March Journal

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Sugar Month is here. I like to be tapped in by about the 10th so with my expansions and the fact I don't move as fast as some of you younger fellows (and gals) I'll start drilling this afternoon. Hope to have 4500 in and leak patrol well underway before any major deluge. We expect below zero temps again here in the next couple of days so should have a bit of time.

[Thad Blaisdell]

All tapped here... still plenty to do though. Looks like this weekend it may run, We shall see.

[Rhino]

Extended forecast for us is still cold through the 13th. Our season is usually from March 14th to around April 15th. Might be able to hold off the start of tapping until the 12th and end on the 17th. Hopefully no big sap droughts in between then, let it start and just keep going!!! Some years when we tapped the first week in March, the taps sat for 2 weeks and did nothing. This year the taps might be fresh when the sap hits.

[Tweegs]

All tapped here. 150 gallons of sap in the holding tank, should have had a fair run today. Tomorrow will be our first boil.

Temps are going to be spotty over the next week. Probably going to be dry tomorrow and Thursday but pick up again after that.

[BoarsNest]

It does look spotty over the next week and a half, but the taps are in and we are waiting for a good run. I will be checking the buckets tomorrow, hopefully what is there isn't frozen.

[peacemaker]

march came in like a lion here a fed ex driver shot out of a blind driveway in front of me today and may have totaled my sap hauler

[Yellzee]

supposed to get above freezing here for Friday thru Sunday.. then next week shows a few warm days so maybe things are about to start.

Almost done running new laterals.. as always about 1/2 roll of tubing short of my needs. Now to get all the t's put in and start tapping hopefully friday.

Think I'm closer to 120 taps based on rough guesstimate.

Anyone written a program yet where you can enter your map of trees and elevation and it calculates the best route for the pipeline? Sure spent alot of time wandering around and staring at trees to figure out where to run.

[Dill]

march came in like a lion here a fed ex driver shot out of a blind driveway in front of me today and may have totaled my sap hauler

Get a good rental. Fed ex should be paying for it after all.

[The Birdman]

Reading this post makes me want to go north. You are just now tapping in and Its about time for use to start pulling taps. The soft maple/ silver maple are in bloom. hope to stretch it another week hope the weather holds. Good luck. Pat

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

march came in like a lion here a fed ex driver shot out of a blind driveway in front of me today and may have totaled my sap hauler

Jeez Peace! You ain't got no sugar luck at all this year. Hope you have something to use in time.

[peacemaker]

Jeez Peace! You ain't got no sugar luck at all this year. Hope you have something to use in time.

tell me about it my hopes is that i am getting rid of all the bad jewjew before the sap really starts to flow ... the insurance company says that in VT they have to provide me with a truck if thats what i need
i do feel bad for the guy cause he will lose his job

[red maples]

Hope all works out Peace!!!

just waitin for sap here in seacoast NH. weather has been all over the place, rain, snow, sleet, frezzing rain...cold justa little warm, everything except for good sap weather:(...

Tapped in the warm up of feb 15 got 150 gallons boiled that off and haven't boiled since. can't wait to really get going here!! should get some sap today then wicked cold again the next 2 days then a nice stretch of 40's for over the weekend!!! fingers are crossed for big sap !!!!

[TapME]

march came in like a lion here a fed ex driver shot out of a blind driveway in front of me today and may have totaled my sap hauler

Did you upset the MAPLE GODDESS Peace. Sure looks like it. No one is hurt so all is good. Just keep on moving forward.

[Yellzee]

Reading this post makes me want to go north. You are just now tapping in and Its about time for use to start pulling taps. The soft maple/ silver maple are in bloom. hope to stretch it another week hope the weather holds. Good luck. Pat

Makes me want to head south... so I would already have boiled and it would be getting warm!

[waysidemaple]

Only on and a half days left till spring break....I love getting asked what I plan to do over break and saying I'll be in my sugar house followed by the weird look and then having to explain my whole maple addiction. Dad just called said sap was flowing early today and he made it to the tank just in time to empty it before it flowed over. Sap will be waiting for me on Friday afternoon!!

