Tapped January 28th 2011

[buckeye gold]

Thursday I reset my leader half Pint and cleaned gear. Friday January 28th I put out my 60 taps, on buckets. Today I'll move some more wood and clean up my collection barrel and collection gear and start watching the weather.....

Last year I started boiling on January 24th and boiled until February 5th, then all the fury of winter hit and the evaporator sat steam-less for 22 days. When sap did run again it was a 8 day fury and done by march 10th, hoping for better this year.

Someone shoot that dadgum groundhog before he sees his shadow....I think the Pa boys have groundhog duty?

[Buckeye mapler]

I am waiting a while longer yet. Ice storm moving in and temps in the day are still barely above freezing. Plus I got a lot left to do!

[buckeye gold]

As I posted I tapped last Friday. I had a small sap run Saturday and Sunday. I boiled today and made about three quarts. It was good to just fire up and see how things ran. However, while I was working on testing a Over fire blower I was rigging I stuck my finger in the motor vains and promptly tore a chuck out of my left index finger. So now I'm all wrapped up.

The good news is what little sap I collected is good quality for early, it tested between 2.5 and 3% sugar. Last year I was thrilled with 2%...most was 1-1.5%. I hope this holds. Things will hopefully pop soon here in southern Ohio.

[Buckeye mapler]

Always nice to sweetened the pans for sure. I am waiting on a part for my welder to come in the mail. I have some welding to do for the updates this year and everything rides on this part. So below norm temps are okay for me for now. Once I am all done, well bring it on. I guess a couple small runs at first would be nice so I can test the new set-up and make changes without it putting me behind. If time allows I will probably runs some water through to test everything. You have made a few quarts more than me so far, so that is not a bad thing! :D

[Lazarus]

Uggghhhh. I tapped about 100 a week ago Sunday. And so for 10 days I have collected ..... (drumroll please) ..... about 20 gallons of sap.

My yard trees with 20 taps account for 95% of that. Nearly nada from the woods. Not even enough to think about firing up my new 2x6. I have 50 more taps to set out out, but I'm really starting to wonder if I went too big on the new evap.

Oh, that, and the main support post in my 140 year old mortise and tenon barn snapped on Saturday, so we are now looking all parallelogram-ey, braced up with jackposts and hoping the ice doesn't finish it off before we can figure out who can fix it, whether insurance will help, and whether we can afford it if it won't. And I just ran the new stack out the roof. It's been a banner week.

-Lazarus

______________________
Thomas Ireland Smith Farm
Itty bitty cottage producer
150 taps and growing, mostly silvers
GBM 2x6

[Monster Maples]

Hopefully things get better for you soon. Still too early for me to tap. And the long range forecast doesn't look any better either. I would like to tap the 12th and 13th. But, the weather will dictate that date. It is looking more and more like a repeat of last year. We shall see.

[WoodButcher]

Still too early for me to tap. And the long range forecast doesn't look any better either. I would like to tap the 12th and 13th. But, the weather will dictate that date. .

same here . . ive never heard of anyone tapping before valentines day
around my parts . hole might seal prematurely in the middle of the season. i like my dark amber too much to risk that!
but to each his own . last year i tapped about the first of march i think . same as 2009.
plus i like procrastinating :mrgreen:

[buckeye gold]

I understand woodbutcher, but I am approximately 200 miles south of you and last year our run was over by March 10th. We had temps in the 30s all day yesterday and temps up to 45 last night. I had a big run last night, but high winds blew things around. The worst being my temporary shelter moved and tore down my stack. With temps plummeting and too much work needed to fix stack ....:cry::cry: I dumped 100 gallons of sap. Mainly because some had got contaminated with rain water and if I couldn't boil right away I did not want it sitting in storage and becoming a huge chunk of ice. That is a significant run for this small timer.

I looked at the post you linked from building your arch and pan. I run a Leader Half Pint with 60 taps. Here is a thought for you. I added an over fire blower to the half pint and man it makes a huge difference. I ran this set up for the first time Monday and boiled approximately 8 - 9 gallons per hour. Last year this same unit would only do 4-6 gph, and my wood wasn't even as good, Monday. My sap in my pan was dancing and rolling all the time. I will have to watch and not get her too hot though. For now I'm sold on the blower.

