Tree Healthy Tapping

Maple Tree Healthy Tapping

We are often asked why we use health spouts and low impact vacuum tubing in our sugarbush. The short answer is that this tree-friendly practice helps us to better protect our maple trees. While I’m still tapping some trees that my great great grandfather once tapped, today’s trees have more to contend with than the ones he tended over 140 years ago. Acid rain and other pollution now take their toll on our maples. Using the health spout is one option we can use to help our trees to live longer, healthier lives.

To be more specific, the potential for damage is less if the "health" spouts are used because the diameter and circumference of the taphole is 1/3 smaller.

While this reduction in size isn’t huge, the effect is significant. Research at the University of Vermont’s Proctor Maple Research Center shows that tree injury is reduced by as much as 50% to 67% with health spouts. A great improvement for the health of our trees and our yield is only reduced by 20%.

The use of environmentally responsible vacuum tubing is a marked improvement over the use of inefficient and wasteful metal buckets; especially for any farm that produces maple syrup for sale.