Episode 9: Sweet Talk with Abby van den Berg - Early Tapping, Is It Worth It?

This month, Adam Wild interviews Abby van den Berg, a tree physiologist and maple researcher at the University of Vermont - Proctor Maple Research Center. An expert on the effects of maple sugaring on the health and growth of maple trees, Abby recently conducted research on how "early" tapping affects our trees in the long run. Is it worth it to tap earlier than your usual tapping date? Or will some extra sap not be enough to outweigh the extra damage done to the trees? What does "early" even mean for different regions in a changing climate? Adam asks these questions and gets some insights that will help the Cornell Maple Program interpret their own early tapping research, and compare their data across different regional climates.

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)