2012 Ontario Tapping

[thenewguy]

Well guys, how are things coming together for you guys this year?? whats the consenscous of tapping with our wired winter we have been having?

[Ren]

Things are coming together good. I did a test fire of my new Phaneuf pans and was easily getting 25 gal per hour without my auf going. I still have a few things to tweak with my pre heater. Not sure where you are in Ontario but I am in southern Ontario (caledonia) and the weather may give us a problem this year. I was just checking the 14 day outlook and starting sat they are saying day time highs will be above zero for the next 12 days. With freezing temps at night. Sure looks like tapping weather. I am hoping that they are wrong like they are must of the time and that we get a deep freeze in Feb. but if the current trend continues we will not get one. Just another note. I was at our cottage in Huntsville a week ago and there was little snow maybe 3" and the lake was not even close to being froze over. I can't remember the last time it was like that in jan.

[ennismaple]

NewGuy - No such thing as a consenus around here. Opinions are like belly buttons - everybody has one!


Ren - Depends on where you are in the province. The ground is bare outside my office here in T.O. but when I was home to Perth on the weekend there's a foot of snow on the ground and the ice fishermen are driving on the lake with their pickup trucks. Not smart but still frozen enough that nobody has gone through yet!

Not worried too much about when the season starts. Generally, the earlier it starts the better a season you'll get. My experience has been the season ends about the same time every year (plus or minus a few days) no matter when it starts. We plan to start tapping a bit on the Family Day long weekend and pick away at it. When the weather looks good we'll throw 2 or 3 x 2-man tapping crews into the woods and get it all tapped in 2 days. We normally start our season 1 week or more after those of you in southwestern Ontario which gives us some warning!

[mikem]

We are in the Niagara area. The weather here sure is strange. My kids have not been able to skate on the pond this year. Normally they are out there before christmas. The water in my barn usually freezes for several weeks at a time. This year, maybe one day. Last year we tapped mid february and found that was too early. We did okay but felt that the end of february would have been better. We thought this year we would tap march 1 but now our concern is might that be too late. With this weather will this buds come out earlier. Or the temperature might not dip enough at night. At this point we are crossing our fingers, hoping that things get a little bit back to normal for february.

Mike

[Brian66]

I think there is still some weather coming. If not, three cheers for global warming! But we do have ice and snow here in Parry Sound.

[sjdoyon]

We need to assist in filling out the survey. The research done by UVM Proctor Research directly benefits what we love to do.


Thanks to those who have completed the survey so far....but we need a LOT more participation. Please complete the survey at
http://kwiksurveys.com/online-survey...IONKG_c3f8cb68

Don't make me come out there and get you.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc

[Maple Restoration]

Looks like we will be tapping Feb.20th this year 7 days sooner than last year, we don,t have the snow like last year, so I have managed to keep the road to the shack open since November, theirs a first time for every thing I guess, still no frost in the ground, under the snow we still have water in the bush could be messy!

[argohauler]

I should probably start around Valentines day if this weather continues.

[sugaringman85]

the link to your survey didn't work...post it again and i'll try it

[Brent]

I'm seriously thinking of tapping real soon. With this screwy weather we may never see a normal season. With the new check valves, which I've used for 2 years already, they extent the season so well that I don't think I'll lose much later on. The question is what to do with sap that's only partially boiled if we get short runs with days in between. I've had to dump lots in the last 2 years because of getting the bacteria that caused ropy sap/syrup. And then there's the issue keeping the RO fresh. Lots of issues.
On the good news side, my wife looked up the Farmer's Almanac and they think we'll have a more or less normal February.

[argohauler]

Almost stripped down to my t shirt this morning splitting wood. 46F. Sun feels hot on the face.

[kdawger]

Im in southern ontario (windsor area) and starting saturday its looks like a perfect storm to be tapping allready. Might pop some in today
Thursday
Feb 2 5 0 Cloudy with sunny breaks
Friday
Feb 3 5 1 Mainly cloudy
Saturday
Feb 4 3 -2 Variable cloudiness
Sunday
Feb 5 5 -2 Cloudy with sunny breaks
Monday
Feb 6 5 1 Isolated showers
Tuesday
Feb 7 2 -2 Variable cloudiness
Wednesday
Feb 8 1 -2 Cloudy with sunny breaks
Thursday
Feb 9 3 -2 Snow-rain showers
Friday
Feb 10 3 -1 Few flurries
Saturday
Feb 11 2 -1 Variable cloudiness
Sunday
Feb 12 2 -2 Sunny
Monday
Feb 13 2 -3 Cloudy periods
Tuesday
Feb 14 2 -3 Cloudy periods
Wednesday
Feb 15 2 -2 Sunny

[kdawger]

stuck in 4 taps in 2 trees around 1 pm, got about 5 gallons of sap allready. Looking pretty decent. I dont have any tools to test how much sugar, but should get a good idea when i boil it off.

[TexTheDog]

We are in Napanee area and there are guys in Picton that put their taps in on Wednesday from what I hear...they are getting a half decent amount. I might start looking at getting some taps into some trees tomorrow.

[Brent]

Well I think this season is going to be messy. Lots of stop / start cycles. Extra work cleaning. But if we wait for the normal tap time, the trees may be budding.

So .... I put in the first 125 taps today. More going in tomorrow. All on the warmest section of the bush. Dry frozen chips this morning, moist this aft, flowing well
by evening. The pipelines are full. Hope to flush the RO with it tomorrow night.

With check valves, I think the risk / reward senario has swing in favour of tapping earlier ... especially this year.

Cha ching 2 cents worth

[longbeard]

Holy Smokes Brent - now you got me all excited! I haven't been on these forums for a while and just catching up and note you have started tapping! I wasn't even thinking about it for another couple of weeks up here in Simcoe Co. but now you have got me thinking about it and realize I still have some pre-tapping things to do, so will get myself in gear and put my "inside" jobs aside for a while.
Hoping it will start slowly with the new evaporator this year and will have a bit of a learning curve to overcome.
Would appreciate it if you keep us informed as to how the run is going in your area - will help with the planning in our area.

