Rubber tapping is the collection of sap from rubber trees, which contains a high concentration of latex used to make rubber. The process involves making cuts in the tree’s bark to collect the sap, allowing the tree to continue growing. Rubber tree plantations are considered less harmful to the environment and can be productive for years. While machinery is used on larger plantations, the process remains the basis for natural rubber production.
Rubber tapping is the collection of sap from rubber trees, especially from a species native to South America, Hevea brasiliensis. Rubber tree sap contains a very high concentration of latex which is used to make rubber. Rubber tapping is still done in much the same way for centuries. Most of the world’s natural rubber production comes from Southeast Asia, from plantations of trees descended from those originally transplanted from the rainforests of South America.
The rubber tree produces a milky white sap, rich in latex, which forms raw gum when it coagulates. The sap is collected from the trees in a way that allows the tree to continue growing, making rubber a renewable resource. Rubber tree plantations are also considered to be less harmful to the environment than other types of agricultural enterprises in rainforests. Rubber trees are also home to many types of birds and coexist with other plants and trees, partially incorporating themselves into the ecosystem rather than totally displacing it.
Workers on rubber tree plantations use a special knife to cut a thin strip from the rubber tree’s outer bark such that it leans downward at about a 45-degree angle as it turns about halfway up the trunk. This cut causes the tree to exude the latex-rich sap and also acts as a channel for it to flow down where a cup, bag, or other container is placed to collect the sap. The cuts are made every night or in the early morning hours before sunrise which increases the yield of each cut as the tree begins to heal the wound rapidly. The flow of lymph typically tapers off and ceases before the end of the day.
The following day, a cut is made along the same line as the previous day’s cut. This maximizes the yield and service life of a particular tree. After one side of a tree has been used to collect rubber sap for a certain amount of time, that side of the tree is allowed to heal and the other side of the tree is used. By alternating areas of the trunk on opposite sides of the tree, called panels, a skilled rubber tapper can keep a particular tree productive for years at a time.
While much rubber tapping is still done in this primitive and labor-intensive way, especially on small plantations owned by families or individuals, on many larger plantations, the rubber tapping process depends much more on machinery and technology to reduce the work and increase production. However, the idea behind rubber tapping hasn’t changed. It continues to be the basis for the production of all natural rubber, which is still in high demand worldwide, even with the invention of synthetic rubber compounds and other alternatives.
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