[marc]

I got my new wf mason 2x8 today, I am as happy and scared as a new dad!! Now to get it bricked, looks like a chore when I look at the pallet of bricks. Bill is a great guy to talk to. He treated me real good. If it boils like as good as it looks like it should I will be very happy, i'll post my results. Tapping on Saturday, everything is going to have to be done all at once and i've only got two hands:o Pressure builds character.

[BoarsNest]

Checked my buckets today and anything in the woods is still pretty dry, the trees in the sun were running a little. Out of 83 buckets I probably had sap in 10-15 and at most 3 inches of frozen sap in a few. What I can't figure out is what my helpers were thinking with the two buckets that weren't connected with tubing to the trees. Why did they carry the bucket to the tree and not tap the tree?:o Good thing I didn't miss a big run or someone wouldn't be getting fresh syrup this year.;)

[jrthe3]

well my new releaser showed up today and yes it is a BHR after an hour on the phone with leader trying to figure out where it was cause it almost been a week sense i ordered it the ups guys shows up and there it was

[3rdgen.maple]

Checked my buckets today and anything in the woods is still pretty dry, the trees in the sun were running a little. Out of 83 buckets I probably had sap in 10-15 and at most 3 inches of frozen sap in a few. What I can't figure out is what my helpers were thinking with the two buckets that weren't connected with tubing to the trees. Why did they carry the bucket to the tree and not tap the tree?:o Good thing I didn't miss a big run or someone wouldn't be getting fresh syrup this year.;)

Sounds familiar. I had a tapping crew (family tradition) tap my bucket trees sunday. They only put out 236. I walked the woods sunday night and got some pretty good chuckles. Found 2 oak trees tapped, 5 taps with no buckets, 4 taps and buckets laying on the ground that they didnt tap in the hole, Hard to find good free help nowdays lol.

[brookledge]

Wow
I've been away from the trader for a while. Seems like so many things to do and no time to do it. Anyways I'm like most others waiting for sap. Hope everybody is in good shape.
Keith

[Farmboy]

I haven't been on the trader is a little while either. So much going on. I have about 150 taps, 32 buckets and about 120 taps on tubing. Collected 500 gallons this week and boiled 400 of it. I still haven't made syrup yet but I'm close and the next time I boil I will make some. The whole next week looks good except tommorow. This years looking better than last year by far. Bring on the BIGSAP!

[sapman]

Yesterday while tapping I noticed some unfamiliar tracks in the snow. They kind of reminded me of the shape of a sugar maple leaf! Well, sort of, anyway. My first thought was fischer, since I'm not familiar with them. Saw images online and looks similar to front paw tracks, maybe.

[ennismaple]

A fisher's tracks will look similar to a cat's. Could it have been wild turkey tracks?

Check out this link: http://www.pbase.com/mwalker427/tracks&page=all

[3rdgen.maple]

Sapman we have fishers all over around us. I trap for them at my house and amazed at how well they hide from humans yet I limit out every year on them. Mean and nasty big as a beagle. long claws and big sharp teeth. food of choice porcupine. They will climb the backside of a tree and drop down on the porcupine and attack them till death.

[brookledge]

In Mass. we had our annual maple kick-off ceremony. The Commisioner of ag was there. Our gov. is in Isreal. It was a good day although a little cold. There was also a good turn out
Keith

[3fires]

I collected 5 gallons Thursday and another 25 today. WooHoo!

That's a record for me.:lol:

It's pooring rain and near freezing.

[Kev]

I actually counted the taps I have out yesterday :cry: out of 120 buckets(inherited 100, bought 20) between rust ,lost in flood, frozen full and split
I am down to 69 that are useable. (ok i have a about 20 of the small aluminum ones that will not stay on a tree in a five mph breeze that i refuse to use)
so on 69 taps I have collected 805 gal of sap, for the season.
last nights cook was 10 hrs the first 5 I averaged 20 gal/hr. then had to shut down and give my wife a ride home from the auto shop:( back to cookin. ended the night with an 18 gal/hr for the night( counting the time to run her around)
the best night of this season was 23.33 gal/hr running at 3/4~1 inch on a 2x4 drop flue reversable pan. finnishing as I go on the evap.

