An acknowledged maple authority recently stated that tapholes on buckets will offer greatly diminished yields after a month. Being open to the air leads to microbial contamination, as does re-using spiles, or at least not disinfecting them properly between seasons.
Tapholes on vacuum, not being open to the air, can produce well for a couple months apparently.
I try to tap on the south side, but also recognize that there are trees which have been tapped continuously for decades....and since you need to move the tap around each season, those trees have undoubtedly been tapped on their north side many times. I purposefully tapped a few on the north face this season, just to see for myself. I'll report back with what we see.
Sap ran a little last night. It's coming.