Cheers

[ennismaple]

Still too early for us in Lanark County. We've got lots of snow on the ground and the lake is frozen solid so we're getting colder weather than most. We'll be ready to rock earlier than normal but we still don't plan to start tapping until the Feb 18-20 weekend. I assume that anyone near the Great Lakes will have an early start because there's no ice on them this winter.

I'm looking forward to seeing the steam fly in southwestern Ontario soon! Post pics to help tide us over!

[Bruce L]

Strung out some tubing yesterday in a section of bush where we take it down to get access to wood cutting,etc.Sun felt warm on the face,but still pretty raw wind,but the feeling and anticipation is there

[Brent]

280 taps in by the end of Sunday. Good flow. No vac yet, but there should be 100 gallons by the time I write this. Warm enough tomorrow for more flow. I'll wrap the
tote Monday night to minimize the freeze and hope that buy Wed we've got enough to flush the RO.

An interesting observation. Last spring I got a hernia just as I was assembling the evaporator at the beginning of the season and when it ended, I did not get back into the bush for
months to pull the taps. While tapping this weekend, I kept reducing the stepover and height from last years holes until I got down to a 1" horizontal and 2" vertical move. I never drilled
out stained wood, and they all gushed initially from hydyraulic pressure. I am wondering if leaving the check valves in so late ( not gospel I know ) has somehow changed the staining and
healing process. It just seems like there might be the potential to end up with more tap sites is the holes are closer. Not science here, just an observation. I've got about 400 more
taps and I may push it on a few trees and see how much I can reduce the spacing before there is no flow.

Edit: Monday night. Brought in 350 gallons today. More than enough to flush the RO.

[Yellzee]

put this in the wrong forum... sorry if you are reading it twice..

all this tapping talk is stressing me out. Hate to say it but I don't even feel like making syrup yet.

Looking at the 14 day forecast here in Belleville... there is a week of plus 2 minus 3 weather coming.

I might upgrade to the check valves and tap family day weekend, gotta think the season will be at least a week shorter than normal, so why not tap a week or so earlier I guess.

[argohauler]

Went to Weber's in Heidelberg and Reist's in Elmira yesterday to pick up some supplies. Weber's was a hoppin' place.

I asked prices for the Embee plastic buckets and the 5/16 bucket spiles.

Weber's were cheapest for buckets. 3 IMP. Gal. $3.95 and $3.10 for the 2 IMP. Gal.

Reist's were cheapest for spiles at $ 0.35.

I picked 200 spiles up from Reist's to try out. I hope they do as well as the 7/16 especially in our fairly poor running bush.

Edgar at Reist's told me had a tree tapped in their laneway and it measured 4% that day!

Salivated at the sight of many maple bushes on our drive yesterday. No one up there was tapped that we saw and we saw quite a few lined bushes.

Talked with a Mennonite fella at Weber's and he said this is the first winter he can remember that they weren't up to their crotches in snow. My 72 year old uncle who used to make syrup says he's never seen a winter like this either.

On a side note, I found out I'm very distantly related to the Weber's, through my Mennonite heritage in the Niagara area. I thought that was pretty cool. We came from Switzerland to Bucks County in Pennsylvania and came to Canada in 1802.

[Whitfield]

We are located in the north part of the CKL (Victoria County). Finished tapping 6500 taps on Jan 31. Started up the vacuum pumps on Feb 1 to check for leaks. Dumped the first sap, but still ended up collecting about 1400 gallons at about 1.5% sugar. Boiled on groundhog day.

Used to aim to be finished tapping by the last week of February, but since switching to check valve spouts have started tapping in mid-January. Normally our main run starts about March 20th and runs 3 or 4 weeks, but every few years we get some good early runs.

[MustardSeedMum]

Went to Weber's in Heidelberg and Reist's in Elmira yesterday to pick up some supplies. Weber's was a hoppin' place.

I asked prices for the Embee plastic buckets and the 5/16 bucket spiles.

Weber's were cheapest for buckets. 3 IMP. Gal. $3.95 and $3.10 for the 2 IMP. Gal.

Reist's were cheapest for spiles at $ 0.35.



Could you provide me the address details for Weber's & Reist's? I was planning on heading out to Atkinson's but going to Heidelberg/Elmira would cut my travel time in half!

Also, the prices you indicated - are they for the plastic buckets and the 5/16 eco-spile?

thanks in advance!

[argohauler]

Could you provide me the address details for Weber's & Reist's? I was planning on heading out to Atkinson's but going to Heidelberg/Elmira would cut my travel time in half!

Also, the prices you indicated - are they for the plastic buckets and the 5/16 eco-spile?

thanks in advance!

Reist Farm Supplies are at 6681 on the 86 about a mile east of Elmira. Phone # 519-669-1422

Weber's are the first farm east of the village of Heidelberg. They are at 2844 Lobsinger Line. Phone # 519-699-4769

Those are the prices for the plastic buckets and the plastic eco bucket spiles.

[MustardSeedMum]

Thank you @argohauler. We'll definitely check them out then.

This is my second year tapping, and I'm chomping at the bit to get going. So much that I had a glorious dream last night that the sap was gushing out! :lol:

[deckers007]

Anyone in eastern Ontario thinking of taping next week? Long range is starting to look good!

[Jerome]

I think I will give tapping a pass this year. We finally got some snow here in the snow belt last night (about 8 inches) but that is it for the year our fields were dry last year and we don't want to stress the 12 trees we tap any more then we need to if we have a dry summer.

[merrickvilleguy]

we're finishing up a trail this week and tapping next, maybe the week after.

[ca2devri]

I just put in 55 taps today. I'm told by others in the area I've missed out on 2-3 weeks of a really good early season. Just wasn't expecting to need to start so early. Hopefully there's still lots to come.

Chris

[Shepp]

Where can you get those check valve spouts in Ontario.?

