spring instead of winter? i'll take it...

[massmapler]

started tapping this morning... was running like crazy all day, going to finish tapping tomorrow. i figure if spring wants to start before winter may as well take advantage of it
(besides i just ran out of syrup). i drilled all my holes 3/8, so in february i'll re-drill to 7/16, in case the holes dry out... oh and i had a sugar content of about 1.5 which is normal for my trees.

[foursapssyrup]

everyone talking about tapping is getting to me. I'm still holding out till mid to late feb, hoping winter will come.....

[Tithis]

Mid/late January seems to be the coldest time of the year here, so I'm not even considering tapping till after that. We may still get some late winter weather so I'm going to start watching the long term forecasts starting the last third of January and continue checking in on what others are doing here.

[David531]

HI,

We're going to put in a few holes this morning and if it flows, we're going to tap half our sugarmaples now, and keep the rest in our pocket for the not so certain spring. So that's about 50 taps today, 50 taps later in february. Is everyone tapping sugar maples? We've got some red maples too, but not sure about tapping them, someone told me they only run for a bout 2 weeks and start later than the sugars, but then we've got a squirelly winter this time around....

We'll get that done after my 2nd cup of coffee with milk, maple syrup, no sugar.

Cheers, David

PS I'll let ya know how it flows .....

[massmapler]

wish i had sugar maples, basically all mine are red maples/swamp maples. like i said they have about half the sugar content and a slightly different taste as well. but they still produce.

[red maples]

Yeah I got mostly reds in the swamp so I am in the same boat for sugar %. but need to wait to tap. Last I looked there was only 1 or 2 days in the 40's up here in the next 10 days. sap does run in the 30's very well even with vac. 5 weeks out for besides I have too much stuff to do before then anyway. But I am getting excited my wife is already tired of hearing about it!!! :o

I was up in northern VT Picking up a side of beef from sister and finally saw snow!!! my truck was nasty this morning all covered with salt and dirt. Even up there it was still like 38* and drizzled a bit in the afternoon. Very weird winter or the winter that wasn't. Everyone calls me a mutant for my cold weather tolerance (except the wind none for me thanks) haven't had more than a sweat shirt and jeans on so far this year.

[Tithis]

I'm always considered a bit of a weirdo too for liking cold weather as much as I do. It kinda annoys me when people act all happy about this mild winter. It's new england. It's supposed to be cold and snowy!

1 week forecast shows next weekend being colder and 2 week shows that entire week being close to or colder than average. I'll be crossing my fingers.

I'm curious about the performance of red maples myself. 7 of my 17 taps are going to be red maples so they'll factor in quite a bit. I did get a sap hydrometer this year so I'll be able to compare them at least.

[Tapping Wolf]

wish i had sugar maples, basically all mine are red maples/swamp maples. like i said they have about half the sugar content and a slightly different taste as well. but they still produce.

What do your reds run....mine are about 1.9-2.2 plenty of sugar% but they run sporadic...at least the few that I tapped so far have, i'm waiting 'till the last week of Jan to tap most of my trees...

[Fishgill]

I'm gonna wait until mid to late Feb. I still haven't gone Ice fishing yet. The ponds are just starting to get enough ice.

[David531]

Hi from Ashby, We got about 40 taps in today, all sugarmaples, it flowed pretty good. If it flows tomorrow, we'll start the evaporator. The sap is somewhat sweet, don't have a sugarmeter, should get one i guess, maybe Bascoms. Might be a good time to try our reds too. Maybe next weekend if the weather is still good.

Cheers, David

[massmapler]

I'm gonna wait until mid to late Feb. I still haven't gone Ice fishing yet. The ponds are just starting to get enough ice.

yeah that was my problem... havent been able to go out ice fishin so got to much time on my hands. still not even really a spec of ice in uxbridge=[
hoping for maybe the 3rd weekend this month for a first fishing trip. pretty sad. anyways hopefully i'll be boiling a batch this upcoming weekend if we get a good couple runs.

[massmapler]

What do your reds run....mine are about 1.9-2.2 plenty of sugar% but they run sporadic...at least the few that I tapped so far have, i'm waiting 'till the last week of Jan to tap most of my trees...
mine are always under 2% usually around 1.5 or so...

[rookie]

how do you test the sugar content of you sap?

