FranklinStreetWest
Power Conserver
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
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So a few weeks ago a customer came into the store I work in. He was glowing over the 10 gallons of sap he harvested from his sugarbush, and bragging about the birch stand that he harvests too. That got my little gears turning, and I started driving the city streets looking for maple trees to tap. Every day for a week I looked in longing at the maples in my neighbor's yards. I wished I hadn't cut my large maples down, pout. But they were endangering my house and one was actually crushing the roof of another house.
Finally I got up the nerve to ask. Rita didn't even hesitate, she said it would be fine. HAPPY DAY!! I had my first two taps and a wet sleeve from the gush of sap that came out of the tree. Then I got to thinking... my mother has quite a few maples on her property, all I would need to do is convince her to empty the jugs into buckets. But I didn't have enough money to buy the special taps for $3 a piece. I lucked out, the local old time hardware store had them in stock. Which is odd. Even more serendipitous, just as I asked the clerk at the counter about them, he was cashing out a sale for a guy about my age that nearly cleaned him out of taps! Still, I couldn't afford to go and buy more...
After about an hour of standing around the plumbing and electrical isles at Lowes, I finally picked up a few things to try out at my mom's house. Making this work on the cheap was my first priority. She had about 5 large trees, so I would need at least 10 taps, and there was another huge tree in town that my friends said I could bleed. Here is what I came up with....
click to enlarge
1] Hammer
2] Cordless Drill
3] 3/8" pvc water supply line for a toilet
4] 3/8" drill bit
5] Pruners (to cut the plastic pipe)
6] Nails (to hang jugs from)
7] Jug (I like them to be at least 1 gallon)
8] Clear Plastic Hose (to put on the end of the tree spout and direct the sap into the jug)
I also bought some smaller clear tubing and platic couplers, so that I could hook two spouts to drain into one big bucket. It works pretty well. Think of it like an I.V. drip from a tree!
The cost was under $10 for spouts, tubing and buckets (I already had the tools)
Finally I got up the nerve to ask. Rita didn't even hesitate, she said it would be fine. HAPPY DAY!! I had my first two taps and a wet sleeve from the gush of sap that came out of the tree. Then I got to thinking... my mother has quite a few maples on her property, all I would need to do is convince her to empty the jugs into buckets. But I didn't have enough money to buy the special taps for $3 a piece. I lucked out, the local old time hardware store had them in stock. Which is odd. Even more serendipitous, just as I asked the clerk at the counter about them, he was cashing out a sale for a guy about my age that nearly cleaned him out of taps! Still, I couldn't afford to go and buy more...
After about an hour of standing around the plumbing and electrical isles at Lowes, I finally picked up a few things to try out at my mom's house. Making this work on the cheap was my first priority. She had about 5 large trees, so I would need at least 10 taps, and there was another huge tree in town that my friends said I could bleed. Here is what I came up with....
click to enlarge
1] Hammer
2] Cordless Drill
3] 3/8" pvc water supply line for a toilet
4] 3/8" drill bit
5] Pruners (to cut the plastic pipe)
6] Nails (to hang jugs from)
7] Jug (I like them to be at least 1 gallon)
8] Clear Plastic Hose (to put on the end of the tree spout and direct the sap into the jug)
I also bought some smaller clear tubing and platic couplers, so that I could hook two spouts to drain into one big bucket. It works pretty well. Think of it like an I.V. drip from a tree!
The cost was under $10 for spouts, tubing and buckets (I already had the tools)
keep us posted! This is great reading! 