[Brent]

you can get them at Loves Sweetness Maple. He stocks almost everything from Leader.
Steve Plume is the man. They will ship. They're near Hanover. I just got several hundred. 36 cents Canadian.

I'm up to 470 taps in now. There's a slight chance it will get warm enough here tomorrow for a run. Not much, but a chance.

email love'ssweetnessmaple@xplornet.ca
web site lovessweetness.ca

[argohauler]

Where can you get those check valve spouts in Ontario.?

Weber's and Reist's have them as well. See post 24 for addresses.

[Eric in Kinburn]

Anyone tapping already in the Ottawa valley? Long term forecast is starting to look about right, but it seems so early.

Eric

[Quabbin Hill Farms]

Still abit early I am near Brockvile and we ahve never tapped in feb, sine 1996 maybe next week hope you have a good year

[Yellzee]

ok, so restrung/repaired the lines today and tapped a whopping 3 trees. Way less animal damage than normal thankfully.

For the old timers out there that say it's too early, you are probably right but....

1. the leaves on the first wild flowers that normally come up in my woods about mid to end of March are up.
2. Different type of flower, the dead stalks have turned green
3. the wild grass on the west facing side of the hill is green
4. zero snow on the top and west of the hill

I took pictures of this and when I get a chance I'll try to post them

I have to figure if all the other plants are early, the tree buds will be to.

The 3 trees I tapped were running pretty good and it was below zero.. about 4:30pm.

hope to tap 100 or so tomorrow.

[phil]

Anybody on here from or around Haliburton county. just seeing if anyone has tapped or is really thinking of it yet.

[Maple Jay]

I gave in today and tapped my trees couldn't wait any longer as i heard it has been running in this area for a few days. Hung 32 pails today and another 8 on lines. They were all dripping pretty good as soon as i pulled the drill bit out.this week looks ok for a good run in my area in eldorado. this winter has been pretty weird so i hope i get a bit of syrup before the trees bud out.

[Brookmaple]

-16C here this morning. No one, to my knowledge has tapped yet in our immediate area (Holstein, ON).

Got about 10cm snow Friday night and Saturday. Enough to give us a comfortable snow base.

[MustardSeedMum]

I gave in today and tapped my trees couldn't wait any longer as i heard it has been running in this area for a few days. Hung 32 pails today and another 8 on lines. They were all dripping pretty good as soon as i pulled the drill bit out.this week looks ok for a good run in my area in eldorado. this winter has been pretty weird so i hope i get a bit of syrup before the trees bud out.

Where is Eldorado? I'm going to put out more buckets since the 10 day looks pretty decent. I'm in Erin.

[Yellzee]

tapped about 100 today, anything with the sun on it was running like crazy, other side not at all.

[Bruce L]

Started tapping late today,drilled about 250,some running pretty good,but still pretty cool.snow(or ice) was crusty and hard to walk on for tapping.

[Maple Jay]

It is 45 mins north of Belleville on hwy 62 just north of Madoc. This is at least 3 weeks earlier than when i usually would tap any trees.





2009-9 taps, boiled over an open pit made 7 liters
2010- built a 10 x 20 shack and a homemade boiler made out of an old oil tank topped with a 2 x 4 pan
2010-101 taps, made 37 liters
2011-41 taps, made 44 liters
2012-41 taps so far

[Maple Jay]

Where is Eldorado? I'm going to put out more buckets since the 10 day looks pretty decent. I'm in Erin.
i am 45 mins north of belleville on hwy 62.

[MustardSeedMum]

It is 45 mins north of Belleville on hwy 62 just north of Madoc. This is at least 3 weeks earlier than when i usually would tap any trees.

Ah, ok. We explored around the area from Cramahe east/northward to Stirling a few years ago.

I noticed in your sig line that you made more syrup last year with less taps than the year before. Did you do something different? If I get a litre of syrup per tap, I'll be very happy!

All the best for this season! It's going to be interesting for sure, with the weather we're having.

[markr]

Thinking about tapping near Bishops Mills maybe around Feb 25 or 26 have 2 trees tapped as a test they are running slowly

[Maple Restoration]

Well we did it and taped all our 600 trees on gravity feed on Monday, we will wait till March break to put up our buckets, sap is slowly starting to flow, will flush out the holding tanks this weekend and see what the sugar content is on Sunday and we may start collecting then. Still running out the last of the water in the lines it's starting to get sweeter it got to 0.9% last night we should be good by then end of the weekend. Looking forward to that first boil!

[Yellzee]

First semi run yesterday/tuesday night. Got about 50 gallons off the 120 or so taps. Was still running in about 6pm last night. More frost last night and high today of 4 with some sun so maybe a good run today.

didn't test the sugar content out. Had a really small boil just to sweeten the pan and test out the chimney... shack still standing so all went ok.

wont boil this down until Friday unfortunately... darn early season!

[Brent]

Total this year just over 5000 litres of sap.. Lots and lots and lots of new squirrel chews daily &^%$##

Got more shotgun shells last night. Pity.

[TwinBay]

In Parry Sound.
Hoping to set out some taps early next week.
Nightime temps -10, so want the trees to warm before we drill.

[Yellzee]

Got about 30 gallons of sap yesterday..... with the storm system here today and plus 2 this afternoon may get a run... but I must get in the final ice fishing of the year! here's hoping there is still some ice up north!

[deckers007]

Is it bad to tap the trees when they're frozen it's -4 here and I was going to tap 20 or so trees this afternoon.

[MustardSeedMum]

Is it bad to tap the trees when they're frozen it's -4 here and I was going to tap 20 or so trees this afternoon.

I'm no expert, but I think it's ok to tap. The big guys probably tap when things are frozen.
Just be careful not to split the tree when you hammer it in.

Looks like it'll be game on this week with nice looking temps!

All the best.

[timbers]

Better not to tap when frozen, less chance of splitting the trees.
Ian

[ennismaple]

You can tap as long as the sapwood is above -5 C. We put most of our taps in when its at the freezing mark or just below and as long as you don't try to drive the spout like its a 3.5" nail there's no additional damage to the sapwood.

