A maple tree sapling with its crown cut off is "like a sugar-filled straw stuck in the ground." That's what researchers at the University of Vermont's Proctor Maple Research Center discovered when they applied vacuum pressure to the stump of a sugar-maple sapling. They were able to draw out an astonishing amount of sap from the trunk this way.
Typically, a traditional sugarbush produces about 40 gallons of maple syrup per acre of forest by tapping, perhaps, 80 mature trees. With this new method, the UVM researchers estimate that producers could get more than 400 gallons of syrup per acre drawing from about 6,000 saplings.
Above Photo: "UVM professors Abby van den Berg and Tim Perkins have revealed an invention that can yield vastly more syrup per acre than what producers currently get from the forest. It starts by cutting the top off a maple sapling. (Photo: Sally McCay)"
Remaking Maple (Via TYWKIWDBI)
