Drs. Abby van Den Berg and Tim Perkins of the University of Vermont’s Proctor Maple Research Center, with the simple-looking invention that could radically change the maple syrup industry.
Posted on 02/03/2014 10:44:37 AM PST by Theoria
If a tree has no crown where does the sugar come from year after year?
This will turn the Maple Syrup World upside down.
Only problem a bunch of stubs sticking out of the ground with what looks like feeding tubes won’t be too attractive.
A pair of saps.
Maple syrup time happens before the tree leafs out so why would anyone think the sap comes from the crown?
I wondered that too.
Good grief! Anyone who's cut down a maple or birch in the Spring will see sap pouring out of the stump! Not much of a revelation.
I learned in biology in HS decades ago that the trees store energy in their roots to prepare for constructing the new year’s solar energy collection facility up top.
I am with you , if anyone thinks that the sap in trees comes from the tops , i have some swamp land to sell you. I knew that as a kid working in our orchard.Wow ,i wonder how much that study cost?
Of course. I didn’t know there was any controversy about that. Is this article a hoax?
This is a bizarre statement and cannot possibly be an accurate quotation. I grew up in maple sugar country and no one ever had the slightest doubt that sap rises from the roots. That's why it is best to have warm days and cold nights in February and March. The sap rises during the day's warmth and sinks back during the cold of the night. Once it reaches the ends of the branches and the tree starts to put out buds it is no longer any good for syrup. So the length of the season depends on the weather, and the weather dictates the simple capillary action of the sap.
That having been said, I see no reason why sucking it out the top should not work, other than that the tree will probably not last long.
I smell a hoax.
Yes, the moisture is coming from the roots. No, there won't be significant sugar without photosynthesis having happened at some point. Which means once you've crowned the tree, it won't be able to deliver any more sugar than is already stored in the tree's tissues.
Haven’t we always heard ‘sap rising’? Where did the idea of sap coming from the crown come from?
How are these saplings going to survive w/o leaves? Isn’t photosynthesis needed to manufacture the sugars the tree needs to survive?
Normally if you cut the crown out of a tree it dies.
I thought everybody knew that the sap RISES up from the roots as spring approaches. I wonder if there’s any difference in sap quality between saplings and mature trees? This discovery COULD lead to a maple syrup glut and lower prices. Maple syrup is about the same price as medium grade whiskey right now.
Maple Syrup is expensive so I would love to see this work and lower the price.
It also suggests that watering the ground during harvest could help the sap flow even better.
Maple Syrup is expensive so I would love to see this work and lower the price.
It also suggests that watering the ground during harvest could help the sap flow even better.
I love it myself but the sad truth for the industry is most Americans prefer the corn syrup and caramel coloring crap.
The ground is still frozen when the sap is running. Maybe saturating it in the fall would help?
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