[Chainsaw Baby]

I read that somewhere - tapping is okay above -5C. Dancing is fine above -30C.

[Yellzee]

Disappointing run yesterday considering the beautiful sunny +8 or so day.

One note to link up with the tapping at -5 thread... I put in my taps when it was pretty cold so I didn't hit them hard. Now looking around alot of them have air bubbles getting sucked into them so I know they aren't sealed completely. I'm using the seasonal clear 5/16 straight spout which you then have to remove the line from to tap them in again... which is a pain in the butt. You can kind of fold the line over and whack them lightly, but on a couple it actually cut through the line.

[Big_Eddy]

I tapped 100 trees late on Sunday the 19th. Trees were running well on Sunday, but haven't done much since. I have about 60gallons of slush in the main tank now and a pile of ice chunks in my collecting tank. We collected about 25 gallons last night which seemed low to me given the weather. Hoping today will be a better day.

The goal is to get at least 200 gallons before the weekend so that we can sweeten the pans and start to make some syrup. Be nice to have a little open-house for the friends and family on Saturday if things are flowing well.

I plan to tap another 50 as soon as I get a chance.

[ennismaple]

Disappointing run yesterday considering the beautiful sunny +8 or so day.

One note to link up with the tapping at -5 thread... I put in my taps when it was pretty cold so I didn't hit them hard. Now looking around alot of them have air bubbles getting sucked into them so I know they aren't sealed completely. I'm using the seasonal clear 5/16 straight spout which you then have to remove the line from to tap them in again... which is a pain in the butt. You can kind of fold the line over and whack them lightly, but on a couple it actually cut through the line.

Lapierre does make a tool for that so you don't have to remove the tubing to re-seat them:
http://www.sugaringequipment.elapierre.com/produits_en.asp?id_categorie=352&id_groupeproduit=184&page=1
Its in the top of the picture, bottom on the list (Driver for seasonal spout 7.75”)
They also have a video on their website on how to use the tool.

Since our droplines are not very long (28" to 30") we went with the 90 degree elbow spouts for our one section of the woods, which can be driven in using any hammer, pliers, stick, rock etc...!

[Yellzee]

thanks Ennis, I have to admit I've tried the stick and rock on the straight thru... the rock I really don't recommend.

[Yellzee]

bottle batch #1 at 7.5l, I'm grading it medium... tastes excellent... from 70 or so gallons of sap that's not bad.

alot alot alot of sugar sand in there, had a lot of trouble filtering it.. but my helper didn't filter it when going from the pan to the finishing pot.

[Brent]

It seems every year there is a lot of bitching about sugar sand. This year it's our turn.
We're getting so much that we need to change prefilters every 2 litres or so.

[longbeard]

What do you attribute that excessive sugar sand, Brent? Do you have any snow in the bush right now and is that a factor?

Got finished drilling here today so am hoping for some warmer weather - maybe Fri/Sat and towards the end of next week looks good! From what I gather the boys that drilled earlier in this area have only had one real good run so far, so hoping I haven't missed too much.

[Brent]

I don't think the excess sand is an issue that has had much research done on it so I don't think my opinion is worth much, but I don't happen to think it has anything to do with what's happening now, specifically the current weather or snow cover. I think the factors that affect this years sap happened last fall. Rainfall, sunlight, and even if there was a late season thunderstorm that passed over your bush and dumped a lot of nitrogen from the lightening.

[argohauler]

I haven't had any sugar sand in quite a few years now. I don't know why, but in my first years I only tapped hard maple and now I'd say I have more soft than hard.

When I did have it, I remember years worse than others. In those worse years, my uncle who lives 5 miles up the road was the same. He is all hard maple.

[ennismaple]

It seems every year there is a lot of bitching about sugar sand. This year it's our turn.
We're getting so much that we need to change prefilters every 2 litres or so.

I sympathize Brent - but hopefully this means its your turn this year and not ours! The sugar slime we got last year was terrible. We spent more time changing filters than anything else!

It can all change in a day. Maybe this snowstorm will help?

[Yellzee]

nothin happening in my woods last few days. maybe today but my gut is saying no.
At least we have some snow in the woods now!

[spud]

It seems every year there is a lot of bitching about sugar sand. This year it's our turn.
We're getting so much that we need to change prefilters every 2 litres or so.

I can see this as being a problem with your filtering. I was wondering what problems this sand causes in your pans? After boiling do you drain your pans and soak them with RO water?

Spud

[MustardSeedMum]

Forgot to filter out the debris from my sap pan to my finishing pot. So after finishing, I put the syrup through a prefilter.
Darn it, looks like I'm starting to get an excessive amount of nitre. Clogged the prefilter right up almost instantly.

Looks like I might have celebrated prematurely about my sap collection on Saturday. Volume of sap was great.
But when I went to boil it today, my sap to syrup ratio seemed worse than my first 2 boils.

Maybe tomorrow's boil will go better. I'm looking forward to it - cranking up the woodstove early tomorrow in -12C temperatures. With no sugar shack to speak of. :evil:

Stomping off to bed now.

[Big_Eddy]

Despite almost being blown out of the bush, we collected enough sap Saturday to get to 165 gallons in the tank. Lit the evaporator for the first time Sunday afternoon - while I was up on the roof replacing shingles, the kids were firing and they were averaging 20 gals an hour for about 4 hours, before we had to shut down for other things. (I don't know how they did it - I kept records last year and the best I ever did was 22 gals one hour, and 18 gals average over a 3 hour period. ) We're getting close to the first draw so may light it up again tonight and finish off what's left in the tank assuming it's not solid after today's freeze.

So far this has been the strangest season yet. I can't decide if this is going to be a lousy year, or if we just haven't really started yet.

I have 100 trees tapped - I'll probably add another 50-100 for the March break week, if the weather seems like it will cooperate. Certainly haven't been overwhelmed with sap this year.

[Brent]

Big Eddy
Glad you got some. I don't like what I'm seeing on the 15 day forecast on Accuweater. Too many temps up near and above 10 degrees.
I fear the buds are coming very early. God I hope they're wrong.

