"But even with that, if you were only drawing from the tree itself, the moisture content would drop off," Perkins said. The top of the sapling had already been cut off, so they knew the sap being pulled out by a vacuum was coming from below. "The main thing was that, after a long thaw, sap flow didn't stop." Perkins said. Partway through the season, Perkins said, it occurred to them to test the idea that sap was being produced from water being pulled up through the roots. The scientists began studying sap production under different types of "flow conditions" - for example, in gravity versus vacuum collection systems. This was not an entirely accidental discovery. In the course of studying maple sap production, Perkins said, he and van den Berg realized that the sap they were collecting was being produced from tree roots - not from the tops of the trees, as had traditionally been assumed. The application was published in September 2013, at which time the researchers could finally go public with what they had been studying since spring 2010. That includes the contraptions Perkins and his colleague, Abby van den Berg, improvised to fit standard tubing to sapling tops. The school applied for a patent in 2012 for the vacuum process and all devices associated with plantation-style sapling production. Meanwhile, the University of Vermont is already doing what it can to maintain the state's grip on the maple technology and brand. "At least in the short-term, it's unlikely that someone else will jump in and make maple syrup more economically than we can in New England," he said. It's going to be northern climates." Nor does the thought of growing maple saplings in greenhouses sound to him like a lucrative prospect.Īnd due to the Northeast's longstanding specialty in maple sugaring - from equipment manufacturing and repair to expertise in plant biology - Perkins thinks the maple brand will not escape the region any time soon. Still, Perkins said, "You're not going to see maple syrup being made in Florida. "But smaller trees freeze and thaw much faster," he said. The freeze-thaw cycle that turns starch into sugar is still needed to produce sweetness, he said. The plantation method allows for dense planting of saplings in an open field, and the critical feature that makes sugarbush land so valuable - a mature maple forest - becomes moot.īut that's not to say maple saplings could be raised plantation-style anywhere, Perkins cautioned. Plantations also would give producers more control over growing conditions - potentially crucial in the face of anticipated climate change.Īs the Proctor Center continues its research, Gordon said he will be most interested in what the developments mean for maple operations that struggle with the high cost of sugar maple forestland. Sapling plantations could help sugarmakers recover more quickly from a devastating storm or pest infestation, for example. Perkins said the sapling method might be most valuable to maple producers who have limited space or want to expand their operations quickly. The implications could be significant for one of Vermont's signature products - as a hedge against climate change, as a relatively cheap and fast way to grow a maple operation and as an opportunity for competitors to get a foothold in the market. Saplings are ready to harvest in seven years, while mature trees take four decades to tap. A plantation-style crop of 6,000 saplings can produce 400 gallons of syrup per acre, while a mature sugarbush of 80 mature maple trees produces 40 gallons per acre, researchers say. Sugar maple saplings can out-produce mature trees by an order of magnitude. Researchers at the University of Vermont's Proctor Maple Research Center have discovered that sugar maple saplings produce the same sweet liquid that mature trees yield. Photo by Sally McCay/UVMĪ new method of harvesting sap from young trees could revolutionize maple syrup production in Vermont - and potentially around the world. Abby van den Berg and Tim Perkins at Proctor Maple Research Center with new technology they are applying to maple saplings for maple syrup.
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