best price on maple syrup spouts?

[alivia]

So far, the best price I've found is from Lehman's at $1.95 apiece if I buy 12 or more (which we'd planned to do anyway). But then there's shipping. Anyone know of a place I could do better? Or maybe a chain store I could buy locally (TSC, Lowes, anything but WalMart )? We're in Indiana...not traditional "maple syrup country," so they're a little harder to find than if we were in say, Vermont.

OR.....are you done with yours? you could pm me, i could buy them? (if that's allowed on here)

[kimmom]

I bought some at a small local store here for .75 cents for the plastic ones and $1.75 for the metal spouts with bucket hooks attached. I have been looking for a good deal on bulk ones. I found some on ebay that seemed like a good price! This is on my to do list before winter is all done!! We have ALOT of maple trees on our land!

[crissei]

We are always broke, so we just make do with a bit of pipe and a nail.

[alivia]

crissei, I'm trying to picture how you rigged them up. I decided $2 a pop + shipping was too much, so I cut lots of elderberry limbs to size today to make the spouts. I've been saving old milk jugs to collect and now I'm trying to figure out exactly how I'm going to put it all together so it all stays put on the tree.

[gmvh]

Staghorn sumac! Cut a piece and the pith will come out without much effort. Shape it and off you go. Staghorn grows all over Indiana and is what was traditionally used in this area for syrup trees, to my understanding. Have fun!

[crissei]

The pipes are about 4-5 inches long, (maybe 1/2" width?) At one end we cut off the 'top' half of the pipe. That is the part that goes into the tree. Then we drive a nail underneath the pipe, tie on a bit of wire and hang a milk jug from it.
I don't know if this would work on a grand scale or not. We have only a few maples and our temps flutuate too much to get a long run. HTH!