Tapping birch trees kills them

[Geoff Dann]

Somebody posted this to my facebook timeline, and I thought it was worth sharing here. Please don't do this.

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/...-Birch-tapping

[Thumbcrusher]

Yeh I read that on facebook too. cant really see why a drill does it but a knife puncture basically left open to the air doesn't?

[FishyFolk]

Yeh I read that on facebook too. cant really see why a drill does it but a knife puncture basically left open to the air doesn't?

Did you see the pictures. That was some radical diameters on those boreholes. No wonder he killed the trees. There is a difference between a jab from a needle and being shot too....

[OakAshandThorn]

Well, I'll tell 'ya one thing, they don't use augers to collect sap from the Sugar Maples here, just simple aluminum taps...the blade portion is lightly hammered in no deeper than 5 cm into the tree itself.

[Invicta]

So what is the consensus, does using a knife do any long term damage?
I always thought it was ok.

[FishyFolk]

I just look at the ancient birch around camp grounds here. The look like they have been trough a couple of wars. bark missing in patches, nails hammered in, broken branches etc...and they still live. The same trees where the same when I was a kid.

[Thumbcrusher]

Did you see the pictures. That was some radical diameters on those boreholes. No wonder he killed the trees. There is a difference between a jab from a needle and being shot too....

Fair comment Sir!

[jacob karhu]

Nonetheless shared to my french friends ...

[DuxDawg]

Title to that thread should read "Poor skills kills trees". Dude killed the trees with his ignorance, not the tapping.

[Pootle]

It would be good to know how the birch trees he didn't tap were. just to rule out the possibility of another cause of death. If all the trees were in the same area then even 100% mortality isn't implausible over a ten year period.