[WoodButcher]

sorry, i forget im in the snowbelt sometimes! :mrgreen:

100 gallons of nature's tears dumped? the gods will be mourning ....:(

[Buckeye mapler]

Yes, definitely not ready to tap and even with the urge to get going, I am just gonna sit it out for a bit and see

[christopherh]

10 day forecast looks a bit chilly for awhile. I think last year I tapped at the very end of Feb. Plenty to do in the sugarhouse still.

[WoodButcher]

Ya Chris... I'm with you. And right next to ya! Still need to finish my sap trailer. Warm up next Monday to 40 , but its only for a day or two then back down to days with highs still 25 or so..
last year I tapped last week in February too.

[jluckay]

i've been tracking thru accutrack weather, it forcastes 10 days then gives you yearlly averages after that. they have been better than most in the past. they are predicting perfect conditions starting next week, for whatever its worth! i'am planning on setting a few taps on sunday & seeing what happenes. kind of reminds me of last year with all this snowpack.


80 taps
2x4 homemade flatpan/forced-air

[buckeye gold]

We had a couple of days of milder weather for Saturday through yesterday. I had a little sap run and boiled the two days worth. It yielded right at 1 gallon of syrup. I'll take every little bit. Next week should be rocking for us southern Ohio boys. Good luck in the great white north of Ohio.

[WoodButcher]

looks like maybe wednesday morning is the day for me... well see. though i am getting everything ready in case sunday is the day . .. two weeks early for me . LY i tapped late march 1st.

i read a study from the university of vermont .
they had 60 trees, divided into 3 groups of 20 trees.
one tapped early in the season, one in the middle and one at the end ..
the synopsis of the study and how its applicable to us in ohio was that whether you tap in mid february or end of feb/beginning of march , the end sap yield was very similar .

check out the article... pretty neat . they also have info for guys running a vacuum .
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/tapping.pdf

[buckeye gold]

WoodButcher,
I read that study last year, I believe, and re-read it the other day. I found it interesting as well. I did notice some trees slowing up last year, but I have approximately 150 sugar maples and probably another 50-75 reds on my property and I've tapped maybe 35-40 of them. Many of my trees are 24" plus trees, too. So if any start drying up I'll pull the taps and tap a new tree. It's a pretty nice luxury.

Actually I've tried to avoid tapping my finest trees, it's hard to drill a hole in a veneer log. My wife's family are loggers and several of my friends are timber businessmen, they all cringe when I talk of tapping. Hard maple has brought premium money here for a few years. There are very few woods been sugared. They swear the tapped trees have stained lumber. When I look at a tree I know is worth $500.00 to $1,000.00 dollars I really am hesitant to start drilling on it.

Starting Sunday our weather forecast says in the 40s and up to 50 by Wednesday....looks like the flood gates are about to open.

[christopherh]

Looks like Sunday and Monday for me. Forecast for Tues and Wed look pretty good. Very interesting study!

[Monster Maples]

[QUOTE=buckeye gold;131012
Actually I've tried to avoid tapping my finest trees, it's hard to drill a hole in a veneer log. My wife's family are loggers and several of my friends are timber businessmen, they all cringe when I talk of tapping. Hard maple has brought premium money here for a few years. There are very few woods been sugared. They swear the tapped trees have stained lumber. When I look at a tree I know is worth $500.00 to $1,000.00 dollars I really am hesitant to start drilling on it.
[/QUOTE]

Have you seen how much some of the lumber goes for from trees that have been tapped? I know a year ago or two it was bringing more than wood from trees that had not been tapped. People wanted the stained wood for flooring and such. I thought it was interesting. To me, if its a maple it gets tapped:) But, when you have more than you need I can see your point. Good luck this year, it is gonna be a good one!!!!

[MFarmall]

What is the weatherman saying for temps in southern Ohio for mid week till the 20th? I'm in central Ohio and one says temps be good through next wed. maybe Thursday in my area. Next one saying lows starting Wed. night till 20th be from mid 30's to low 40's. Still looks like have good days till at least Wed.
Mel

[buckeye gold]

According to intellicast it will be perfect weather through the twentieth. Here's a link....put in you zip code. I'm down in Ross County, good luck sugaring.

http://www.intellicast.com/Local/Weather.aspx?location=USOH0046

[MFarmall]

Buckeye, are you above or below Chillicothe? I am in NE Pickaway Co.
Looks like a lot of different weather forecasts going around, think see what get this coming week and be glad for what get.
Mel

[WoodButcher]

it shows a high tomorrow of 33 for me, way too cold out there, not enough sun either to thaw em out.
i know most of the chatter in the thread is from maplers in southern ohio , and me being in Chardon up north is like being in canada compared to the south .

even though i have the itch ,and the itch is definitely earlier this year :D, a couple things are making me wait till wednesday .

