symplastless wrote:
A good reference on tapping is here"
Walters, Russell S. Sugarbush Management US. Dept. Agric. Forest Service,
Gen. Tech. Report NE-72: 25-37; 1982
Walters, Russell S.; Yawney, Harry W. Sugar Maple Tapholes US. Dept. Agric.
Forest Service, Gen. Tech. Report NE-72: 8-15; 1982

You know what is really sad? Once upon a time one would be delighted
with such information and not think twice about writing off (with a
stamp etc) to get it.

Now I sit here and whine... "where's the link?"

Al Gore has created a world of lazy researchers.

As a point of interest, in spite of being a lifetime naturalist and 12
years of maple syrup, it was not at all clear to me how the sap worked,
where is it going? why does it stop? why not in Summer?

I posted these questions to the Yahoo Natural History group and finally
got some of the answers.

For those too embarrassed to ask, here are a few answers:

The sugar is produced by the leaves and stored in the roots in Fall.
The sap containing sugar is sent up to the buds in Spring to get them
started.
When the buds/leaves start to photosynthesize, they don't need it
anymore so it stops... real simple.

There were lots more that were not answered... like why do some very
small trees produce more sap than some (most) very large trees?

Why do some trees produce none?

The answers to these were not very satisfying.

js

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