Has anyone checked if sap is rising?

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lannyman8

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 18, 2009
4,005
3
Dark side of the Moon
i left it too late last year and only had a small taster....:(

uncle ray said when the hazle shoots look like tree rat toes...:)

anyone tried sycamore sap???? supposed to flow just like birch sap when tapped...
 

treebloke

Tenderfoot
If you want to know when the sap begins to flow simply cut a branch from your tree and you will see it begin to drip when the sap is rising.

Both Birch and Maple begin about the same time but obviously this depends on local conditions, they will 'bleed until they come into full leaf which is the best time to prune them.
 

Seagull

Settler
Jul 16, 2004
903
108
Gåskrikki North Lincs
I lifted a 6 foot Siberian Birch last week, no sign of any sap, but its buds are already swelling and changing colour.
rgds
Ceeg

Oh aye..the Larch herebouts are almost in flow.
 
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birch sap is the main one everyone knows about .

where your missing the point is the sap rises all year long because thats how it feeds the tree, what we are on about is the so called spring rush which is when the tree causes a large but slow lift of sap, the trick is to cut the hole at around 300mm or a foot off the ground level, but if you miss it just drill the hole at three foot and the same effect works there too.

i take it you already have a viable recipe, if not just say so and i will throw on out for you that does work, or we can just boil down to a thicker syrup as per our canadian colonists do, works the same with birch and the others mentioned below.

trees you can also tap are silver birch and white birch are best the other birches are less sweet.
sycamore is my favorite but its hard to do often, plane or london plane can also be tapped and the walnut tree is tapable too

and lastly our canadian colonists have had some moderate success with with a tree family called maples, a true maple for tapping is called a sugar maple you can also find these either the sugar type

standard showy maples can be tapped they work quite well depending on its size and quantity removed
 

NikolaTesla

Forager
Jan 26, 2012
213
0
Uk
It's bloody freezing here!
Not here in South Wales, pretty mild for this time of year, a few weeks ago it was pretty cold -8~oC at night, but now it hovers around 5oC. Anyway I will also try to tap sycamore, not sure if I can ID it though, large maple leaf, bigger than field maple, and has smooth bark?
 

Davidn

Forager
Jan 19, 2009
111
0
Sussex
Took down a Birch tree in Camberley (surrey) a couple of weeks ago, yes January, and it was bleedin a goodun.
Has been very mild this winter. so i suppose depends where in the country you are.
 

addo

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 8, 2006
2,485
9
Derbyshire
The Sycamores and Field Maples have been pouring sap out for a while now.

Sycamores will create quite a large pool of sap around the base of the main stem if you fell one anytime around the end of January till March, so tap away, it tastes almost the same as Birch sap.
 

NikolaTesla

Forager
Jan 26, 2012
213
0
Uk
Just checked a bunch of sycamores, nothing running, but they are budding, if I'm right they have a larger leaf than field maple and have very smooth bark. I'll give it a couple of days...
 

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