looking for one more run before I pull the taps

[lafite]

Weather for tomorrow and Tuesday look like the last possible run for me. I'm only looking to make another gallon of some darker grade for those who have asked.

It's been a great run...pun intended!

[swierczt]

Nothing ran for me in Durham yesterday. hoping for one more run, but the weather does not look promising for this week.

[valleyman]

Yeah I pulled in all bags and buckets, cleaned them before the rain at the end of last week. I put them out again trying to take advantage of the next couple of days.

I think Southern CT is done for after this week.

[lafite]

25 gallons so far today on half of my taps (I pulled half over the weekend) tomorrow should be a good run as well. I'm pulling the plug after tomorrow!

[farmer james]

Collected 1.5 gallons from 60 buckets, so I'm done.

[markct]

why such a rush to pull the taps??? mine stay in till the buds come out, never know when the weather will change and go back to favorable sap weather

[lafite]

southern Ct has a smaller window than you. I'll be traveling as well and I see the reds starting to bud. I can only imagine the sugars are a week away.

[ctjim]

we're hoping for another good run or 2. but i don't think it will happen this week and once it hits 60 at the end of the week we will be done. since we tap almost all red maples the buds are already starting to swell and 1 big yard silver maple i tap has just about popped its buds. even the norways and sugars the buds are a bit swollen esp in the direct sun. up until i collected this past weekend all my sap had been nice and clear, but this weekend it was a bit cloudy. this season was def a better yr than last yr, if only we had less snow imo the season would keep going longer, i think the snow insulated the ground and meant less frost and a quick thaw for the roots.

[bradley12001]

I am a beginner for sure and only run 15 buckets. Could use some general advice from fellow CT'ers. I added 10 buckets this year so am up to a total of 15. I didnt get much for production from most taps and am at at a loss for why. A few key taps produced well but most had little prodution in comparison. I tapped on the south side of all trees. Nots ure if I should just exept that i will have lower yields being close to the coast (Lyme area) or if maybe there is something I can do to get one more run (maybe tap a new hole in trees that are not producing??).

Also the few taps that are still pumping are now producing a DEEP yellow color. Have seen faint yellow last year and just mixed it in with no effect that I could detect...but what I saw yesterday was DEEP yellow. Time to pull or maybe wait out to see if I can get one more run???

Any advice would be great - thanks!

[hodorskib]

We are getting close to the end too. Hung 60 buckets expecting 10-12 gallons, hoping for 13-15 and looks like settling for 8. Not complaining after the 4 we made last year with a 50% increase but with the deep snow early i was optimistic! Funny 3 weeks ago i had snow up to my thighs and yesterday buckets filled with semi cloudy sap and bugs - welcome to New England. As for your tainted sap and low output you may want to check your shavings next year when you tap out - if they are dark in color or different then what you see when hitting good solid wood that hole will most likely not produce well, also, bring a bamboo skewer with you to stick in the hole to make sure all the shavings are out and nothing is clogging the backside. I try and hang a few extra buckets and space my taps on all sides of the trees the ones on the north side will not run as heavy but will run longer. The tainted sap I usually encounter after heavy rains and is either the tree reacting to it or most likely the rain water getting under my lids. I also started cleaning the ends of my cast aluminum spouts with 000 steel wool and boiling them before putting them out each year. Not sure how much it helps but it eliminates one variable having perfectly clean spouts. Good luck and I will wait until the weekend to decide if I am going to pull out or give it another week.

[markct]

we had a good freeze last night here, hoping that keeps the buds closed a few more days, im on 80 percent or more reds but its been a great year here, tons of sap, actualy sent 250 gal to a friend last weekend.

[valleyman]

I collected about 10 gallons yesterday from the remaining 14 taps I still have in. I'm hoping for 10-15 today so I can have a nice quick boil and hopefully end up with one last 1/2 gallon.

My next challenge will be keeping it cold until I can boil it down. Like last year I stockpiled my snow and keep my collecting tank buried in it. In addition I bought a large insulating blanket from the Restaurant Depot and keep it covered with that. The sap was cold and clear this past weekend. Hopefully it'll be the same this time

[lafite]

we are flowing clear and fast in Cheshire. sugar content is a hair below 2%. just have to filter out the ants and moths before boiling. Kind of sad since this is my last boil of the year. total output so far is 11 gallons (4 last year).

