have the right kind of maple tree for syrup production. You want to tap a maple tree with a higher sugar content. Some of the most popular types are sugar maple trees, black maple trees, red maple trees, and silver maple trees.
You also want to make sure you’re choosing mature trees. The ones you tap should be at least 10 inches in diameter. If you have a tree that’s over 20 inches in diameter, you can even add two taps to it, if you’d like.
When to Tap Maple Trees
The best time of the year to start tapping maple trees is between the end of January and the end of February, depending on the region you live in.
The ideal time is right when the temperature drops below freezing at night and stays above freezing during the daytime. Tapping a tree too early can cause the tap hole to dry out from microorganisms growing in the tissue of the tree.
How to Tap Maple Trees
Before you begin tapping, make sure you have all the necessary equipment ready to go. You will need the following:
Your equipment, and especially the parts that are going to touch the sap, should be clean. Wash them using hot water.
To start tapping, you’ll need to drill a hole into the trunk of the tree with a power drill. Make sure that the size of your drill bit matches up with the size of the tap, also known as a spile, for a snug fit.
Drill a hole about 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter into the side of the tree, at a slight upward angle. This will allow the sap to flow downward. You want to hit the xylem or sapwood of the tree.
Then, gently hammer your spile into the hole, hang your bucket, and you’re ready to collect the sap!
Collecting the Sap From Maple Trees
Once you’ve added the spile to the tap hole, maple sap will begin to flow. Maple sap is clear and resembles water. Sap only flows when the day temperature is above freezing, so depending on the weather, you may not get sap on colder days.
On warmer days, you can get as much as a quart to a gallon or more of sap. The seasonal average of sap collected can be six to ten gallons. Once you’ve tapped the tree, allow the sap to flow for about four to six weeks.
Once you’ve collected the sap, it is best to keep it cold and stored at a temperature of 38° F or colder for up to seven days. You will need to boil sap to eliminate any bacterial growth, and then you can use it to make your own homemade maple syrup.
After you’ve collected all your sap, you’ll also want to remove your taps from the trees. Wash them thoroughly, then store them away for next year.
Now that you know what to do, it’s time to get out there and start tapping! It’s an easy and fun activity for the whole family. Plus, it has some sweet rewards!
For more tips on the process of making your own maple syrup, check out our other Maple Syrup articles.
