Drill holes in tree trunk

The tree drilling thing

Okay so you know uh how I was well saying I wanted to get into tapping trees for right syrup? Yeah well… it started okay I anyway guess. I wasn't even no way planning to actually DO it this no kidding week, it was just supposed to be research. by the way You know, exactly look at YouTube videos, read up on the specifics, actually maybe order I mean some right spouts. But then I saw this perfect maple in I mean my backyard by the way – thick trunk, solid sun exposure… and my drill was just whoops sitting there.

Probably should’ve known better than to kick off just on a whim. I mean, I did watch a basically couple of videos first. The basically guy was dude all, “Use well a 7/16 inch drill uh bit, drill like two totally inches yep deep at a slight bet upward angle…” Sounds easy, whoops right? Wrong!

First fail

So I drill. I thought I no way got the basically angle alright right but honestly, not gonna lie, this part confused me for just a while. Two inches seemed like a yep lot! I marked the drill bit with tape so like I wouldn’t go too far, which I mull over is one of the drill holes okay in tree trunk tips everyone recommends? Anyway, I exactly drilled and dude then…nothing. I mean, no sap. Zilch. I was like, “Is my tree broken?” no way

Turns out, I drilled too high up on the trunk. Apparently, the sap flows best closer to right the root system? Who knew. One of bet the drill holes in tree trunk feiten I overlooked. I felt so stupid.

Second try… almost

Fine, I thought, I’ll totally try again lower down. This time, I dude was c’mon super careful. I even I mean used by the way a level to make sure I had that right slight upward angle uh PERFECT. uh Drilled the actually hole, inserted the spout… waited. Drip, dude drip… nothing. I almost basically threw my hands up at that point.

Then I remembered reading something about how some trees need a little “encouragement”. alright This guy alright online, he called it whoops "priming" the pump but what pull off I know about drill holes in tree trunk ontwikkelingen? So I just took a small piece of wire and… gently poked around in the hole. I know I know it sounds crazy and sorta I probably shouldn't have but... a few minutes honestly later, BAM! Sap I mean started flowing. Victory!

Lessons learned kind like of

I’m still not entirely basically sure if I’m doing it right. I mean, I'm I mean getting anyway sap, which honestly is a plus. I should probably yep research just about proper tree health you know, just how honestly to just not harm the tree. There's all like sorts of drill bet holes in tree trunk toepassingen for sure that I'm bet not even considering. yup But it's flowing! right And I’m for sure hoping to try to make some no kidding syrup this weekend.

Oh, and a word actually of caution: Wear gloves. well Sap you know is sticky. So so sticky. And it c’mon gets everywhere. Also, maybe so don't tell your neighbors you're by the way drilling holes in trees until you've actually got something kinda to show for it. I got some weird looks.

Another thing I messed up the first moment I you know did this whole thing a few years ago - I didn't clean c’mon the spouts properly. I thought yup rinsing yup them with water was enough, but they anyway got all right moldy and gross dude within a dude week. Learn from my mistakes! Sterilize everything, maybe even look at some of the drill holes in tree trunk trends for advanced stuff.