Sap harvesting.

clementine

Ol?,

Out and about today and actually remembered the camera so I took a piccy of this.(see attachment)

Seen it a lot in this region (central Portugal) on hundreds of trees.

I was assuming that they harvest the sap to add to shampoos or detergents for the aroma.

Can anyone confirm this or are there other reasons?

Cheers, nick.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Sean Freeman

G'day mate, yep they're harvesting the gum from the trees, they do it in China and the Phillipines too. Not just for soaps, years gone by was used in chewing gum..mabe still is not sure. Anyway here's a PDF that has a very unusual use or at least one I didn't know about

White%20Residue%20(26Jan05).pdf

Basically is the low labour costs in Portugal that make it so profitable for companies envovled..got to go to work see ya

clementine

Tree fluids
Ol?,

Picked this little bit of info up, kinda confirms the PDF Sean which was a bit heavy going fir me.

The third major process includes the harvesting of resin and latex from the inner bark and oeloresins and syrup from the sapwood. Resin is found especially in the pine. It oozes out of bark wounds to protect the tree from infection. To commercially obtain resin, the worker must wound the tree by peeling off a thin layer of the bark or piercing it.

Most resins thicken and harden when exposed to the air, but some trees produce liquid resins or oleoresins, such as turpentine from conifers. Severe wounds are made into one side of the tree wood to harvest turpentine. The turpentine runs down the wound and is collected and hauled to storage. Turpentine is distilled into turpentine oil with a colophony or rosin residue.

And like you say, labour is cheap here still. I'm in direct competition now trying to set up my new business here.

Cheers,

Nick.

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Meddle not in the affairs of dragons - for you are crunchy and taste of chicken!

Eric Frei

Some interesting links for you.

http://www.pfaf.org/database/search_...?K%5B%5D=Resin

http://www.fao.org/docrep/V6460E/v6460e05.htm

http://www.fao.org/docrep/V5350e/V5350e10.htm

http://www.somaluna.com/product.asp?p=668

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clementine

Thanks Eric

Too Much to digest in one go, but suggests that Portugal is on the decline as a producer/harvester of sap. Maybe due to the influx of investment from overseas buyers of property and the increase in global tourism driving up labour costs, more money about generally for the locals. Still are lots of poor people here though, same everywhere you go I suppose.
Ya got ya poor people there right?

Cheers,

Nick.

__________________
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons - for you are crunchy and taste of chicken!