[Tweegs]

Things started out well yesterday.

Had a decent run, in fact it was still running at 9:30 PM. Collected over 100 gallons of sap this morning, best run so far at ½ gallon per tap. Would like to see double that, but I’ll take what I can get.

Woke up to no power and a light rain this morning. The power went out at midnight and just came back on at 4 PM. I think those expensive chicken eggs I had in the incubator are toast. No power also means no water here, had to melt snow on the woodstove so we could flush the crapper. Fortunately, we still have a lot of snow. :D

Started collecting sap in the rain, which turned to freezing rain, and is now snowing to beat the band, can’t seem to buy a break as the weather goes.

Been tracking the weather forecasts, (gives the wife something to do) from 15 days out, every day to the present. You’d think these guys could get the temps right at least 3 days in advance, but no, they can’t even seem to hit the mark with the morning forecast. Got some pretty wild looking charts. :lol:

[BoarsNest]

Well we collected only 40 gallons of sap and got the pan nicely sweetened. We should have syrup next time we boil. Had a great time just talking and hanging out. There must be something living under the cabin, because it was going bump all night long. I hope it's a racoon and not a skunk!

[Tweegs]

Well now, that was close!

Pans were sweet from the last boil, had a hundred gallons for today.
About 70 gallons in, we had our first draw and pulled off about a gallon. Charged the firebox one last time and watched the temp rise as the wood caught…right past syrup.

Pulled off one test cup, then two, both were beyond syrup. On the third test cup I noticed it wasn’t coming out of the draw off near fast enough, and the draw off box had that distinctive froth of syrup.

Reached over and pushed the float to the bottom to flood the pans, and now I’m near the end of my sap with a fresh charge on the fire.

Touch and go for a while there, sent the kids scrambling to the nearest buckets to get as much sap as they could. I had 10 gallons of water sitting there, just in case, but we managed to shut her down with the sap we had.

Found I was an eighth bubble off level and was drawing from the high side.

That’ll learn me. :lol:

[3fires]

Spent from 2 to 6 on Saturday in the rain and snow boiling down 30 gallons. Made my first gallon of syrup ever. WooHoo! The homeade evap works good, no burning and I'm getting about 7 gph, it kept me moving. Finished inside on the stove.

[nymapleguy607]

Have 4 gallons made so far. Only collected 170 gals for 2 days of run off 200 trees. Sugar was from 1.6 to 1.2. Snow still knee deep in the woods even after the rain, then mother nature decided that we could use another 15". Looks like a while longer until tha sap dam breaks.

[Sugarmaker]

Folks in the sugarhood,
[March journal hasn't gotten as many post since most are posting results in their state thread].
We have been busy too in NW PA.
Glad to see folks posting with there first gallon/s of syrup made!
Nice job to all!
We are trying to make syrup every chance we get!
New gadgets to watch and tune, pans to fix, pans to clean up, normal stuff:)
We have updated our web site with some new pictures and a slightly differrent format, plus new syrup prices for 2011, probably like a lot of folks.
Regards,
Chris [SM]

[collinsmapleman2012]

sugarmaker, nice site!!
:o theres music too!! lol

[Farmboy]

Made 3 1/4 gallons of syrup saturday. Sunday I went and got more jugs for this season. I got my dad to collect today because Im sick. I need to get better soon because my dad said all my tanks in the woods are full so ill have over 200 gallons of sap. Ive got Close to 1000 gallons of storage so I should be good for a few days. Being sick during the season sucks.

[syruplover99]

oh sorry ur sick i would hate to be sick during the season hopefully u sont miss out on much, but we have made about 5 and a half gallons each on saturday and sunday and last monday!!!!

[3fires]

I collected a whole 11 gallons today from my 30 taps. That's 2 days worth of sap, most buckets were dry. the cold seems to have slowed em down.

