Sap Flow

[Todd Miske]

Wondering how the flow is going for everyone, we only collected 80 Gallons yesterday off 200 taps on lines and 100 on buckets. Sap is still clear, but there are buds on some of the underbrush. Do you think the season is done?

[dschultz]

The season here hasn't even got going good yet,snow is still to your knees in places.The only tree's that are doing good are the one's with a good snowring around them all the others are very sleepy yet

[TF Maple]

I never worry about the buds, we were collecting last year when the flower buds on the maple trees were fully open and it was still good sap, but the taps dried out shortly after that and we quit. Even with the unusual warm weather last year early in March there were 2 good runs the last 2 weekends of March.

[harvey413]

Sap is running a little slow but we have boiled three times now and have made about 175 gallons so far. We need sme freezing nights here soon to keep things going. Still alot of snow and think trees are still frooze.

[goldenmaple1]

Snow is pretty much all gone here in Plymouth. The only stuff left is in piles at the edges of driveways. Our sap quit yesterday after running since the 11th but that was good because Jeff got a break from hauling sap with the tractor. The forecast looks favorable for another run this weekend and into next week. Might even snow on Wednesday.

[ComputerSteve]

Snow pretty much gone here also. Been in the 50's for a couple days now. Had been getting about 40 gallons of sap a day, but today only got 15 gallons. There were a lot of collection buckets that were dry. If that's all, then the season seemed a little short this year. We were hoping to get about 10 gallons of syrup, but right now only about 5-6 :(

[rinert]

the snow is still plenty deep in the wood have not got a good run yet but hope this weekend it will run. taped 2 weeks now and only got 25 gal on 115 trees. the boy scouts come sat to tap trees hope they can see something happening.

[Merklin Maples]

Only 106 gals of sap from 115 taps this week. Hoping for alot more. Will start the boiling today.

[GramaCindy]

Only 106 gals of sap from 115 taps this week. Hoping for alot more. Will start the boiling today.

Daniel….I would be THRILLED with 106 gallons of sap, although I only have 40 taps out this first year…collected one lousy gallon of sap on Wednesday. Hopefully today is the start of good things, although the weather doesn't look like it's going to cooperate until later in the week up here.:evil:

[WI Sugarpop]

Hope you're tapping maples and not oaks!:lol:

[GramaCindy]

Hope you're tapping maples and not oaks!:lol:

I DID worry about that a bit on the trees with out so much as a trace of sap yet. If they don't do something soon, I'm abandoning them:evil:

[camp3sugarshack]

Just got back from the woods and collected 9 gal. from 37 taps. I think the bigger runs are yet to come for us Grama Cindy. I will be changing some of the non producers though. Still plenty of snow to deal with in the woods. I have a total of about 30 gal. I did a little sap dance so that should help.

[GramaCindy]

hey Camp3….just got back ourselves…FINALLY, collected aprox 10 gallons off of 39 taps. We didn't count the one tap in the oak tree:o Repositioned that one, and am looking for more taps!!!

[mike z]

Finally got a little more sap today. 180 gal. from 200 buckets. 2.5%. The 30 or so Reds ran terrible, maybe 5 gal. in all. Managed to get first syrup off the new homemade evaporator today. Took 4 everrrr. Was a little concerned with all the sparks coming out the stack. Maybe I should just boil during the day, when I can't see it. :)

[ComputerSteve]

Saturday morning (3-19) we only got 9 gallons of sap from 37 taps. That's a drop from 43 gallons a day early in the week. It finally dropped below freezing last night and should tonight too. Hopefully sap output will pick up again, the buds still seem pretty tight.

[WI Sugarpop]

We collected 105 gals yesterday which puts us at 940 gals so far. When we get that boiled we will be at 24 gals of syrup.:)

[Merklin Maples]

Last night my 5 year old Grandson and I collected 55 gallons of sap. Finally a decent run and workout. Started cooking with a steam hood for the first time ever. What a difference in the sap house. It did not rain once. My brother brought his break up and bent one for me. Thankyou brother.

[Maple Dad]

Hi Daniel,

What type of metal did you and your brother bend up on the break for your steam hood? Been thinking about making my own, but thinking isn't getting it done too fast! :lol:

[Merklin Maples]

He used Aluminum Coil. Like what they use for soffits and trim. He had some from a job left over. I think he used half a roll to get the job done.

[jtiefert]

We were able to boil down and finish a little bit this weekend as well. Not as much as we had hoped, but a start to the 2011 season.

How did you vent your new steam hood?

We were kicking around ideas while we were in the shack experiencing our man-made rain yesterday... Have any pictures?

[Merklin Maples]

Just got in from gathering the pick from yesterday. Got 40 gals. The weather is not going to cooperate.
Vented the steam hood with a stack 8 inches made from coil stock as well. He made a flange after cutting hole in top of hood. Put hood over and screwed in place. Goes through the roof. I think the total length of pipe is 6 foot. Draws the steam real well. Will post some pictures when I can.

[ComputerSteve]

Well, it's 3/23 and we gathered 11 gallons of sap since 3/20. It has been raining constantly, so much so that the 11 taps (tubes to buckets) we have next to a river have been washed away by the overflowing river. Those were some of the good producers too. So now we're down to 26 taps and the weather is hovering right at freezing. I guess I'll see if the remaining taps have anything tomorrow.:(

[Packerfan]

Don't worry Steve, next week is gonna be a gold rush (and gush). Not much running now, but things will get crazy after Sun...........Glad I tapped later this year. Going to cook right into April!

[GramaCindy]

Got home from work today at 2:15, 30* SUNNY….uh oh:o I had pulled my sap sacks off before the "blizzard" and was going to put them back out on Sunday. HOLY COW….the taps were dripping every half second! Ran and put them back out, I can only hope that I didn't miss a 7% or something like that! Looking forward to a slower introduction to sap collecting the next few days, and then it sounds like all HE** is going to break loose (hopefully:rolleyes: next week)