A few years ago, we learned how to tap trees and make maple syrup at a local historical mansion. There are numerous old growth maple trees on the mansion’s property and a crew of dedicated volunteers led a sugaring fundraiser every spring to tap the maple trees and make syrup to sell.
We signed up as volunteers since I’d always wanted to learn how to tap trees and make syrup in our backyard but had no clue how to get started. I was so surprised at how easy it is! All you need are a few basic supplies and oodles of patience.
Maple trees are the most popular and well known trees to tap. There are many varieties of maple trees. All of them can be tapped for syrup, but the highest sugar content is found in the Sugar Maple.
Box Elder trees are in the same family as maple but have a slightly different flavor and lower sugar content.
Having a lower sugar content isn’t a problem, it just means you have to boil the sap longer to cook it down to the delicious syrup.
On our homestead, we have a variety of Maple tree species and Box Elder trees planted many years ago by the former owners who lived here over 50 years. We also have some younger maple and box elder trees that have sprouted up from seeds over the years.
When choosing which trees to tap, they need to be at least 10″ in diameter measured 4 1/2 feet above the ground.
We have one maple tree that was too young to tap when we first moved to our homestead five years ago. I measured it for sugaring season this year and it is 11″ in diameter and finally big enough to tap.
When Should You Not Tap a Maple Tree?
The tree also needs to be healthy. If it has any damage, infestation of any sort, or is struggling to grow in the warm season then don’t tap the tree since it could stress an already struggling tree.
One of our biggest Box Elder trees lost a large branch in a high wind storm one winter. We chose not to tap this tree that year because we needed to hire an arborist to properly trim the tree.
I also wanted to give the tree a year to rest and recover from the wind damage. The arborist we hired did a wonderful job trimming the tree and it now looks very healthy. Since it once again is a healthy tree, we tapped the tree for syrup the following season.
How Many Trees do You Need to Tap for Syrup?
The great thing about tapping trees to make syrup in your backyard is that you can do this fun project with only one tree if that is all you have.
The more trees you have, the more sap you will collect and the more syrup you will ultimately end up with.
I know folks who only have one big maple tree in their yard and they tap the tree and enjoy the delicious syrup even if it’s just a small amount.
I also know some folks who will ask their neighbors if they can tap their maple trees for syrup as a way to gather more sap to boil into syrup.
When deciding which trees to tap to make syrup in your backyard, keep in mind the amount of time it will take to boil down the sap.
For example, about 10 gallons of Sugar Maple sap will boil down to only one quart of maple syrup.
This project truly is a labor of love and patience!
Supplies Needed to Tap Trees For Syrup
At first I thought it was daunting to get supplies to tap our maple and box elder trees. Then I realized it really was quite simple with only a couple things we needed to buy.
There are plastic and metal parts, tubes and buckets or tins that hang from a spile. Decide which style of tapping equipment you prefer.
We chose the plastic spiles, tubes and buckets since it was more cost effective.
Here is the supply list you need to get started tapping your trees to make syrup:
Power drill and drill bit (drill bit needs to be the size of the spile you use)
Spile- This is the tap that will be inserted into the tree once a hole is drilled. You will need one for each tree you plan to tap.
Piece of tubing that fits snugly on the spile. The tubing should be long enough to reach down to the receptacle that you plan to use to catch the flowing sap from the tree.
Receptacle to catch the sap. We bought inexpensive food grade buckets with lids from a local source. We drilled a hole in each lid that was just wide enough to fit the tubing. This way we could put a lid on the bucket and not have debris blow into the sap if it were to sit uncovered.
Tapping Backyard Trees to Make Syrup
There are a few things to consider before heading out with your supplies to tap your trees for syrup.
When can I tap my trees to make syrup?
The time to start tapping trees is when the sap starts flowing in the spring. How do you know when the sap starts to flow in the trees?
I was taught that sap starts to flow when the daytime temperature is above 40 degrees but dips below freezing at night.
In Montana, we can start having temperatures like this as early as January. Most often these temps are more common in February and March.
When we first started tapping our trees, I waited too long to tap our trees and we had a very short season.
Since then, I’ve learned that we can tap our trees as soon as we have a couple days with the ideal temperatures. Then we can leave in the taps and the sap will flow as the temperatures hit the sweet spot.
What side of the tree do you tap for syrup?
To tap a tree for syrup in your backyard, you have to drill a hole. I was taught to try and drill the hole on the south facing side of the tree and above a large root if possible.
It’s also important to not drill in the same spot every year. Trees will heal over the hole drilled and will be filled in a year later but the spot can be found with a keen eye.
Directions to Tap a Tree for Syrup:
Drill the hole a couple feet above the ground at a slight angle up and do not drill the hole more than 1 1/2″ into the tree. I put a piece of tape on our drill bit to mark where the maximum depth of the hole is so it is easy to see. My kids always love to drill the holes in the trees so I try to simplify the process as much as we can for them.
Once the hole is drilled, clean out any wood chips and then insert the spile snugly in the hole. You can push it in by hand or very gently tap with a mallet. Often the sap will start dripping as soon as the hole is drilled!
You can see the sap dripping down the tube!
After the spile is inserted, attach the tubing snugly to the end. Direct the other end of the tubing into the bucket and you’re all done tapping the tree!
We get some high winds in our area at times. To make sure our sap collecting buckets don’t blow away if they aren’t heavy with sap, we wrapped this kind of strap around the tree and through the bucket handle to hold it in place.
Collecting Sap from Trees to Make Syrup
After the trees are tapped, it can vary how long it takes to fill the buckets with sap. Each tree has a different flow based on it’s size and it’s also influenced by weather conditions. I check the buckets everyday once the trees are tapped.
