Poconos

[Maplewalnut]

Wow, it is getting hard to follow everyone with so many posts. Hopefully everyone is having a good season.

So far sap has been running well at times but then seems to shut off for no reason. Collected about 400 gallons yesterday from woods and another 200 gallons from buckets. Still a lot of snow to melt and I still don't think sugar maples have thawed completely. They should let loose this week if forecast stays as is.

RO is running flawlessly but I am having a hard time chasing leaks this year. Loosing about 3 inches from releaser to end of mainline so I evidently still have a few to find. In a few cases I have sap flying in at the saddle but still can't find the leakin the tubing, I am thinking I tapped a couple of hollow trees this year. Lucky me!

[Brian Ryther]

Mike, I bet I have pulled 12 taps this year due to hollow, bad, dead trees. Best thing to do is to pull them. They are hurting the rest of system. A shure way to tell is to put needle nose vice grips on the drop line and see if the sap stops racing at the saddle loop.

[Maplewalnut]

Thanks Brian, good tip.

Picked up about 600 gallons of sap yesterday before the wind picked up and shut everything down even though it was in the mid 40s. Buckets still not doing much. Turned 2% sap into 10-11% in no time and finished 12 gallons of syrup. Had some rain but the snow keeps soaking it up and not getting much melting yet, just a ton of ice.

Looking forward to a good week as temps seem ideal for sap. Going to walk lines tonight and then clean the evaporator and get her ready for the next round.

[Slatebelt*Pa*Tapper]

Brian are you re tapping those tree's for a better source of gold on them?

[Brian Ryther]

I do not re tap. You have to figure that the tree is compromised as it is. Give it a break. Loose a few taps for the bennifit of the whole.

[Slatebelt*Pa*Tapper]

yup heard ya on the no re tap... for me it depends on the tree vs size and if the tree is considered a cull or not. some times i have culls that i know are coming down sooner or later as they just don't fit right in the wood lot and so i might go ahead and give it another Wacke looking for better wood..

[Maplewalnut]

Big day yesterday. Processed almost 1000 gallons of sap yesterday and did not have time to collect all the buckets so there is more out there. Roadsides have finally given in and started to run although not great yet. Vacuum is s different story, finally got all the leaks taken care of and have 23 at releaser and 22 at furthest point in the woods. Not bad for an old dairy pump.

Hard freeze last night and cold temps today should recharge eveything in time for another big run over the weekend. sugar content has dropped a little bit but still making medium amber.

Offered my kids a share crop basis as an incentive. They are making a $1.25 for each finished gallon of syrup. They walked lines and carried buckets until it was dark yesterday after school:0

Already have people calling for B grade, may have to dust off my recipe from last year if they cant wait another couple weeks

[Maplewalnut]

Have brought in over 2500 gallons in the last two days. Pump has been running for three days now without a freezeup but sugar content has dropped like a rock. Roadside trees are even under 2% which is unheard of until the last run of the year and woods trees are about 1.3%. Suppose to get a good freeze tonight tomorrow and tomorrow night, hopefully everything starts again on Tuesday.

Thw work share program for the kids seems to be working, they spent all weekend in the sugarhouse!

[Maplewalnut]

Still chugging along. Sap turned cloudy two days ago but still made a medium amber, it has since cleared up again. Woods sap is holding steady at about 1.5-1.6% and roadsides put out about 3% the last two days after the hard freeze we had. Buckets seem like they onlyrun a few hours each afternoon but vacuum is providing some serious sap. Pulled off another 10 gallons of medium last night. Forecast still looks good 7 days out.

Ag inspection tomorrow.

[Z/MAN]

Mike, I'm jealous of the sap you are getting.It won't warm up here.

[Brian Ryther]

Mike, sounds like you are having great year. How much syrup are you up to? I bet you are liking that ro with the low sugar. What is you grade B recipe? A trip north? Keep up the good work.

[Maplewalnut]

Brian- I think we are up somehwere around 75 gallons so far. Not to bad I dont think. Never quite made it to my 1000 tap goal , just plain ran out of time and the deep snow convinced me to wait until next year to add any more.

Ro is working great and frees up alot of time. Probably like a lot of guys we RO in afternoon, cook at night , wash overnight and rinse before I go to work. Its all ready again when I get home.

B recipe is easy, cook a little, let it sit a little, cook a little more, sit a little more etc.. You get the picture Longer it takes to process the darker it gets!

[Maplewalnut]

I will never be able to figure out sap flow. We are up over 2.5 inches of rain since last night and still raining with a steady SSE wind around 20 mph.... and the sap is pouring into the releaser. I was seeing dumps every 5-6 minutes. Tank overflowed, before I got to it because I was sure there would be little sap today. The bad news is the sugar has dropped to 1.2% ouch. Looks like a long RO day tomorrow before I even light the fire.