[Yellzee]

I was out in the woods with a helmet on and frantically trying to get the sap and get the heck out of there while the wind was breaking trees around me on Saturday.
finished batch #2 7 litres so up to 14.5 litres to date. More in the finishing pan now, but it will be a smaller batch.

I agree, not really any big runs so far in this area... then it turns real warm with above zero nights according to the weather man. Glad i'm not tapping any soft maple as they look ready to explode in buds.

Definitely more sodas consumed than syrup produced so far.

[Asthepotthickens]

We put in a few taps two weeks ago, sap ran and froze I collected it Saturday morning and boiled it down. This Saturday it ran again on Sunday morning it had ice on the top so I collected it and boiled it down. Good news the sap that was frozen for two weeks was fine very clear high quality syrup. Questions Will my taps dry out? I use the plastic tubing spout, blue hose into 20 liter pails. Also is it worth while to tap early you end up boiling down very cold sap and ice?

[Yellzee]

Had a decent day yesterday... was really running about 3pm, had about 60 gallons by 5pm, never got back to see how much more came out. Everyone of my 5/16 seasonal straight spiles were leaking... whacked them all in again... then found a few that had started leaking again. I'm sure I split some trees pounding them in as hard as I had to to stop the leaks. On the plus side, you wouldn't really know they were leakign unless they were clear.... I dont have enough vaccuum to make a noise except the top few on the hill... the rest you can see bubbles coming thru the tap or you can see that there it isn't full of sap.

[Brent]

Yellzee
you don't necessarily have leaks in the sense you think
you will get some wood gas sucked out of the trees even if the seal is perfect
I also found that I have tapped trees that have hollow sections from old damage. Hammer on the tree and you it makes a different sound than a solid tree. Some leaked so bad I pulled the taps and plugged the drop lines.

I got a 1-1/2 Hp high vac pump this year and got 26" for a few days then the motor crapped out. Now I'm back to just one 3/4 Hp Gast dry vane pump and I'm getting 20 - 21" but keeping the system tight is a daily chore. &^%$# Squirrels.

[MustardSeedMum]

I was out in the woods with a helmet on and frantically trying to get the sap and get the heck out of there while the wind was breaking trees around me on Saturday.

I think I'm past the point of exhaustion, but I found this completely hysterical. :lol: I was doing the same thing, except I had no helmet.

Wouldn't it be something if all of us crazy maple syrup people had a webcam attached to our persons. To give people an idea of what we go through to make this stuff.

[Yellzee]

I'm not sure I'd want the general public to see all the activity going on out there... perhaps just a film for the local producers so we can laugh at each other and relate to each others struggles. Whoever that was tapping oak trees for example... now that would be funny to watch. Or shooting apart our own lines with the shotgun trying to get a squirrel (not that i've ever done that)

[TwinBay]

Try trudging thru wet snow....not too tough
Carrying two 5 gallon buckets that are full......remind me not to gain 100 lbs.
Do it on snowshoes and you sink right to your own "spile"....a brutal 80 gallon collection today
Havin" fun, back at it tomorrow hopefully

[Yellzee]

TwinBay, I dont' know where you are located in Canada, but around here trudging through snow is not a problem... although it's solid ice where I drive the bike to collect.... yesterday bike and sled started sliding down the hill on me as I was filling it up... looks like another good day here if the sun stays out a couple more hours.

[DrewCP]

Put our 50 taps in on Wednesday afternoon. Amazing day to be in the bush. Sunny and a warm 10*C. Within a couple hours we were able to go back to 5 or 6 trees and pull out enough sap for our first pot of sap coffee of the season. Sitting on the deck in the sun in short sleeves sipping a sap coffee has got to be one of the top things I look forward to during syrup season.
Sap was showing around 2.25%. No complaints. Already collected 60gal in 36 hours.

Forecast looks poor. Temps are to range between 10-16*C from Mar 11-22. During this time there are no forecasted nights below zero.

[TwinBay]

Parry Sound-
We still have 3 feet of snow in the bush.
Soggy and wet mushy runoff snow.
ATV bogs down and snowshoes are all but useless.
Dragging 15 gallon totes out by hand and rope.
But at least we finally have something to haul.
Weather looks nuts for next 2 weeks....be a shame to have only one sap flow??

[longbeard]

I am getting a very sick feeling like this might be the shortest season on record! Had a very good run a couple of days ago (night too) and a good boil on the new (to me) evaporator but I need a LOT more sap. Looks like a good run coming on Sunday (maybe Mon) and I fear the very warm temps (day and night) for the next 2 weeks will end it prematurely. We still have good snow cover in North Simcoe Co. but it will disappear very quickly with warm days and nights.
Usually I can get some real differences in the weather forecast with the 3 sites I use (Weather Network, Environment Can. and Accuweather) but this time they are forecasting similar - which isn't good!
Can only hope the weather gods smile on us and send some cooler weather.

BTW Twinbay I used to haul on snowshoes and in 5 gal pails on some good hills too and many times I found myself facefirst in the snow with 2 spilled 5 gal pails (LOL).

[cavescott]

ya twinbay here ya about the snow depth. sort of sucks but think of it this way its gotta get better cant get any worse. you maybe should put 5 gallons in those totes till you get the trail packed down. snow is deep here too but we should loose a bunch next week and get some good sap runs. looks like here i get two days off from the sap hauling then back at it on sun day.

[Brent]

Try trudging thru wet snow....not too tough
Carrying two 5 gallon buckets that are full......remind me not to gain 100 lbs.
Do it on snowshoes and you sink right to your own "spile"....a brutal 80 gallon collection today
Havin" fun, back at it tomorrow hopefully

When we started here I was 60 years already. The bush is 800 feet from the house. I used to carry one 5 gallon water cooler jug in each hand and a third in a back pack. Now thing are different, thank god, because in a few days I'll be 66.

