Last year, we installed a new vacuum system to increase the amount of sap our trees produce. Trees are tapped and connected by plactic tubing that ultimately runs to the sugarhouse. A negative pressure, or vacuum, is applied to this "pipeline". We've found that using vacuum has increased our sap yield by about 30%, without inducing any damage to the tree! In fact, the vacuum allows us to use smaller spouts, resulting in significantly less injury to the trees from tapping. We are making some adjustments to the system for next season to improve efficiency even more. Click here to learn about maple vacuum systems.