making maple syrup

[okiegirl1]

you can tap a silver maple and get sap to make syrup?

I was reading the SS Blog and it said silver maples can be tapped. I never knew that. I thought it was only sugar maples (which a have none) not silver (which I have a gazillion)

really???

 

[justusnak]

We have literally TONS of sugar maple. I just dont know a thing about tapping them.

 

[Henrietta23]

Here is my strictly amateur understanding. Sugar maples have a higher concentration of sugar in their sap. You can tap any maple but will get less syrup from anything other than a sugar maple because more water will boil off. We have a Norwegian maple tapped. It's our only maple.

 

[okiegirl1]

oh, you should learn. How cool would that be to make your own maples syrup and give it away as gifts?? Oh, in a little basket with pancake mix and a wisk. I want a couple of your trees!

 

[Henrietta23]

We gave some away last year. One jar went to a guy at church who insisted you couldn't get syrup from a Norwegian maple
I had birch syrup in Alaska, apparently you can tap trees other than maple!

 

[okiegirl1]

We gave some away last year. One jar went to a guy at church who insisted you couldn't get syrup from a Norwegian maple
I had birch syrup in Alaska, apparently you can tap trees other than maple!

yea, if I tried that I'd prolly poison myself.

"Honey, I swear we can eat pine syrup!!!"

 

[Henrietta23]

We gave some away last year. One jar went to a guy at church who insisted you couldn't get syrup from a Norwegian maple
I had birch syrup in Alaska, apparently you can tap trees other than maple!

yea, if I tried that I'd prolly poison myself.

"Honey, I swear we can eat pine syrup!!!"

LOL, I know what you mean. I'd do some careful online research first! My birches are all way too puny to tap anyway. But Alaska doesn't have maples I guess. It was interesting, different than maple. I'm a New Englander at heart I guess.

 

[valmom]

I do think you can tap any kind of maple tree- swamp maples included (which we have carefully distinguished from our sugar maples because I hate swamp maples- their leaves are toxic to horses when eaten and will kill them). You just have to boil off more water to concentrate the sugars.

I think sugar season is over here. The temperatures haven't cooperated very long.

 

[BeccaOH]

I have the equipment, but locked in a such a snowy February, I really didn't give any thought to getting things out and going. Now it is probably too late here to start. 60 degrees the last couple days. Snow is virtually gone. Bet the sap is running full force. :/

 

[SKR8PN]

I have the equipment, but locked in a such a snowy February, I really didn't give any thought to getting things out and going. Now it is probably too late here to start. 60 degrees the last couple days. Snow is virtually gone. Bet the sap is running full force. :/

Nope, not now! When the temp stays above freezing during the night, the sap won't run the next day. Once the maples begin to bud out, your done for the season. I think we are finished here already.