when to tap

[riley04]

My title may be a little misleading. I was more curious that if someone tapped a tree too early you risk the tap plugging, no flow, bad production, etc. But what if you tap a little too late. Do you have the same issues? Are you only hurting the amount of sap you'll harvest? I guess ideally you want cold nights (below freezing) and slightly warmer days (just above freezing). Any thoughts on this. I may only have a few trees this year...so just curious what the risk is of too early / too late. Thanks.

[briansickler]

I usually try to hold off until Mar 1 or there abouts. Unless there is an early thaw in Feb with temps near 40 forecasted for more than a day or two. You are better off tapping a little early than late though. You can't get those runs back once there past. Watch the 10 day forecast on weather.com and be ready. That's what I've been doing for a month now. Tapping too late is not the way to go. The quality of the sap generally is best early and slowly goes down hill as the season progresses. If warm days arrive the tap holes will heal and dry up in a hurry. Bacteria forms in the tap hole...that's how the tree heals the wound. Sorry I babbled on so long

Brian

[Maple Ridge]

I have been told that tapping too early you would loose out on the last part of the season and too late you will miss the early runs.
I have also been told that as long as it is below freezing your holes will not start to heal. What causes the hole to start healing is when it becomes warm and bacteria starts to form, and the trees defense mechanism starts and like a wound on us it wants to heal. As we all know bacteria is one of our worst enemy’s. I also agree. Watching the weather is important. On the other hand, I get itchy when the weather starts to changes and just want to hit the woods. I can do my trees in a day so I wait till the forecast is a green light.

[Mike in NY]

keep a notebook /journal. Historically we try to be all tapped in by march 1st. Sometimes you will miss an early run but tap to early and you may miss the late runs. this new check valve may change my view on early tapping.

[Russell Lampron]

I am using all check valves this season and I am going to start tapping this weekend. I don't think the sap will run for a couple of weeks though. I will wait until the sap starts to run before I tap the buckets.