What are they Collecting? Sap?

[leptraps]

While Visiting both Monroe and Brown Counties in Indiana I have found/observed several of these Green Five (5) Gallon Pails sitting next to Red Oak Trees with a Drip Hose attached to a drain tap in the tree.

I have experienced this process with Sugar Maple Trees on North East Ohio. I have never seen or heard of Tapping Oak Trees.



Double Click Photograph to enlarge.

Any suggestions?

[leptraps]

Nobody has a clue?

[T.C.]

Not sure

[Deleted]

From what I understand you can make syrup from any tree but the sugar maple is the best. Or maybe they need to go back to tree school.

[gordonsnelling]

wildfoodism.com/2014/02/04/22-trees-that-can-be-tapped-for-sap-and-syrup/

[Deleted]

Couldn't help but notice the piss elm didn't make the list ;-)

[oehlkew]

Some saps will ferment and, once foamy, serve as great insect attractants, including Catocala and many Nymphalidae. I am not sure if that is true for red oak, but I think I remember seeing hordes of butterflies and Catocala feeding on such sap at what I believe was the base of a very large oak. That was over fifty-five years ago, so it might not have been an oak. That would seem like much work though when a simple fermenting fruit bait works just fine.
Bill Oehlke
PS I think it is a fungus that gets into the tree wound that makes the sap frothy/foamy. Maybe the tapper has a culture. Maybe tapper just likes red oak syrup on his/her pancakes.

[oehlkew]

Out of curiosity, I just did a Google search, and there have been some scientific studies monitoring the rate of sap flow in red oaks (through tapping), and probably in other trees to see if warmer temperatures and increased sap flow have an effect on forest ecosystems via depletion of ground water. It is sometimes quite remarkable how much government funding goes to such research, but maybe someday it will prove to be quite valuable.

[Deleted]

On occasion a yellow bellied sapsucker visits the trees in my yard. For the next couple days until the holes heal up enough for the sap to stop running it's like a buffet for catocala.