[valleyman]

I'm giving it a second thought. I'd better plan on boiling tonight or tomorrow night.

With the temps going up to what there forcasting for the next few days, my sap will be compost juice by the weekend. Even if i keep it cool.

[oxfordsugarshack]

the yellow sap is from the rain water running down the trees into the sap buckets. i would wait one more week to see what u get.

[oxfordsugarshack]

this will be our last week then out to pull all 750 taps

[lafite]

so much for a small run...I just finished boiling 70 gallons collected yesterday and today with only half of my taps. I could have collected another 10 gallons but I am dog tired...

I'll finish up this batch tomorrow and the taps come down this weekend.

I think i need a bigger evaporator....;)

[markct]

yea had a great run here too, 250 gallons off my vac lines, just finished boiling it off, hope it keeps up a little longer, be kinda nice to hit the 100 gallons mark for syrup total! im at 90 right now

[Mike Van]

About that yellow sap - Sometimes at the tail end of a run, certain trees will put some real yellow strong smelling sap into a bucket. Maybe half a cup or so? I just dump this stuff, so when it does run again, it won't mix with the new sap. One year I tapped a tree too close to a seam where it branched off, the sap there stunk so bad I never used it, pulling the tap instead.

[dhbiker1]

Good to hear that you guys are still getting some flow. Down in Salem I have had next to nothing in the last week. I thought that it would run yesterday as it got cold enough but no luck. I am on vacuum also, but only abotu 15". My notes from the season are that it was good, but not great. My reds are the usual super low sugar content somewhere around 80 gal/1. Also, I never had any really good runs that had me drowning in sap where I usually get one or two a year. One thing is certain is that it was definitely better than last season!

These are my approximate syrup totals for the past few years. Nothing to be proud of but it's what our trees give.

2008 - 200 taps - 18 gal syrup
2009 - 155 taps - 15 gal syrup
2010 - 155 taps - 4-5 gal syrup
2011 - 155 taps - I think i'll be around 13-14 gal syrup

[TF Maple]

the yellow sap is from the rain water running down the trees into the sap buckets. i would wait one more week to see what u get.

I had yellow sap on the cover of one of my buckets. It was dripping down from someplace up on the trunk of the tree. It is a big old knarly maple that was an old looking tree 40 years ago when I first hunted squirrels in our woods.

[valleyman]

Like I'd hoped, I picked up just over 20 gal of sap from Mon. and Tue. from the remaining 14 taps I left in. Took off from work a little early and boiled down the last of it for my farewell boil. I usually have wait for the weekends and end up with darker syrup. Last nights looks beautiful so far. I still need to take it down from 2.5 gal from last night to finish it to about 1/2 gal.

Last nights highlight was my 12 yr old daughter calling me on my cell (from about 75' away in the house) to take my dinner order and when she brought it down to me in the shack on a tray all fancy and all.... well ya know how that goes, PRICELESS

Good season loaded with adverse conditions. I've found the maximum for myself and my block evaporator system so I guess that's good.

Didn't use a thermometer at all this season. Used the hydrometer exclusively. Probably a tad thicker but all nice and tasty.

[ebourassa]

not much of a run the last few day maybe 50-60 gal on 400 taps, not even enough to boil still hope for a few runs this weekend, lows in the mid 20's. Im not ready to quit yet the taps have been in for alittle over 3 weeks an made around 42-43 gals so far.

[lafite]

first ever catastrophe... I had approximately 1 and a half gallons of syrup to finish and i left my butane burner cranking away at 65 BTU....114 degrees when I last checked and 26 minutes later without checking, I had a boil-over....9 hours spent yesterday to finish 48 oz of saved syrup.....

I'm already looking forward to next season... :lol:

[hodorskib]

Picked up 65 gallons of very clear sap from Monday and Tuesday. Will pick up anything that ran into the night and get it all boiled off by tomorrow night. I have it stored on the north side of the house and hopefully it will make it with 65º expected. Looking at the extended forecast I have put off pulling out until next Sunday. Still hoping to get to 10 gallons, should be at 8 after boiling off this run.