[3% Solution]

Picked up 50 gallons today.
Got a little sweet in the pans.
Nothing but ice around here tonight.
Looks like good weather coming up mid to end of the week.

[Sugarmaker]

Dave,
Nice to hear from you. Was wondering where you were making syrup. Hope your season is good!
The WRU seems to be making 2% sap into 3% sap. Is that what its supposed to do:). I seem to get 10 degrees more heat in the sap by running it in the parallel flow mode?
Chris

[brookledge]

Well yesterday was my first boil. And every thing went well except I made medium. hopefully now that eveything is back in the swing of things the grade will go up.
Keith

[nymapleguy607]

No sap ran here today, it got above freezing but the wind hasn't stopped blowing. Hopefully there is no damage, we'll find that out tomorrow. Hope everyone elses seasons are going good.

[JuniperHillSugar]

I stumbled around after dark the other evening dumping the rain from my buckets. I fell into the swollen brook only twice. On snowshoes that is not good. I think I should make a bridge this summer. We're still hoping for the real run we've been waiting for. Good Luck All.:)

[adk1]

I stumbled around after dark the other evening dumping the rain from my buckets. I fell into the swollen brook only twice. On snowshoes that is not good. I think I should make a bridge this summer. We're still hoping for the real run we've been waiting for. Good Luck All.:)

have you made any syrup yet?

[Farmboy]

I'm swamped with sap. I boiled every night exept Monday night because I was sick and I've gotten 200 to 300 gallons of sap every day since then. I still have 300 gallons left over fromyesterday I didn't have time for. The blower on my evaporator crapper out yesterday. Now it doesn't boil as well hopefully my dad can stop at graingers today and pick up a new one. I've got about 160 taps on a 2.5X8 I don't know how people run 500 on a 2X6. They must boil 24/7.

[Kev]

I'm swamped with sap. I boiled every night exept Monday night because I was sick and I've gotten 200 to 300 gallons of sap every day since then. I still have 300 gallons left over fromyesterday I didn't have time for. The blower on my evaporator crapper out yesterday. Now it doesn't boil as well hopefully my dad can stop at graingers today and pick up a new one. I've got about 160 taps on a 2.5X8 I don't know how people run 500 on a 2X6. They must boil 24/7.

what kind of hourly evap rate do you get with the 2.5 X 8?
BTW I think many of those 500 on a 2x6 use R/O too

[Jim Schumacher]

I'm swamped with sap. I boiled every night exept Monday night because I was sick and I've gotten 200 to 300 gallons of sap every day since then. I still have 300 gallons left over fromyesterday I didn't have time for. The blower on my evaporator crapper out yesterday. Now it doesn't boil as well hopefully my dad can stop at graingers today and pick up a new one. I've got about 160 taps on a 2.5X8 I don't know how people run 500 on a 2X6. They must boil 24/7.

Farmboy, What kind of hours do you put in on that evaporator? What kind of rate? I feel VERY comfortable running 650 on my 3x8 drop flue.

Jim

[Farmboy]

Im getting 50-60 gph on my 2.5X8. I dont get home from school untill 2:30 and im usully boiling by 3:30 and finish up around 8:00 so I can go inside and bottle and clean up filters. Next year should be better because Im going to be bottling in the sugar shack. Sap has slowed down and I havent boiled since saturday. I was only swamped this week because I was sick monday so I couldnt boil and sap ran like crazy all week.

[Yellzee]

finally may have found a connection with an old milker vacuum pump.... then I'll have lots of questions on how to release, when to run, etc.... last step is the 1000 or so feet of line to get from the mainline to the sugar shack... and life gets alot easier.

[PerryW]

I don't know how people run 500 on a 2X6. They must boil 24/7.