[Maplewalnut]

Sap is starting to slow waaaaay down. Have not had a good freeze in a few days. Had state inspection of Friday and everything went well. Switched over to B grade last few draws yesterday, probably need to clean the pans. We made another 40 gallons of syrup this weekend but it looks like a warm up later this week which may shut eveything down. Little worried since Open House is this weekend but we might not have any sap to process.

[Z/MAN]

Sap is starting to slow waaaaay down. Have not had a good freeze in a few days. Had state inspection of Friday and everything went well. Switched over to B grade last few draws yesterday, probably need to clean the pans. We made another 40 gallons of syrup this weekend but it looks like a warm up later this week which may shut eveything down. Little worried since Open House is this weekend but we might not have any sap to process.

Mike, I hope you get a cold night. Open house with no sap sucks. I'll cross my tap lines for you!;)

[Maplewalnut]

Sap ran the hardest yesterday it has run all year. Vacuum taps gave 1GPT sap in a 4 hour period and just about 2.5GPT for a 24 hour period. Sap is up close to 2% for woods and 2.5% for roadside buckets. Running out of barrels, which is always a 'good' problem Forecasted temps have dropped significantly back into the 40's and it looks like we will get sap straight through next week with maybe a small lull tomorrow and Friday.

[Goin'Broke]

Just wondering what the outlook is for the rest of March. Should I pull my taps or hang in a little longer? It seems a little early to pull out.

[Maplewalnut]

Sap is still flowing on vacuum even in 50 degree warmth and not a freeze for a couple nights. Old milk pump is getting tired, its been on for a week straight at 23 inches. Buckets are hanging tough, will probably go out tonight dump whats in them and hope for cleaner sap starting saturday. Saying it may hit low 60's today but then hard freeze tomorrow night and great weather next week. Good news is I will have sap to boil for Open house this weekend.
Even with low sugar I am up to .22 GPT Looks like I am going to have to graduate to 'big boy barrels' next year.

Goin Broke- leave them in and let the trees recharge, you may be surprised next week.

[Goin'Broke]

Thanks for the advice Maplewalnut. Where are you located?

[Maplewalnut]

Havent posted in a while because my real job unexpectedly shipped me off to Brazil for a few days. Came home to find everything caught up. My wife ran the evaporator and my nine year old ran the RO. He's been in training all season, went to Verona seminars with me and is very interested in the whole maple thing. He did great even though he had to get a milk crate to reach the valve panel Sugar has dropped again but they finished almost 20 gallons in three days. Sap looks to be shut down for a few days this weekend which will give us a chance to clean up and look for one last run. Looks to be still dark amber, no mersh yet. Not even sure what the season total is thus far but definitely another year to be thankful for vacuum.

[Z/MAN]

Havent posted in a while because my real job unexpectedly shipped me off to Brazil for a few days. Came home to find everything caught up. My wife ran the evaporator and my nine year old ran the RO. He's been in training all season, went to Verona seminars with me and is very interested in the whole maple thing. He did great even though he had to get a milk crate to reach the valve panel Sugar has dropped again but they finished almost 20 gallons in three days. Sap looks to be shut down for a few days this weekend which will give us a chance to clean up and look for one last run. Looks to be still dark amber, no mersh yet. Not even sure what the season total is thus far but definitely another year to be thankful for vacuum.

Mike, Does that mean you missed your own open house weekend??:cry:

[Maplewalnut]

Paul- not a a chance, left Monday morning! It gets bigger and bigger every year, we had about 200 people both Saturday and Sunday this year. As I am sure you have heard before, most didnt even know you could make syrup in the Poconos .

[Maplewalnut]

Still making syrup but not much to report. Freeze up the last few days has cut down the sugar sand and we are getting a few hours of sap each day since it has gotten up to 36/37 degrees before the sun goes back down. Little warmer today and then potentially a nor-easter for Friday to really stir things up. Tanks all got a good cleaning and sap is still clear. No buds yet so were heading into April looking for another week or more of sap, unlike the past two years when we pulled taps April 1.

[Maplewalnut]

Well, we turned off the pump. After a crazy couple of days with big runs the trees seem to have given up. Sap is barely trickling in now and only one night below freezing in the 7-day forecast. Could make more but I am done. The last 30 gallons have been mersh. Thats enough mersh for me to buy some supplies and still feel like we had a good season. Wood is very low, we are out of barrels, RO is having a hard time with crappy sap and everyone is tired, no make that exhausted. Learned a lot this year and improvements performed better than expected.

All said and done looks like we will be around .38gpt on vacuum and .17 gpt on buckets. Buckets ran better than numbers show but we need to improve our pick up schedule. Bucket patrol was affected by a nasty stomach bug that had some members down and out and some snow storms that prevented access for a day or so during big runs.

Good luck to everyone still at it.

Mike

[Maplewalnut]

Our decision to pull the plug has been validated...peepers started last night!