What I go by:
10-18" diameter, one tap.
18-24" diameter, two taps. We never go over two taps per tree.
Milk jugs make good, low cost sap buckets. Especially of you're using tubing and can set the jug on the ground. Drill a tight fitting hole in the lid, and rainwater and bugs won't be an issue. HOWEVER....honest-to-goodness sap buckets are tapered for a reason. Ice. When tapping in colder weather, sap will freeze, and the taper allows you to dump the ice while retaining the small amount of liquid that didn't freeze. Freezing concentrates the sugar, so dumping the ice saves you a lot of boiling time...the concentrated sap will not freeze as readily. Milk jugs freeze and there's no way to get the ice out until it thaws.
Except for one more crack at the walnut, we're all done. The flow has almost stopped, and the buds are swelling on the trees. Really screwy season. If anyone is interested, our end of season tally looks like this:
maple sap boiled...625 gallons.
maple syrup produced...14 gallons.
Average yield....44:1 (approx.)
Walnut....God only knows.
Pulling taps this weekend.