1. if you cut a tree in half right now, i bet ya its still frozen inside . with bone chilling winds for today and tomorrow with barely any sun and snow storms , those rock maples will be like ice cubes. plus i like to see a little melt around the bases of the trees too . its nice rain will be in the forecast on wednesday as well.

2. im running buckets, not tubing. tubing lines are a closed air system , meaning no air gets inside that tap to dry out the drilled hole prematurely . thus , allowing tubing installers to tap a week or so earlier.
when you got that 7/16" spile tapped in there with wind chills around 20-25 (even if actual temp is above freezing), it may impact the hole quite a bit.

i guess people are loving that a 'warm up' is going to happen on a sunday , when they have all day to do stuff.
but im going to spend my day cleaning buckets, and setting up the sap trailer. ill tap by wednesday morning for sure.

will it even make a difference between sunday and wednesday? maybe.. maybe not . but for me its not worth the hole drying out or cracking the sapwood tapping a spile in... i dont wanna chance being able to squeeze out that last gallon or two of Dark Amber i love so much ! ;)

but to each his own ... thats what makes it so fun .

[buckeye gold]

MFARMAL,

I'm west of Chillicothe, around Bainbridge.

I spent a lot days on a Super M growing up on the farm.

I expect a run to start today, our low was 30 last night and it's 44 right now. It's gonna pop i think.

[MFarmall]

Buckeye, got finished tapping around 4 this afternoon. Now just hope it gets below 32 tonight, 34 right now. Sap was trying pretty good to run while tapping. Might get to fire up tomorrow evening. Hope weather man is wrong for next week, seeing warm temps for lows middle of week to next weekend.
Bainbridge still have the little dental museum?
Mel

[Doc]

Went to church and as I was sitting there I could hear every "potential" drop of sap in the bucket. After church the family wanted of course to go out to eat so sitting there...more potential drops I could hear. Of course over at my sister's house my niece was cutting my son's hair. I was told that I was looking a bit "shaggy". More drops....
Finally, I couldn't take anymore!!! I raced home and began tapping mid afternoon. I put in about 3/4 of what I plan for this year. Some holes were dripping pretty good while others were dry as a bone.
Now I sit quietly. My feet up, warmed by a good fire with my furry helper contently laying by my side after an afternoon in the sugarbush, I listen closely. I hear now both the "potential" and "for real" tapping into the buckets.
Everyone...Enjoy the season!!! May in now begin. :)

[buckeye gold]

MFarmall,

Yes the Dental Museum is still here. I was a little disappointed in the overnight run this morning, but I think today may have been better. I boiled anyway and made a little over 2.5 quarts. I had more sap, but my wife and daughter were moving the dog kennel and needed help. So I drew off what I had and flooded the pan with the rest and let the fire burn out. I just checked and it steamed down to an Inch of sap from 2.5 inches, so i got a nice sweet pan to start tomorrow with. I hope this weather doesn't mess us up....it's looks to be on the warm side. Oh well it surely will cool and then come back. If my taps start slowing I'll pull them and move to new trees. I counted 183 maples I've never tapped :lol:...Good luck sugaring. I hope by tomarrow you tanks are full.

[buckeye gold]

MFarmall,

Yes the Dental Museum is still here. I was a little disappointed in the overnight run this morning, but I think today may have been better. I boiled anyway and made a little over 2.5 quarts. I had more sap, but my wife and daughter were moving the dog kennel and needed help. So I drew off what I had and flooded the pan with the rest and let the fire burn out. I just checked and it steamed down to an Inch of sap from 2.5 inches, so I got a nice sweet pan to start tomorrow with. I hope this weather doesn't mess us up....it's looks to be on the warm side. Oh well it surely will cool and then come back. If my taps start slowing I'll pull them and move to new trees. I counted 183 maples I've never tapped :lol:...Good luck sugaring. I hope by tomarrow you tanks are full.