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Colorado

For those of us who weren't able to make it to Vegas, can someone please post a summary of how best to use maple syrup/maple bud syrup (is there a difference in the sugars here?) and how/why we think it may help pumpkin growth and/or plant health? thanks.

3/15/2012 12:47:34 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Same as Molasses....Either one....I think Jim said he put it on a few timeZ per week, cool of the day....1 OZ per gallon....Pete the real secret waZ the frog in the patch....OtherZ....??

3/15/2012 1:05:57 PM

Hinckley MN

Maple syrup may be hard to come by this year, and pricy if you do. Noone around here is having much of a run. I'll save mine for pancakes!

3/15/2012 1:16:19 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

yep this spring heat wave will make it expensive

3/15/2012 1:17:35 PM

Colorado

wiz- on the ground or on the plant? and what is it supposed to do? thanks.

3/15/2012 1:28:02 PM

Ashby, MA

A friend of mine here in MA makes maple syrup. For the first time in years he started boiling in February. As far as I know he's still boiling but I'm sure it's going to slow down due to the warm weather. His price per quart is $17.

http://www.southvillagesugarhouse.com/home

He's also a 2nd year grower of giant pumpkins. Not sure if he's willing to put syrup on his plants after the amount of work it takes to boil down the sap.

3/15/2012 1:55:42 PM

Ashby, MA

Just checked his website. He's all done boiling. The season ended earlier this year due to the warm weather.

3/15/2012 2:18:22 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

I heard ground and patch.....
John T with Western Labs said Yes...use either to stimulate the microbeZ in the soil....

3/15/2012 3:01:51 PM

Milky Way

How about Honey?
Honey contains Sugar and is a nutural Fungicide.

3/15/2012 4:33:17 PM

Breslau, Ontario, Canada

Bud Syrup is not the same as Molasses.
Bud Syrup is also not the same as the stuff you put on your pancakes.
It converts to a different type of sugar. There are also many known and unknown compounds.
Compared to honey, maple syrup has 15 times more calcium and 1/10 as much sodium.[37] from wikipedia

3/15/2012 5:01:05 PM

Breslau, Ontario, Canada

I'm going to spray so much syrup, my whole patch is going to look like a Krispy Kreme donut...LOL

3/15/2012 5:02:34 PM

Colorado

thanks john

3/15/2012 5:11:38 PM

Colorado

anyone know of a supplier of bud syrup in the USA?

3/15/2012 5:13:35 PM

Littleton, Colo

Do you need a license to purchase thiz said bud syrup?

3/15/2012 11:19:06 PM

Ohio

When I first heard about using maple syrup I was wondering,,, If you could get the syrup yourself by hanging jugs on a few trees, would you have to boil it down to syrup form and then apply it to your plants?......

or could you just use it before the boiling stage as it comes out of the tree in clear liquid form?

Would there be a big difference in the two using them ether way?

3/16/2012 12:11:22 AM

Georgetown, Ontario

Brooks... the advantage of boiling it down is that it can be canned and doesn't need refrigeration. And at a ratio of 40 gallons sap to make one gallon of syrup its much easier to refrigerate a gallon of syrup instead of 40 gallons of sap if it isn't canned.

3/16/2012 5:03:25 AM

Oakland,Maine

I think maybe Brooks was wondering about possible changes to the chemical composition while boiling it, not so much the fact that you are removing the water.

Found this article on the chemical composition of sap/syrup

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:l7cIVZQcVMMJ:jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/Journal/Issues/2007/Oct/abs1647.html+chemistry+of+maple+syrup&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiW8-b0kkoygAulpuZ72NzPTPhkQxcGbzRfgaOXtNm6Vc6WonRDmkrDX2l9ko6d3329pecVOYeGk5nIJPNdxkWMsmY7uRxqDABLoeRaUbal-mJK-FKqw36Bd8WzKf28TqjtZSeZ&sig=AHIEtbQxTimX61iSDeJKFHnUTjESw0F9VQ

3/16/2012 6:18:42 AM

Littleton, Colo

If you get pulled over and you have bud syrup in your car, do you get arrested ?

3/16/2012 9:23:31 AM

Ohio

Thanks for the replies men.

I was messing around a couple years ago and made me a home made tap and hung A gallon jug, and boy are you right about that Pumpkin Shepard, it took me forever and a day just to boiled off a gallon of sap on my kitchen stove just to find out hours later that I wouldnt be having srup with my waffles that day..LOL All I ended up with was about 1/4 of cup of clumpy sugary syrup. LOL


Dww2, It wouldn't let me put that link into my browser, can you send it again?

3/16/2012 9:42:16 AM

Ashby, MA

According to my friend who makes maple syrup the sap collected from the maple trees is just sugar water which contains about 1-2% sugar. The ratio is more around 48-50 gals to one gallon of syrup. During the boiling the sugar caramelizes (this is where the flavor and color come from). All maple syrup is 69% sugar (note: color comes from the amount of time it took you to boil to get it to the 69% sugar).

Therefore, one ounce of maples syrup to 1 gallon of water would yield a sugar water that has about .5% sugar. Seems like the sap would be 2x to 4x more concentrated in terms of sugar content. In other words, one gallon of sap from the trees would be equivalent to 2-4 gallons which were each mixed with 1 oz of maple syrup.

Of course, this only takes into consideration the sugar content and not the change in composition due to the boiling process.

3/16/2012 9:55:48 AM

Breslau, Ontario, Canada

Biz,
Different kind of "Bud Sap" lol
The reason it's called "Bud" Syrup, is that the sap is collected at the end of the season when the trees have already started to form leaf buds on the branches.
By this time, all syrup producers have stopped production because the syrup that you get from the bud sap has changed to a darker color and has an unpleasent taste.

3/16/2012 10:18:50 AM

Oakland,Maine

Yeah Brooks I had trouble with it too when I checked to see if it worked. Just copy/paste it to the browser bar and hit the Enter key on your keyboard, as opposed to clicking on enter with the mouse.

3/16/2012 4:12:28 PM

Oakland,Maine

Or just google "chemical composition of maple sap" and it was the 6th article that came up. Written by a guy named D W Ball, fromm 2007.

3/16/2012 4:17:31 PM

Littleton, Colo

I purchazed some bud syrup tonight....now I have a craving for junk food......

3/16/2012 9:19:24 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

awl the way thru this thread, I thought it was a cheap add from Mr. Weizer!!! Live, read, and learn I guess!!! LOL Peace, Wayne

3/17/2012 3:02:19 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

Now I find out it's from D W Ball, sap??? Say what? Peace, Wayne LOL

3/18/2012 12:38:44 AM