First Timer

[Indiana-Jones]

Today I received my order from Sugarbush supply and rushed home and tapped my first tree. Yeehaw!!

I bought 40 taps of 4 different styles so I can compare and learn what I like.

I'm going to use mostly the blue bags, comparing 5/16 tree saver taps and 7/16 standard. I have some of the plastic taps and tubing as well as the standard tap with a hook for buckets, so I can brainstorm me up some ideas.

I tapped 4 trees tonight. Saving some of the fun for tomorrow more family will come out to help.

The weatherman just said 60 degrees mid to end of next week??

[Bemis]

I can barely contain myself! :) Washing buckets tonight and tapping tomorrow. The warm up will hopefully be short lived, but I'd plan on dispatching of your sap quickly at that temperature. It'll go bad pretty quickly.

[christopherh]

Congrads Indiana! Those folks up at Sugarbush supply are awesome! I've bought alot of stuff from them.

[Indiana-Jones]

This weekend, I'm going to work out all of the kinks and maybe have a boil on Sunday.
I wish that I had marked some trees last fall. I'm pretty good picking them out with out leaves, there are a couple that when you stand back and look, they are sugar maples. but when you get up close some of the bark looks a bit different. There are plenty that I'm sure of.



Good luck with the buckets.

[Indiana-Jones]

Congrads Indiana! Those folks up at Sugarbush supply are awesome! I've bought alot of stuff from them.

Yes, they were great. Very helpful, we talked for 30 minutes and got alot of my questions answered. Stuff that I thought that I understood by reading here, but just wasn't 100% sure.

They have a gently used 1/2 pint evaporator for a good price.

[Ausable]

This weekend, I'm going to work out all of the kinks and maybe have a boil on Sunday.
I wish that I had marked some trees last fall. I'm pretty good picking them out with out leaves, there are a couple that when you stand back and look, they are sugar maples. but when you get up close some of the bark looks a bit different. There are plenty that I'm sure of.



Good luck with the buckets.

Hey Indiana-Jones -- You are not alone there -- This time of year -- When I think I discovered a Maple I somehow missed in the past -- I alway look up and Shazaam -- It is usually a Hemlock --- Mike

[Indiana-Jones]

Hey Indiana-Jones -- You are not alone there -- This time of year -- When I think I discovered a Maple I somehow missed in the past -- I alway look up and Shazaam -- It is usually a Hemlock --- Mike

Boy, I'm lucky there, Hemlock is pretty rare here. I love the smell, makes me think that I'm on vacation.

[Indiana-Jones]

We tapped 12 trees, 8 today and 4 last night. On the first tree yesterday I must have split the hole. More sap is running down the trunk that going in the bag. The tap was a 7/16 hookless. Yesterday it was still very cold, two days ago it was zero here. I think that I learned that if the tree is frozen don't tap it or proceed with extreme caution.
All of that aside here in West Terre Haute the sap is flowing well.

With my unproven boiling ability, 12 is all that we are going to plug for now.

I guess we are off and running.

PS, That split tree?? What does one do? I thought that I should pull the spile and seal the area with pruning stray and drill the other side.??

[Bemis]

Sounds like you on the way to a great first year.

As for the split tap hole, definitely don't spray anything. It'll heal just fine on its own. I've found that a lot of times the leak is because of loose bark in the tap hole. The sap runs behind the bark flake instead of into the spile. Is there a loose flake that can be removed? My old street trees have tons of flaking bark, and I have to get it just right to have a good tap seal. I'd pull the tap and get a good look. If it's really a split, there's not much to do. Depending on the size, you could tap it on the opposite side. I'd leave it be and tap another tree if you've got em.

Good luck with the hard part.

[Indiana-Jones]

Thanks for the information. I would have never thought about leaking behind the bark.

[Indiana-Jones]

Bemis, you fixed the tree. I guess that I didn't drill deep enough and set the tap correctly. It was my very first ever.

Thanks again.

Our 12 taps gave us about 18 gallons today and we boiled it down to a couple of gallons. When at cools I will refrigerate and use it to start off with next time.

Boy we are having fun now!

[Indiana-Jones]

Just drawn my first quart of syrup. We have not "finished" it yet, so it is near syrup. Tastes like cream soda. Beats Log Cabin all to hell.

Using LP gas seems a bit slow to me, I need more BTUs. This weekend I see a wood fired something going on.

[Indiana-Jones]

Sap has slowed a lot. A couple of trees are still going good, but most have dropped to half of what they were producing. I have 15 taps. I was getting near 15 gallons daily. Now that we have had the big warm up I'm getting 10 or 11 gallons.

The weather man is calling for more seasonal temps next week. What do you experienced folks think, will the production go back up if the weather gets cooler?

I'm hoping to make 5 gallons of syrup, do I tap more trees or wait. I have been keeping up boiling. We have made one gallon in a week.

Thanks

[Bemis]

It's definitely not over yet. Colder weather will help a a lot. enjoy.