Usually the first two days there isn’t much sap but it’s such a joy to see the sap starting to collect that I love to peek into the buckets!
Once the buckets are a little over half full, I switch buckets and put an empty one in it’s place. I’ve learned over the years not to let the buckets get too full. First, they become too heavy for me to lift and second the precious sap starts to slosh over the edge when I try to carry them.
Since we tap both maple and box elder trees, I put a piece of tape on each bucket and write if it’s maple or box elder. We process them separately since they both have distinctly different flavors. We love both maple and box elder syrup but in our family, box elder syrup is definitely the favorite!
Store the buckets of sap in a cool spot in the shade. Often the temperatures are cool enough to freeze at night so an ice layer may form on the top of the sap. If you can, remove the ice since it is water and will cut down on the amount you will need to boil down the sap in the next step.
How Long to Tap a Tree for Syrup
Tapping trees for syrup is a project we do in late winter and early spring when the temperatures are just right: below freezing at night and above 40 degrees during the day.
The time to stop tapping our maple and box elder trees for syrup is once the temperatures stop freezing at night. The trees also start to produce buds which is another sign that it is the end of the tree tapping season.
If you continue to tap your trees and collect sap to make syrup past the time trees are budding out, the sap and resulting syrup will be bitter. This can ruin your whole batch of homemade syrup and a waste of all your hard work!
Boiling Tree Sap Down to Make Syrup
When I first learned how to boil tree sap down into syrup, I was so amazed! It is such a simple process. You are basically boiling the sap down for hours to evaporate off the water content until you are left with the thick, sweet syrup.
Some people who process a lot of sap have special outside boiling systems over an open fire often called a “sugar shack”. When we learned how to process sap at the historical mansion, they had a specially made metal trough they sat over a campfire.
Since our family has a smaller quantity of sap to boil, we use our big propane fueled camp stove to boil the sap down outside in huge metal soup pots. I once tried to boil the sap down in the house and ended up having the sticky steam make all the cabinets in the kitchen sticky-what a mess!
How to Filter Tree Sap to Make Syrup
I was taught to always filter the sap before starting to boil. This removes any little bits of debris or insects that may have snuck into the buckets of sap. We have a thin filter that came with our tree tapping kit that works great for this.
Starting to Boil the Tree Sap to Make Syrup
Once the sap has gone through this first filter, we pour it into the big soup pots and the boiling process begins. This is the longest part of the process!
I usually have other outdoor projects I’m working on while boiling the sap down outside so I can monitor the sap boil.
When the sap is in the initial boil stage, it often forms a white foam on top. One year the foam naturally formed a heart shape!
One year a heart shape appeared in the foam that forms on top of the sap as it boils down
As the sap starts to evaporate, add more sap and continue to boil until you have used all of the tree sap collected.
The Final Stage of Boiling Tree Sap into Syrup
When the sap has been boiled down by about 3/4 volume and it reaches the temperature of 216 degrees F it is reaching the final stages. This final step of the sap boil goes quickly so I always monitor the syrup constantly since it can turn into candy if it gets too hot.
Boil the sap until it reaches 219 degrees F and turns into a syrup consistency. The sap at this point takes on a golden syrup color and the boiling has a distinct look to it that is different from the initial phase of the sap boil.
The final boil of sap into syrup
As soon as the syrup reaches 219 degrees F, remove it from the heat. Let it cool then filter it again.
I bought this thick wool filter a couple years ago and it does a great job removing the niter, or what some people call sugar sand. This will settle to the bottom of your syrup jars if you forget to do this step (yes, speaking from experience on that one!)
Bottling Backyard Tree Syrup
Since the trees on our homestead only produce enough syrup for our family and we don’t sell it commercially, we don’t put it in fancy jars. We pour it into freezer safe wide mouth pint size canning jars.
Some people can their syrup to preserve it but I find it easiest to put the jars in our big chest freezer. The syrup doesn’t freeze solid due to the sugar content so it thaws quickly when removed from the freezer.
Do you plug tap holes in maple and box elder trees when making syrup?
Trees have an amazing ability to heal themselves so there is no need to plug a hole drilled for tapping. I never truly understood this process until we started tapping our own trees to make syrup.
I initially was worried that tapping the trees may cause harm or damage. The mentors who taught me how to tap trees and make syrup assured me it wouldn’t hurt the trees but I didn’t truly believe them until I saw it with my own eyes!
The first year we tapped our trees, I checked the tap holes every month after the sugaring season ended.
I was amazed to see the tree slowly growing and filling in the hole we had drilled to tap the tree. By the fall, I could hardly tell where the tap hole was.
The following winter when our sugaring season started up again, I had to really look closely and study the tree trunk to determine where we had drilled our tap hole the previous year.
It is simply amazing how trees have the ability to heal themselves! This reassured me that tapping our trees to make syrup isn’t harmful to them.
How to Learn More about Tapping Trees and Making Syrup in Your Backyard
The first time we learned how to tap maple trees to make syrup, my kids had a lot of questions about how and why tree sap flows through the tree.
I searched online to find some answers for them but couldn’t find anything that was easy for kids to understand.
This book explains sap flow as well as step by step instructions geared towards kids learning how to tap trees and make syrup.
There are also some fun activities included in the book. This is my favorite resource to use in our homeschool unit study every spring when we tap the Maple and Box Elder trees on our homestead to make our delicious backyard syrup!
Have you ever tapped trees and made syrup in your backyard and have any tips to share?
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Great article, this spring will be my 1st attempt,
Answered a lot of questions