I tried to run 275 gravity taps on a raised flue 2x6 and I gave it up after one year (1988) and bought a bought a 3x10. Even 275 were way too many. I think I made 70 gallons that year.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I'm swamped with sap. I boiled every night exept Monday night because I was sick and I've gotten 200 to 300 gallons of sap every day since then. I still have 300 gallons left over fromyesterday I didn't have time for. The blower on my evaporator crapper out yesterday. Now it doesn't boil as well hopefully my dad can stop at graingers today and pick up a new one. I've got about 160 taps on a 2.5X8 I don't know how people run 500 on a 2X6. They must boil 24/7.

I run 625 taps on a 2x8.

[Yellzee]

Last couple days pretty slow in our area... we have not had any huge runs yet here... weird weather... it just got to warm really fast and isn't getting cold at night... next couple days look better.

With time on my hands I started to work on the important things last night... got the satellite cable run up to the satellite dish on the shack so this weekend we should be able to watch hockey while boiling... the old tv that has been sitting in the shack the past couple years is looking pretty rough though.. Don't think I want to put a new TV out there in the steam though.

[Dennis H.]

Well the season is over and it is clean up time for me. I got the buckets all cleaned and one of my sap hauling tanks done.
I need to pick up some vinegar to pickle the evap.

I am hoping to have everything cleaned up in the next day or two.

Syrup sales also have started, I have sold over 4 gals of my syrup so far. I had a list of people who were waiting for the syrup to be made and once they heard that I had some made, man they wanted it like yesterday!!

[Revi]

We have been boiling every night, but we may be on the home stretch now that we have gotten to the weekend. We took today off, but John boiled until 9pm last night and got the sap back down to a reasonable level. Tonight's freeze will start the pump up again, that's for sure. We have been getting a lot of sap in a short time.

This season is going to be short and sweet, I'm sure.

[BoarsNest]

Well we are taking a little vacation to visit our son, but the boys back home had a good weekend. Made 8-1/2 gallons without my supervision. Of course it's only my second year and I miss the best run so far. Thanks to my friends we should have plenty to go around this year:)

[Dennis H.]

Spent the day at an auction, froze my butt off and didn't get anything!!!!

They had 2 Surge Alamos up for auction, a 50 & a 75. Could see paying that much for something I didn't need. I may go to another auction tomorrow there is a bulk tank up for sale I think it is a 600gal, also a vac pump.

I am now waiting to clean up the evap. The temps are down below freezing down here and I don't want to leave the water and vinegar in the pan for the fear of freezing.

[3rdgen.maple]

Dennis curious why you pulled taps if you are still getting freezing temps?

[Dennis H.]

The trees are just not running.

Years past even after I pulled the taps the trees would weep alittle sap but not this year. They just up and stopped. The buds have already alomost broke open and a few that are at the top of the ridge are already open. The week worth of 60 and 70 degree weather didn't help.

We are having a little strange weather down here, I can't remember the last time we had this kind of temps for this long this late.

What is your season looking like? Has it truned out like a normal season or have you needed to break out your swimmies!

[KenWP]

So far this has been my worst year .My first year I boiled on march 18 for the first time and last year I was boiling by March 5th.This year haven't gotton enough to worry about yet.The trees that give the most in past years haven't started yet even. Owell too tired to want to freeze outside sitting around a hot stove watching sap boil.

[driske]

Weather man has us on stand by. After 5 small boilings and one day that the trees actually ran(last Sat.Mar 19), we have been shut down by a heavy snowfall and extended cold front. Nights are hitting the single digits and days in the mid 20's.
The syrup we have made so far is great in terms of flavor but only grades MA. Test has been normal at 2.1%. Most notable is the total absence of any nitre build up in the pans. I can only surmise the trees are still in a state of dormancy.
By this calendar date last year most of our crop was in the drum. This year harkens back to the kind of spring seasons we had in the 70's.
Well, in any case I'm not going to worry about it." Worry cannot change yesterday or tomorrow and only ruins today."
The Bride just got back from Green Bay. The eastern part of the state is blanketed just as deep in snow as the central areas.
My guess; When the season returns ,the trees will give us huge volumes of sap for 2 weeks and tail off somewhere around April 15th-20th.
Just got this gut level feeling that there's a good season coming down the pike.:)

[3rdgen.maple]

The trees are just not running.