[batsofbedlam]

I collected 600 gallons of sap from a overnight run, and it was pretty clear. The problem is the sugar content is down to 1 1/2%, because it has not gotten cold enough for the trees to recharge their sugar.

[ctjim]

we had frost here last night but very little ran today. since i'm stuck tapping almost all reds i went and pulled almost all my buckets/taps they were dry and the buds are looking like they're going to pop any day, besides the last sap i collected was real cloudy. just need to finish the last of the syrup in the evaporator and i'm hoping to break 8 gals., not very good for about 100 taps, but i'm tapping almosty all reds so i guess its pretty good? hoping to get another "real" sugarbush to tap next yr and some vac.

[lafite]

there was a big run today but I had to let it drop. I pulled 2 of my gravity runs to clean while the sap was running fast and clear all day. I measured the sugar content and it was just over 1% (one particular tree was still close to 2%). All sugar maples.

I'm happy with my almost 10 gallons but it's time to clean up and start putting everything away until next year.

[DaveB]

Check your forecasts for next week. Mine almost looks perfect in NE CT:

Saturday: 46/20
Sunday: 44/27
Monday: 45/32
Tuesday: 49/28
Wednesday: 41/23
Thursday: 37/23

I have one section of woods that I just could not get to because of snow and I think I'm actually going to tap those this weekend since most of the snow is gone (we still have some snow left in the woods, but nothing in the way).

[ebourassa]

picked up 150 gals today 1.8% sugar, not to bad i figured the sugar content would of been low, looks like I can boil tom., just when u think they arent going to run they do. hopefully this weeked they will run again with low in the upper 20's at night, definitely my best year yet. should be over 45 gal tom.

[markct]

im all done for this year, my buds popped here. the last sap i boiled off was making syrup that was not smelling funny, and didnt realy have that off taste, but didnt have that maple sweetness that lingers after the taste either. not bad syrup, my dad described it as more like pancake syrup, but dont think i wanna put my name and reputation of great flavored syrup on it, so its going off as bulk hopefully b but maybe c. another local producer plans to make some c so i am giving him my sap for the rest of the season, was realy running good today just buddy!

[hodorskib]

Checked on the trees today for signs of budding out. They still look good so I carried 20 gallons of water in the woods with a scrub brush. Cleaned all 60 buckets and rehung. Also, scrubbed out the evaporator and the holding tanks. Temperatures should be good for at least another week. Bottled up 8.5 so far, last batch was dark but good flavor and after a lot of waiting came through the filters crystal clear. Hope the effort today will pay off, if not we already made double from last year. Good luck for everyone still going!

[DaveB]

I'm good here too. No buds, but I can see that they were thinking about yesterday. Nice cold nights coming up...I feel sorry for the folks that are budding. This week looks ideal!

Dave

[hodorskib]

Picked up 20 gallons today, very clear and boiled it down and covered up everything with nasty weather coming in. Going to hold out to Sunday and maybe later if the weather reports are right. Figures:
- tapped out a week earlier than I had ever in ten years!
- with the forecast may be finishing sometime in April!

Nothing with this season makes sense. Just going with the flow and trying to keep everything as clean as possible. Back to winter for at least a few more days.

[lafite]

Picked up 20 gallons today, very clear and boiled it down and covered up everything with nasty weather coming in. Going to hold out to Sunday and maybe later if the weather reports are right. Figures:
- tapped out a week earlier than I had ever in ten years!
- with the forecast may be finishing sometime in April!

Nothing with this season makes sense. Just going with the flow and trying to keep everything as clean as possible. Back to winter for at least a few more days.

I agree about not making sense. They flowed when they weren't supposed to and vice versa. Big flows on weird days and sometimes didn't stop for 3.

Great year for the small producers! Amazing syrup as well!

[Starting Small]

What a day so far (in East Windsor), came home from work today early to empty the buckets and a couple of the milk jugs I use were actually overflowing. Sap is still running strong as I gathered. Going to boil down tonight using a turkey fryer for the first time. We will see how it goes. Hope your trees are running like mine were today.