tapping maple trees for syrup in the south

[Guest mojoqueen]

We are homeschoolers living in South Carolina. We want to tap maple trees and make syrup at home. Exactly how do we tell it's time for sap flow? Our temps are not typical of maple producing states. Do we tap before or after the actual flower bloom? Thanks.

[kbpaulie]

We live in OH.  You tap them here in Feb.  WELL before there are flowers.  It's when the days are above freezing and the nights are below freezing.  The sap in the tree just starts to run.  Wondering if you have enough of a freeze in SC to get the syrupy sap.  Also, it takes 40-50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.  That's a whole lot of fuel for boiling.  So we've never bothered to have it be worthwhile.  But is it YUMMY stuff!!!!!

[Matryoshka]

We live in OH.  You tap them here in Feb.  WELL before there are flowers.  It's when the days are above freezing and the nights are below freezing.  The sap in the tree just starts to run.  Wondering if you have enough of a freeze in SC to get the syrupy sap.  Also, it takes 40-50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.  That's a whole lot of fuel for boiling.  So we've never bothered to have it be worthwhile.  But is it YUMMY stuff!!!!!

 

Yep.  I'm rather doubtful there are enough freezing nights in SC to get the sap to flow correctly.  All warm or all cold doesn't work - you need that daily temperature shift above/below freezing; it's what makes the sap flow up and down and out the spigot.

[itsheresomewhere]

You really only tap sugar maples as they are the best for syrup.  Homegrown.org has some info but it looks like sugar maples do not grow in SC according to their map.  You need quite a few trees and it is a lot of work. 

[Kathryn]

We do have sugar maples here, though I doubt OP would have access to enough to make syrup from.

[Jane in NC]

I have heard about people making syrup from shag bark hickories which are abundant in the Carolinas.  Anyone here have any knowledge?

[G5052]

Thomas Jefferson was quite the experimental farmer. He tried and tried it, and couldn't get much at all in Charlottesville, VA.  

[Plink]

It takes a LOT of sap to make a quart. It can be done with trees other than Sugar Maple, but you really won't get a good run without temperature changes.

 

Try it anyway! The experiment will be fun, even if you fail.

[ScoutTN]

It works in Nashville! We have friends with a yard full of sugar maples and they do it because it is fun for their kids to see and help with, not because they got lots of syrup. Fun to do what Laura Ingalls or Almanzo Wilder did!

[stripe]

How about some other syrups that are native to the south like sorghum or something? Can you do those?