>From farishg Wed Oct 2 09:42:53 0600 1996 remote from cc4.adams.edu
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 09:42:53 -0600 (MDT)
From: Guy Farish <farishg at cc4.adams.edu>
To: plant-ed at net.bio.net
Subject: Sap rise in spring
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I'm not a plant physiologist, so please excuse this question if it is
naive. When you are noting the sap rise in spring and wondering if root
pressure is to blame, are you sure this is xylem sap and not phloem sap?
I know one person mentioned tasting the sap to see if it is sweet, but is
the sugar concentration high enough to taste? Old friends of mine
regularly tap sugar maples in the early spring, but I'm not sure that the
sap is sweet until they boil it down into syrup (40 gallons of sap makes
about 1 gallon of syrup). I do know that this phloem sap is very dilute
and will freeze on cold days in the collecting buckets.
Just a thought from a non-expert.
Guy Farish
Biology Department
Adams State College
Alamosa, CO 81102
(719) 587-7969 FAX (719) 587-7242