Years past even after I pulled the taps the trees would weep alittle sap but not this year. They just up and stopped. The buds have already alomost broke open and a few that are at the top of the ridge are already open. The week worth of 60 and 70 degree weather didn't help.

We are having a little strange weather down here, I can't remember the last time we had this kind of temps for this long this late.

What is your season looking like? Has it truned out like a normal season or have you needed to break out your swimmies!

Better than last year but not as great as some past ones but I went into this year with low expectations since our summer and fall mimiced the prior one. So its better than I hoped atleast. Looks like I will be making syrup well into April. 3 or 4 days of freezing temps for high till monday. Wish it would actually run on a weekend though makes for long weekdays. Sugar content is the lowest I have had in a long time so Im going through wood like it was maple candy. Already broke last years total and should be able to double it. Not the 100 I wanted but should be somewheres around 70 gallons if it stays like it is. Hope you enjoyed your season been alot of highs and lows for me but Im getting it done.

[Dennis H.]

What the heck are you doing on the trader at 2 am 3rdgen??
I mean I undestand why I am, working hard bring in the big $$$$!!:lol:

Good to hear you won't be any wosre off than last year. If we only didn't have that week and half of warm weather I know this season would have been one heck of one. I went thru 1/2 of my wood and if I had continued on making syrup I would have run out.

Speaking of wood I did pick up a nice chainsaw Sat. It was a Demo model that my dad picked up at one of his training seminars and I was the lucky one to get 1st dibs on it. 20" Echo 530. Now I get to see how well it does on resupplying my wood pile!!

[Yellzee]

With pretty much nothing maple to do here thanks to the temps, I went back to cutting and dragging out wood this morning. Figured I might as well take advantage of the re-frozen trail. Have squeezed a grand total of about 40 gallons of sap out of the trees in the past 4 days... fatherinlaw boiling that down a bit just to fight off his maple boredom.

Sure hope weatherman has the rest of this week right, and the next week with really warm night temps wrong.

This lull has me already thinking about what is due for next year... starting to really thing about buying a 2X6 or 2 x 8 since I can fairly easily get up to 400 taps if I want to.

[Farmboy]

Had a warm week. Sap didn't run much. Sap Ray friday and today. I boiled and made 2.5 gallons today. My season total is 29.5. I'll break 30 gallons tommorrow. I've burned 2.5 cords of wood so far. I hate Orlon filters. Next year I'm getting a filter press.

[3rdgen.maple]

What the heck are you doing on the trader at 2 am 3rdgen??
I mean I undestand why I am, working hard bring in the big $$$$!!:lol:

Good to hear you won't be any wosre off than last year. If we only didn't have that week and half of warm weather I know this season would have been one heck of one. I went thru 1/2 of my wood and if I had continued on making syrup I would have run out.

Speaking of wood I did pick up a nice chainsaw Sat. It was a Demo model that my dad picked up at one of his training seminars and I was the lucky one to get 1st dibs on it. 20" Echo 530. Now I get to see how well it does on resupplying my wood pile!!
I just got done boiling for the day lol. Needed to get through my emails for work and decided I better check the trader first. This time of the year theres no sleep allowed.

[Farmboy]

Boiled today. Made 3 1/4 gallons. If the syrup gets any darker I'll be making road tar. I really should drain and filter the sweet in my pans but I don't have time. Saps should run untill Thursday. If the 7 day forcast says no more freezing I'll clean up this weekend I'll finish all the sweet on the evaporator and call it a season. I should make over 35 gallons by the end of the week. I've made 32.5 gallons so far.

[CaseysSugarHouse]

been froze up here since last Thursday. the 10 day forecast looks like perfect sugaring weather!!!!!



NATE

[ennismaple]

I added a few videos on YouTube of the sap running into our releasers.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ennismaple?feature=mhsn#p/a/u/1/_zx7KhG-D9A

I've got a few more on the HD video camera that I'll have to download, including one of me reloading the Force 5 with enough wood to heat a house for a week!