Tapping in Oregon

[Oregon sugar bush]

Though the sugar content may not be the greatest , the weather was perfect. Put out 20 two gallon buckets on our 55 plus year old sugar maples and the sap was singing. We shall see.

[tuckermtn]

where are you in Oregon?

[Tithis]

Seeing the title I was thinking you must have been tapping bigleaf maples.

How do the sugar maples fare in Oregon? I've heard when planted overseas in europe they tend not to make many seeds.

[Oregon sugar bush]

No...sugar maples that were planted in the mid-fifties. we are blessed to have them. By far, my favorite tree. Gives you a brillant show in the fall and sweet sap.

Our make lots of seeds..the nurserymen who live in the neighborhood love it. We give them the seeds and in return, they give us some trees.

[Oregon sugar bush]

where are you in Oregon?
East of Portland about 28 miles...in the Sandy River Gorge.

[BoarsNest]

Didn't know that you could make syrup in Oregon. Our son is in Corvalis and we ship him maple syrup from Michigan.

[Oregon sugar bush]

I think we are the only ones.

[Oregon sugar bush]

Though the sugar content may not be the greatest , the weather was perfect. Put out 20 two gallon buckets on our 55 plus year old sugar maples and the sap was singing. We shall see.

Out of 20 trees tapped from 10 am-4pm today we collected 7 1/2 gallons of sap. Dont know if the yield is low or high, or normal compared to back east, but we will start boiling what we have.

[Oregon sugar bush]

How long are the drill holes good for? And how long can you leave the spouts in so you do not hurt the tree? Can I leave them in until 1st of March?

[BoarsNest]

I'm pretty new to this too, but I leave my taps in until the trees start budding. The sap seems to turn yellow and doesn't smell quite right. If you just tapped as long as the weather freezes at night and warms up during the day you should be good for a month. 2010 was my first year and we had a three week season. 2011 was 5 weeks long. Having fun is the main thing.

[maplefrank]

are you still making syrup in Oregon??

[Oregon sugar bush]

We are though today may be the end of it...very warm. Spring is right around the corner.