Tapping birch trees kills them

[OakAshandThorn]

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

It's completely fine so long as you don't hammer the knife in all the way. Just a few cm or an inch at the most is sufficient, and in my experience that has never caused a problem.

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.

The two main risks with birch tapping are insect infestation and bleeding out from an improperly sealed wound, being the tap itself. I've seen trail crews at my local woodland prune Grey Birch saplings in the spring and then the tree dies a month later. There are also hundreds of diseased birch here, all of which were caused by insects. That's partly why I use a glob of pitch to further seal the tap wound, because it keeps them out...literally using the blood of one tree (adapted to fend-off these little buggers) to save another.

[Pootle]

Is the pitch an insect repellent then?

[OakAshandThorn]

Yes, in that it stops them from digging into the tree itself. When a pine, spruce, or fir "bleeds" from a wound, the pitch flushes out any insects that try to settle in. Some of these bugs get preserved in fossils that way .

[SGL70]

Long ago my grand-dad told me to cut off a branch (when the leafs was no bigger than mouse ears) and tie a bottle to the remaining part to collect the sap. Those trees still live.

[OakAshandThorn]

Long ago my grand-dad told me to cut off a branch (when the leafs was no bigger than mouse ears) and tie a bottle to the remaining part to collect the sap. Those trees still live.

The old folks are wise . When done right, birch tapping can be a completely sustainable practice.

[ChrisCraft]

this is totally fine, providing you :

- only make a small hole, not too big, not too deep.
- dont be greedy, and take too much water, or youll deprive the tree.
- plug the hole tightly, all the way in, when finished, with a clean cut piece of the same type wood.

ray mears does exactly this, and saws the wooden plug off, flush, with the tree trunk

[Midge_Fodder]

Good practice is the key. This is why we learn skills properly.

[john61rm]

Well said Midge_Fodder, if the tree is getting that badly damaged so it dies there is something drastically wrong, learn how to do it right.

[SGL70]

Found a vid, showing how I do it, on youtube. Blockbuster materil!!
https://youtu.be/jTnpPbNCwjo

[FishyFolk]

Yhese discussions show up every spring and reminds me of tapping birch sap. The problem is, that this is still a month or two away here, so when the season starts I have forgotten all about it, lol