[Brookmaple]

Despite a Saturday overnight temp. of -16C, we had no run yesterday as the day time temp. only rose to +1. And last night the temperature only dropped to -1C. Today, could be our last day of the season if the long range forecast materializes.

With last week's only run, and mediocre at that, this is most definitely the shortest season we've had in 15 years.

From 100 taps, only 1 gallon of syrup to date!

[Brent]

this year has been the pits.

I started our vac pump at 3:00 AM ( are we desperate or what ??) with the temp at +3 deg.
I just came back from the bush and we are sucking sap into the releasers.
Got about 25 gallons in each, but they're sitting on a 6" thick cake of ice so we won't be able to start pumping for a couple hours.

It could go out with a bang. The tree tops are looking very thick and it's going to be too darned warm today.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

No posts yet on how everyone did today. That most mean that everyone is still out boiling the monster run? One of the larger producers in Ontario, Wheeler's, had this posted on their Facebook page this evening "Biggest sap flow today for many years... won't be caught up till sometime tomorrow(maybe even Tuesday)! We now have Light and Extra Light syrup available for sale." It's good to see that there are going to be some good runs today and tomorrow before it turns to June by the end of the week, with the golden horseshoe possibly reaching the low 20s. I worried about some of the smaller producers, mostly old-timers who always insist on never tapping before a set date, up here around Pembroke it's the 15th or 18th of March. The season might be nearly over by that time. I am going to go out on a limb and predict a major sugar snowstorm (8+ inches ) across much of the maple regions of Ontario, New York State, Quebec, and northern Vermont.

[CastorMaple]

Not sure what to think now. 100 buckets here, and only 40 gal of sap. Some buckets were overflowing (they had full sun all day) and some buckets were almost empty (deep in the bush). Not sure what to think. I have enough for a small boil today, and that'll be the first...and maybe last. Probably because of the new shack, new evap, new syrup pan, and I doubled the number of buckets for this year. Just my luck!:confused:

[longbeard]

We finally had a great run all day yesterday which kept us busy keeping up with the sap. Sure glad I pumped the vacuum tank into holding tank before dark since I just checked the vacuum tank and is almost full from overnite run. Expect it will slow and quit today and not sure if there is more to be had or not?

Sure could use one more run like this one but ........

Sorry to hear you are having more than your share of difficulties this year Brent - hope the rest of season goes somewhat better.

[Maple Restoration]

Well the trees finally started to open up we collected 100 gallons of sap, and boiled it down to sweeten the pans, it's looking to be a fast short season but colder temps are on the way!

Best of the season to you all!

[Farmgirl88]

This is our third year, getting a little bigger every year. We tapped Feb. 15, earliest ever! Yesterday sap was running so hard it was dripping on our heads from overhead! Had a big boil all day, got it close to finishing late last night, and will finish that batch today. Expecting a big collection today, but then who knows, with this warm stretch in the forecast, could be an early end to our season. So far every batch has been very high in sugar sand...sure hope this batch improves.

[Yellzee]

small run yesterday, amazing as I would have predicted it to be huge... just a slow trickle ... I took off maybe 40 gallons, it was still trickling about 7pm, so maybe it ran most of the night?

Frost on the ground outside this morning but not heavy... so maybe a bit more today. I'm at 21.5 litres at present, probably about 9 litres in the finishing pan.

BAtch I finished yesterday still very light.

One thing I was thinking... I haven't seen any of those moths that normally seem to end up in any bucket or container that has sap in it... I clinging to that as I sign that the season still has a ways to go if the temperatures co operate. Still lots of ice on my trail and a bit in the woods...

[Brent]

I was up at 3:00 AM to start the vac pumps as the temps hit +2 deg.
We finished 125 L from 650 taps. Still got about 300 L of sap in the tank to run today.
I saw 3:00 AM on the clock on the way to bed.
Needless to say, not moving too fast today. The tree tops are looking full and black. At last sunlight last
night we could see the red from the buds on top. We left the vac running all night but if we get anything fresh,
we'll be keeping it segregated until we can tell if its buddy.

At this point, we're almost exactly 1/2 of what we got last year. I would have been a little better if we had not let some sap spoil as we tried to get caught up with the season in in the sugar shack.

[Brent]

Where is Eldorado? I'm going to put out more buckets since the 10 day looks pretty decent. I'm in Erin.

I don't know what forecast you're looking at but the AcuWeather shows only one freezing night in the 15 days forecast, and that's March 25.
The trees are all going to make buddy sap in the next day or two. I wouldn't put any new holes in them at this late date.

It's over for us down here.

[Brent]

Jen just came back from the bush. Maybe about 300 more gallons in the tanks and buckets are about 1/3 full.
AND it's still runnig.
Boiling in the kitchen to test for buddy sap now.

[MustardSeedMum]

I don't know what forecast you're looking at but the AcuWeather shows only one freezing night in the 15 days forecast, and that's March 25.
The trees are all going to make buddy sap in the next day or two. I wouldn't put any new holes in them at this late date.

It's over for us down here.

Brent - you picked up my post from Feb 20. Not putting any taps in right now!

I'm in BIGTIMESAP! Ran out of storage. Yesterday gathered over 200L, and the buckets were still filling up last night - had to let them overflow. Today I've picked up another 200L and it's still flowing. Strangely, it appears that we went below 0 up here. Not sure if it's my higher elevation - I'm hoping that'll help my season a little. Doesn't smell buddy yet. I'm boiling like a fool right now. Praying hard that the rain will hold because that'll slow down my boiling.

I might have to let go of some sap. :( On the buy list: another storage barrel and a more efficient evaporator.

Or I could reduce the # of my taps....NOT!

[Brent]

Sorry bout that MustardSeedMum. Up to 3:00 AM boiling.
Punch drunk is an expression that comes to mine

[MustardSeedMum]

Sorry bout that MustardSeedMum. Up to 3:00 AM boiling.
Punch drunk is an expression that comes to mine

:) No prob. We're all sleep deprived. By the way, did your wife ever get to put her buckets up?

