When has a Maple Tree Budded?

[GeneralStark]

We all know that as the spring warms and freezing overnight stops, maple trees start to "bud out" and that the chemicals produced by the tree as part of its production of leaves begin to change and the sugar content in the sap drops. Also, the syrup produced from late season sap has a distinctly different flavor and smell as a result of the chemical changes in the tree.

I have heard sugarmakers say that they will walk the woods and pull taps on any trees that appear to be budding so as to prolong the season and reduce the chance of producing buddy tasting syrup.

After having looked at many maple trees in all seasons for many years, I find it difficult to believe that one can easily judge from the ground when a tree has budded to the point of changing the syrup's flavor.

My question is this: What are the visual cues that one could look for in the tree's buds to determine that the chemical changes in the tree have reached the point of producing buddy sap?

It is generally quite apparent when a tree's buds have started to swell, but at what point does a tree's sap turn buddy in relation to bud swell?

[brookledge]

I have always been led to believe that the sap will turn buddy before you can actually see that they have opened. Certainly they will swell up. I feel the sap will be buddy even before you see them swell.
If you have a mixed bush (red and sugar) you probably can go around pulling reds and still get some more from the sugars
I had also heard of chewing on the buds to tell.
Maybe someone will chime in to help out more
Keith

[Ausable]

Well - I have mostly Sugar Maples and a couple of Blacks and I hang buckets. When I gather - about mid-season - I may have a tree or two give me yellowish sap on a gather and I will look up at the buds and they will normally still be tight and small and I will dump the sap on the ground and rehang the bucket and the next gather it will be clear again. Thus I know it was just Ma Nature playing her games or someone peeing in the bucket.
Now - near the end of the season - You will start to get trees that give you a deeper yellow sap and on checking those buds - they will probably be swollen and deep red and if the tree keeps giving yellow sap it has gone buddy and done for the year. Yet - many of the other maples may still be giving clear sap and not ready to bud out. So You play it out till most of the trees have gone buddy and call it a year. --- Mike

[GeneralStark]

It seems to me that the only way to know for sure is in the taste of the syrup you are making. Two friends walked their woods two days ago and pulled taps on several trees they say were "budded". The rest supposedly had not. The same day they were making buddy syrup.

[jmayerl]

So my question is if the buds have popped why would the syrup not have a buddy taste to it? I left a few buckets in by the house and made some great syrup yesterday, and the trees are still running great today yet the buds have all popped. I going to keep making a few more batches today and just taste test as I go.