Thinking of tapping

[JinCT]

Looking at a few 15 day forecasts. With the 9 to 5er and all I am wondering if the maple tree will produce less sap (or if the steelers will lose the super bowl) if I tap my huge sugarbush of five trees this afternoon.

Thanks

John

[Ausable]

John -- If it makes You feel good about yourself -- I say go for it -- I've been thinking along the same line myself -- Had a couple days here above freezing and getting the itch -- might not be the right thing for me to do -- but - just gotta tap a few --- Mike

[lafite]

tapped one tree to measure sugar content. 2.5% and she was dripping pretty good!

next week is when I connect all the drop lines and hope for the best. It's been a bitch getting to the trees, my snowshoes are supposed to be here on tuesday!

[markct]

i put in 180 taps today, the 15 day forecast looks good starting next sunday so i wanted to start getting them in so im not rushing around like a made man putting in 600 taps the day before the first run. most of the tapholes were just moist but a few did drip a little, with them on 15 in vac they dribbled a bit into the manifold on my bulk tank all day, got maybe 10 to 15 gal total. plan to tap more thru the week in the afternoons and then maybe finish up next saturday

[Tanta K]

We fake tappped (as I call it) one tree on Friday for the school kids. It was FROZEN! Will put in 29 more taps end of this week or early next week if the weather warms as they say it is going to. I'm not sure how much syrup I'll make this year, we are short staffed but I'll make sure the kids know where the good stuff comes from!

Kirsten
Brooksvale Park Educator

[dhbiker1]

Looking ahead, I think I will try to tap in Salem this Friday/Sat (2/11 - 2/12) provided I can get the vacuum pump into the woods and tank/releaser set up by then.

[markct]

off my 180 taps on vac i have so far gotten about 50 or 60 gal of sap, that was over yesterday and today, woulda likely been better if i hadnt forgotten and left the vac vent valve on the zero tank open today! closed it about 4 pm when i noticed there was no vac on the tank, and it started trickling in pretty steady even when i last checked it around 8pm was still running. gota get the other 400 or so taps in by the weekend as it looks like a warm up is coming!

[dhbiker1]

I am starting to wish I would have been ready a few days ago. If I was tapped, I would already have the first bit on the ground and now be collecting to boil. The past few days have been about 10 degrees warmer at my house than what weather.com and the local stations have had listed for highs. I got home yesterday afternoon and it was 45 degF. When I get home later I will get the vac pump in place and a few other odds and ends so I am ready to drill come friday. I sure hope the Bender releaser is running good this year.

[JinCT]

:emb:

My daughter and I did tap two trees on Sunday. Yes. But, I do believe the first tree we picked to tap was an oak!:l



The season can only get better!:)

John

[Mike Van]

dhbiker - I wouldn't be too worried about missing a few hours of run this year. A few hours above freezing isn't going to trigger any big run, especially as long & cold as this winter has been. And now, we're back in the deep freeze again. I'm shooting for sat/sun to tap, and I'm just guessing we're going to have a long, long, season. Running out of good dry wood could well be a problem for some this year.

[lafite]

I went out this morning to cut in some drop lines....that lasted for 30 minutes :o

It helps to feel your hands while doing it!

[batsofbedlam]

Put in 150 taps this morning. It's really easy with snowshoes and the hard crust. I'm on my way back out to do another 200 this afternoon. I hope it stays cold so the snow crust doesn't soften. Another 1100 by Monday.

[Mike Van]

I was able to walk on the crust without going through, 5F after some wet snow really helps. I shovelled the last roof today that I was worried about, tomorrow hopefully I'll be doing some syrup related thing in preperation for the weekend. Speaking of which, I don't think it'll be a "I'm drowing in sap" time. Just too cold again, a few hours above freezing is not going to make many run.

[lafite]

the forecast looks great for this weekend into next week. Assuming all is what they say, I should be boiling by Tuesday!

[DaveB]

I'll be interested in how you guys make out. The forecast for me still looks too cold but I'm going to put in a couple hundred this weekend because a couple of days look good next week. I like to stagger things a bit.

Now I just have to dig out my sugar house. Parts of my sugar bushes have 3-4' of snow still and chunk of my lines are under snow!

Dave