[Brent]

:) No prob. We're all sleep deprived. By the way, did your wife ever get to put her buckets up?

She only got half of them up. She emptied them last night at 11:30 PM and about an hour ago, after doing several trips to the releaser tanks, she got
back to them again and many were overflowing. So far another 300 gallons of sap today. Can't keep up.
More stupidity coming on posts tomorrow. More sleep deprivation.

[Yellzee]

Brent you are making me jealous... gossip from my house is that I have only about 35 gallons of sap only today.

[MustardSeedMum]

I'm in the same boat as Brent (on a smaller scale) - can't keep up today.

I'm swimming in sap. Running count today is over 200L with probably another 100L out in the buckets. Had to pull 5 gallon buckets off 10 taps :o for sap storage. And I'll probably have to let more sap run into the ground. :(

Can't boil any faster. So frustrating.

[Yellzee]

I ended up with around 45 gallons total yesterday. Don't imagine anything running today, but will optomistically check tonight.

[Ren]

Just finished taking down buckets. Sap is running good but I noticed it is starting to turn yellowish and not clear like normal. Ants,moths and honey bees are all over the buckets. Now the cleaning begins.

[ennismaple]

We got close to a gallon per tap Sunday and over a gallon per tap yesterday. I'm praying the weatherman is wrong about the coming week...

[Yellzee]

Ennis, thought about it too late.. but drove through Lanark on Saturday to go to the Sens game... should have arranged a visit. Didn't even think about it until I saw the Lanark sign.

What does everyone think is going to happen to all the maple festivals scheduled at the end of the month? I know the Maple in the County is the last weekend in March... seems unlikely they will still be going at that point.

[Brent]

We're done.
Nothing from the bush. Buds are popping, bees everywhere.
When the rig was cool this morning I drained the flue pan into ten 5 gallon pails. Plugged the syrup pan. Put well water in the feed tank, flooded the flue pan with well water and boiled off everything out of the flue pan. Boy did I learn to appreciate float box valves today. Topping up the syrup pan by hand was a bitch. Got about 18 gallons of AMBER :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: First time in 6 years we've made amber. Been trying to make darker syrup for the customers that want it. Finally got it.

Roughly 1/2 of the total take as last year. Going to raise our prices a bit. It will never make up for 1/2 the crop lost, but it will make the wife feel better.

[TwinBay]

Hey Brent-
We are in Parry Sound.
Looks like we will make 40% of last years crop.
Weather is predicted so warm we might put the boat in !!!

[Yellzee]

Bottled a few more last night so I'm up to 31 litres.... last batch is in the pan to boil down today.


We did however get a light frost last night.... so who knows maybe today will be the miracle run.

otherwise I'm looking at less than 40 litres from 120 or more taps... at least I wont need to get as much wood for next year since well over 1/2 is still in the wood shed.

[MustardSeedMum]

Yesterday it got up to 15C (60's) Collected about 100 liters (24 gallons). It went below freezing Monday night.
Some sap was yellow, but most were still clear. Thinking that the yellow was from the rain Monday. Keeping this batch separate just in case it's bad.

Pulled all my 5 gallon buckets so that I could store all the sap from Sunday and Monday's run.

Last night it went -3! Sap has slowed down, but it's still dripping and clear. Do I still collect it or does the daytime 15c temps mess me up??

[drpud]

Pulled all my taps yesterday and finished my last batch this morning at 2 AM. 30 litres total from 65 taps for the season which ran from Feb 16-Mar 13 for me this year.

Paul

[Yellzee]

mustardmum... keep boiling if the sap tastes ok. Yellow doesn't scare me, seen it several times.

[longbeard]

Well Brent, if it makes you feel any better I finished up yesterday with a total almost exactly 50% of last year production!! Seems like I just finished tapping and I am taking the spiles out - hard to believe. The only good thing about it is, cleaning up today in my shorts and short sleeves - last year at this time I was making my first syrup!!
As someone mentioned downthread, at least I won't need so much wood for next season and my new (to me) evaporator worked great. Looks like the leaves will be out very early this year and only hope they don't freeze off like they did a couple of years ago.
What a year - robins are back, grouse are drumming, woodcock are peenting, etc. somehow I think we are going to pay for this weather?

[Asthepotthickens]

its appears to be over here in South Eastern Ontario. Was geared up to make about 15 gallons this year ended up with 6. Not bad got me off the couch and out in the fresh air love it

[Brent]

For the first time we got all the sweet out of the flue pan, and re-calculated the haul for the year, ended up with about 90% of last year which is
450 L / 110 Gal. Happier today than yesterday. We lost about 700 gallons at the beginning because we didn't have our act together in the sugar shack,
(evaporator in peices for cleaning etc ) If we had managed to save and boil that, it would have been a record year, but alas, it was what it what was.

[MustardSeedMum]

Brent, that's good to hear...your totals, not the 700gallons.

Would it be accurate to say that you got that 90% in a shorter amount of time? How long did yr season last?

Here in Erin, some of my trees are still giving up some sap. Whether it's buddy, i hv no idea...i'm still boiling off the sap from the wknd. I NEED A BIGGER RIG!!!! :mad: sorry, I needed to vent...

There's still a nip in the air today.

[Yellzee]

althought trees not budded in my woods, with the look of the 14 day forecast I think I am going to abandon ship and pull the taps this weekend. Might as well get everything cleaned up and drained before it sits for 2 weeks in very warm weather. Worst year ever for me by far. AT least I have 2-3 weeks to get caught up on chores outside I wouldn't normally get.
Could go camping this weekend from the look of the forecast...... at this rate the black flies will be out before April.

[Brent]

We lost a lot of our Alfalfa because of poor snow cover so last Saturday we did a frost seeding. Some of them are sprouted already.
Good greif, it's the middle of March. !!!

