What kind of season do you expect?

[Buckeye mapler]

I know we went without rain for quite a bit this year around here. The leaves left the trees quicker and weren't very colorful either. I am really expecting subpar sugar levels. Hope I am wrong but things don't add up otherwise. The cold weather was not really a sudden thing, more of a gradual transition, hopefully the transition back to spring will be likewise. Any factors you feell may influence your season and what area are you from. Southwest Ohio here (Wilmington, OH).

[Thiems sugarshack]

I let you know in late april
Who know what it is going to be like 2009 was a record year and then look how bad it was in 2010 I dont belive it could get and worse

[BryanEx]

My best description would be "text book". This seems to be the start of the most normal winter I've seen in years. Good-n-cold mid November, decent snow by mid December, two more months of shoveling and shivering before maple season... perfect! 6 weeks of consistent sap runs with good sugar content are my prediction locally.

[Buffalo Creek Sugar Camp]

Its all going to depend now on how it warms up during the season. Couldn't get much worse then last year. (I hope!)

[shane hickey]

In mid Michigan we only had 1 day of snow, At this rate there won't be much moisture in the ground for next spring. Last year was a very short season for Michigan. I hope we all have a great season this year, good luck everyone.

[maplehound]

For Myself I am hoping (kind of) for a bad year. :) Since I won't be making this year. I have surgery for a new hip schedualed for 1/25 and I won't be able to make because of that. I am still not sure what the following year will bring since My right hand man and father probably won't be up to helping me much and I have had to file for disability (2 new knees, double back fusion and now a new hip) the son of the farmer that owns my woods has expressed intrest in making syrup so I might have to sell out to him. :( Only time will tell!!!! Keep me in your prayers and I will hope that the rest of you have a great year.

[maple flats]

Best ever!!! I'm adding vac and taps. Now the weather can continue as it has locally. High fall moisture, cold since mid Nov, good snow cover since then. But, the ground is not frozen except where the snow was cleared. We had some ground freeze but the snow cover brought it back out of the ground. If this snow cover lasts I will start the season with not frost in the ground.
Maplehound, our prayers are with you.

[whalems]

I am hoping for the best season I have seen. I am going from a 2x4 flat pan on propane to a 4x12 wood fired and going from 120 taps to 600 or so.:o

[red maples]

this topic always comes up!!! From reading what everyone else has to say it seems no matter what happens during the year it always depends on the weather in the spring!!! but I know I am going to have an outstanding year!!! :)

[DrTimPerkins]

The ever reliable Magic 8 Ball says:

"Try again later." I'd suggest late-April :)

[BryanEx]

The ever reliable Magic 8 Ball says:
LOL... I consult the Magic 8 Ball for everything except my mortgage renewal.

[Ausable]

Well - As far as Sap - 2011 has to be better than 2010 - as 2010 was the worst sap year ever for me. But -- if I can still slide around in the snow and mud and make maple ---- it is still a great year and good to be alive --- Mike

[Thad Blaisdell]

I predict that I will do twice as good as last year. (I have twice as many taps)

[newman_maple]

2009 was bad for sugar content, but good in volume. 2010 for me was good on content and slightly less in volume, but my biggest year. I expect low sugar content and will keep my fingers crossed....

[3rdgen.maple]

I predict that I will do twice as good as last year. (I have twice as many taps)

Thats funny right there. I more than doubled my taps last year and got half my normal crop. I went into last year thinking the same thing. I predict the same year as the last, why? Well because so far the two summers, fall and winter are just about identical here. If I do better Im happy if I do worse I quit, maybe.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Thats funny right there. I more than doubled my taps last year and got half my normal crop. I went into last year thinking the same thing. I predict the same year as the last, why? Well because so far the two summers, fall and winter are just about identical here. If I do better Im happy if I do worse I quit, maybe.


My question would be do you have any type of vacuum? If you didnt last year that is why you didnt make a lot of syrup. I am running at 27.5 inches....... and that should be steady through this season as well.

[3rdgen.maple]

Thad hope you didnt take that wrong I was just laughing to myself cause I was thinking the same thing last year but you are correct I ran all gravity last year hence the reason the poor year was still poor. I look at it this way though. I expected a better season cause I had more taps out period, no matter if it was vac or gravity. Now if I was running vac prior to last season and doubled taps the outcome would have been the same, alot more work for alot less sap than I would have expected. Mother nature is to blame. Now if I switched from all gravity to vac then I would have made more syrup but I was fighting time and money. I will have same tap count this year but some will be on vac.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Nope I understood it exactly as it was meant. I think I heard somewhere that the magic number on vacuum last year was 23 inches (may have been 21). If you had less than that it didnt run at all. Mine ran all day every day except for the one weekend that it semi-froze. It ran between 200-300 gallons of sap per hour day and night. That was off 4900 taps.

[Randy Brutkoski]

In my area last year if you didnt have vacuum your season was pretty much done before it started. I will never set up another bush without vacuum, ecspecially with the investment with just setting up the woods with tubing and fittings. It pays for itself almost instantly.