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/coal-center-pa/15423/month/2129142?view=table

it is a 15 day weather forecast. just type in your zip code and it will give you yours

[Tithis]

Looks like this week is going to be nice and cold, long term for next week looks like it might get back to being unusually warm. If next weeks forecast doesn't change by next weekend that may be when I'll be tapping.

[Revi]

It's twirly.

[Tithis]

Long term forecast has thankfully changed to being cooler with possible snow, so I'll be holding off tapping for the time being.

[NedL]

I'm planning to wait to tap, but the 10 day forcast looks perfect!!! Anyone thinking of going early?

[foursapsyrup1]

I guesss you'd call it "being stubborn' but I'm going to hold out until around Feb 11th. Haven't had much success taping before then for the llast ten years, but, this year could prove me wrong.
I'm curious to see how the season plays out.
How do you larger producers (1000 taps or more) plan to deal with this weather??

[Fishgill]

I plan on taping the 3rd week of Feb. Unless it looks like a really early spring.

[wiam]

I guesss you'd call it "being stubborn' but I'm going to hold out until around Feb 11th. Haven't had much success taping before then for the llast ten years, but, this year could prove me wrong.
I'm curious to see how the season plays out.
How do you larger producers (1000 taps or more) plan to deal with this weather??

I plan to tap late Feb...... as usual.

[eustis22]

yeah, I
'm seeing gushers come out of some lopped branches I did last week. I'm tapping thursday. I get to try out the homemade evaporator. Speaking of which, does one mortar the firebricks in a stove or just lay them in there?

[Tithis]

I don't know about tapping yet. Sure it was warm today but the forecast here looks like its going to take a cold turn. Might be different closer to the coast.

[Greenwich Maple Man]

I guesss you'd call it "being stubborn' but I'm going to hold out until around Feb 11th. Haven't had much success taping before then for the llast ten years, but, this year could prove me wrong.
I'm curious to see how the season plays out.
How do you larger producers (1000 taps or more) plan to deal with this weather??

I'm hanging more tubing each day and preparing for the season when it comes. Probebly end of Feb. like it has for the past years around hear. I don't think there is any way to "deal with the weather" it is what it is. Could be a good season could be bad. We will all know end of April.

[pidget19]

It looks like it's going to turn cold the first week of Feb. I'd have to agree on holding off until at least the 3rd week in Feb. Mostly because if the season happens any sooner than that I won't be ready!!! *Fingers Crossed*

[mapleman3]

All I have to say for western ma. Is guys make sure your ready to pull the trigger...it may be a real short season.
The trees haven't even had a real winter yet...sure the nights have been pretty cold but the days and sun are making it uncharacteristically unseasonable.

sent from my Verizon Droid Charge using Tapatalk.

[massmapler]

had our 2nd boil of 2012 today, made about a gallon each time. first syrup was real sweet but had no maple flavor(candy/cream practice here i come)... 2nd batch is pretty good. looks like we'll be shut down for a while though according to the forecast. wish it could get cold enough at night....
Also noticed about half my trees starting to bud, that just aint right..

[David531]

We put in about 40 taps 3 wks ago, it flowed a bit, not enough to run the evap, let it freeze in 2 barrels over that really cold zeroF weekend nites, got some nice concentrate in the center, and just a little propane finished it. Not enough to bother filtering, just put it in the kitchen to use, it's very light, a lot of mother settled. We had some flow this past week, and opened the sugarhouse saturday, and put in another 30 taps. Interestingly, the 3 week old taps didn't run so good saturday, but the new taps we put in saturday ran very nice. The ground is only half covered with snow, and we've got a lot of nasty ice around the house/barn/sugarhouse.... have to wear cleats. It's very windy this morning in Ashby, hope it settles, should run nice today with out the wind... would like to put another 30 taps in, maybe start today. I was holding out with the rest of the taps for the regular season, putting in half now, just incase the pork bellies don't work out.

Cheers, David in Ashby

[sapbrush]

i am slowly tapping in seems to be running good here in belchertown, im near the pelham line, so lets go, was out of service last year with blown disks in my neck never tapped a tree, so this year im ready to go, good luck to all and may all your sugar be 3 PERCENT

[sapbrush]

DAVE- how do you like that half pint evaporator ive had one for 10 years or so, what kind of gph do you get, i probably get 5 an hour with no blower on it