[MustardSeedMum]

Still boiling sap collected earlier in the week (kept cold with frozen sap which i'm switching out often)

There's something wrong with making syrup & battling mosquitoes at the same time.:o

[DrewCP]

Finally got to boil Thursday. Had about 160 gallons of sap saved up. Ran from 9am to 7pm. Reduced 100 gallons down to 10 gallons. Very suprised at our evap rate considering that it was a rainy cool day. We use 2 turkey fryers to preheat then transfer the boiling preheated sap to the Small Bros 3x2 on a temporary block arch. We got an evap rate of over 10gph. Not bad for a couple amatures. 50 taps only produced 15 gallons of sap in the last 2 days........ Pretty sure we will pull the taps on Monday. Hope to get 5 gallons of syrup of this probable one and only boil. Oh yeah, sap was all between 2.5 and 3% Right about where it was last year.


56815682

[Yellzee]

Gave in and pulled the taps today. Trees deep in the woods look ok, but anything on the edges buds are exploding... soft maple beside my house looks like it will have leaves in the next day or two. Lines flushed out, drums washed up.... still one pot to finish. On a depressing note, I had trouble flushing a couple of my biggest lateral lines... couldn't even blow them out... and when I cut them off the main lines I found the holes on the ainline fittings completely plugged with some kind of ooze.... guess that is why I didn't have any big runs this year... half my taps couldn't get their sap into the mainline... called myself a few names and learned yet another lesson

[Buckshot]

Well I'm still at it. Trees ran some today but don't know how with no freezing in the last week. Either way it won't add to much with no freezeing in sight. This year is coming to an end just about as quick as it started. I'm sitting right now with only 12.59% of what I should have made this year.(17L of the 135L I expected)

[Big_Eddy]

We weren't making much syrup, so we tapped an extra 50 trees last weekend and had 2 good runs out of those. I boiled everything we had on tuesday and drained the sweet out of the flue pan and dumped it into the syrup pan to finish. There was still a bit of sap flowing in the week, but not enough to even bother trying to collect. I would need another 150 gallons if I were to sweeten the pans again and boil more, and don't see that happening any time soon.

My total for this year was 42 litres from 100 then 150 trees. I did 120 litres from 10 trees last season, and 37 from 100 in 2010, so this would go down as our worst yet. We even tapped earlier than usual, on Feb 19th. Oh well - I guess my prices are going up.

I will leave the buckets out for another 1-2 weeks until the buds show, but not very hopeful.

[Brian66]

Sap was running a bit today in Parry Sound, very strange considering the weather. This heat is making sap storage a problem, so accumulating enough to boil is a challenge. It was 25C outside the shack and 40C inside! I'm going for a shower now.

[skokasweetwater]

same here in bracebridge brian....really suprised its running at all considering the rediculously warm weather. ive frozen my sap from the last 3 days since it wasnt enough to boil. sunday and monday finally look like the night temps are good. hopefully the trees dont bud out by then!

[chriscris]

Pulled all the taps over the weekend, and boiled the last 2 gallons.
In total we produced 12 gallons of syrup. Way better than expected.

[cavescott]

Collected 60 gal of sap today. Storage a problem here too. To warm. I guess im lucky for my elevation only 3 nights it hasnt froze so far. Doesn't look like its going to freeze again tonight. Hoping to get a bit more time in, its my first year can't learn it all in a week and a half.

[Boulder springs]

Hey Scott,
I tapped 525 on gravity and had five boils. Sure is a warm year. Can't believe I'm still makin' syrup.

Boulder springs,
Emsdale

[cavescott]

Well today was scary first day that I've went out and everything was dry. Now I know what people are talking about when they say it wasn't running. Have confidents it will come back though. Monday looks good and hopefully they have screwd up the forcast for Saterday and Sunday they just need to be a couple degrees off and they have certainly done that before.

[Asthepotthickens]

Just curious, why preheat on propane? Costly. If anything I finish on propane only if we have a lot of sap easier to extract a couple of gallons of near syrup and continue to boil on the wood heat

[Brent]

Just curious, why preheat on propane? Costly. If anything I finish on propane only if we have a lot of sap easier to extract a couple of gallons of near syrup and continue to boil on the wood heat

I scanned this thread to try to find what promted your question but couldn't find anything. Anyway, I preheat with propane for about 15 minutes at the beginning of each boil. My theory is that when you first start up, your pans and really cold, near freezing. Your fire is relatively cold and smokey. To me, this is a perfect set up to get creosote to condense and deposit on yourcold pans. I preheat until the stack temp is up to about 150 deg. and there is steam in the front pan. We started doing this mid-season 2 years ago and we have found almost no creosote on our pans.. Soot yes, but it brushes off very easily, and we get bright stainless under the soot. We're not the only ones on this forum doing this.

[Boulder springs]

Scott, I went scoutin' around, checkin' the buds. I believe it's finally happened here buddy. Sorry to tell ya. Think the boilin's done.

[DrewCP]

Just curious, why preheat on propane? Costly. If anything I finish on propane only if we have a lot of sap easier to extract a couple of gallons of near syrup and continue to boil on the wood heat

Presume this is in reference my post a page ago?

I guess it depends on what you consider expensive. Propane is $15 or so at Costco for 20lb. We set our fryers to alternate coming to a boil every 30-45 minutes. At this rate we get 12-14 hours of use on a tank of propane. Total cost to preheat and finish with propane is probably less than $50 for us. (less than half a tank of gas in the truck) I suppose it is all relative. In the short and long run it would be far cheaper just to buy our syrup at the grocery store...........

[markcasper]

Presume this is in reference my post a page ago?

Propane is $15 or so at Costco for 20lb. At this rate we get 12-14 hours of use on a tank of propane. Total cost to preheat and finish with propane is probably less than $50 for us. (less than half a tank of gas in the truck) .

You are being ripped off BIGTIME. You need to make friends with a farmer that has a corn dryer.

[Brent]

We still have some propane in the first 20 lb tank of the season. A good deal in my mind for much cleaner pan bottoms.

[markcasper]

What I meant was......find a cheaper way to 20 lb. tanks, not that preheating with gas was not a good idea. The stores totally rip john q. public off on propane gas for bbq grills..etc, its a racket, that why i found another way.