Sap Runs

[ebourassa]

This is my 3rd year making maple syrup every year i get a little bigger, the one thing that i can never get right is how much sap i might get today or tomorrow, For example i thought today i would end up with at least 200-250 gal of say out of 310 +/- taps, it was 43 and sunny with a slight breeze, i always thought these were the days we waiting for, to my surprise i only had 110-125 gal of sap, now my question is what weather are we looking for to get those so called big runs 1-1.5 gal per tap that hear people talk about :?: The only time i get a big run like that is the first few days that I tap, after that i really never get a big run. I have 300 taps on tubing between 2 bushes, all are gravity feed, and ten buckets. I am hoping to get some feed back on what kind of weather we really need to get that abundance amount of sap. any input would be greatly appreciated.
Erik

[mountainvan]

sap flows like a woman, you never know what its going to do!! I get my biggest runs when it's mid 20s at night and 40+ during the day. don't get many "perfect" days in a season.

[Russell Lampron]

Like mountainvan said mid 20s at night low 40s during the day are best. I have seen good sap runs on days when it shouldn't have run at all and I have seen it not run when it should have. What it all comes down to is that when the trees decide it is time to run they will run.

Russ

[royalmaple]

I also think it depends on where you are tapping. For example, I have around 225 taps in currently, all but say 25 are in the woods, thick woods at that. Most of my trees are small, but in sections I do have some nice healthy rocks that are say 14 - 20 inches in diameter. For my land one of these trees is a treat, but I have yet to see "roadside type" maples in the woods. I am sure they exist somewhere but not around me. At best tap holes are wet now in these trees, most are bone dry.

Now down the street a mile is another producer and they basically tap all roadside trees, 2 -3 taps and sap saks per tree, right down the road.

I saw them tapping Sunday, and sunday night most bags I saw were at least 1/4 full, hours later. Today most bags were at least 1/2 full and I am getting drips from one of my main lines with 50ish taps on it. Jealous? You bet I am.

Same weather but world of difference between us. So I think to some extent you need to take someone's "run" with a grain of salt. There are so many variables to look at. Just like they are certainly getting 1 gal /tap/day now but I still have some trees bone dry.

maybe my trees will wake up in another week or so of decent weather. I have my doubts that I will ever see 1 gal / tap / day out of many of these trees but I would like to be a believer...time will tell.

[softmaple]

well i have about 50 taps in, i have had my best runs before and during low pressure days. my very best run was a couple weeks ago. it was chilly out and rain was in the forecast for the day. i came home not expecting a drop to ultimately find a total of 90 gal in my buckets. i have not yet hit that mark again, but 60 gal several more times was hit. my avarage is 40 gal a day. so rainy days don't bother me too much when it was warm and clear days prior.

[VA maple guy]

My best run this year came two days after we had 12" of snow. I collected about 160 gallons. temps went from the low 20s to about 50 we had bright sun and almost no wind.
Gerry

[Sugarmaker]

Best run in five years was 850 gallons on 375 taps. All roadside big maples. We put on the miles to get them, but they do produce. Today was 20 deg at 7:00 and stayed gray all day, maybe reaching 34 deg. Not a good run day, just thawed the ice in the buckets. I always look for a storm front coming in rain is good too. Best run this year was 580 gallons on 415 buckets. (we have only had two runs since we tapped Feb 23) On a good avg run I would expect 1.5 to 2 gallons per tap. Currently at or slightly above freezing and may run through the night.
Chris

[sapman]

An old-timer used to tell me sap won't run well on any east wind. Or south wind, for that matter. Seems to hold pretty true around here.

And I agree, when you don't expect it to run, it does great. One super day several years ago, the temp was mid thirties all day and cold rain.

Tim

[ibby458]

I started keeping decent records last year, and only twice did I get the fabled 1 gall/tap/day. My season long average was .71 gallons/tap/gather. Even that figure is deceptive. On several occasions, it froze up hard and I left the ice in the buckets and gathered it when it thawed and ran again, so it may have been a couple small runs in one gather.

My trees are 75% roadside maples, with 25% sugarbush. (All hard maples) About a 50/50 mix of huge, old trees, and younger 1 bucket trees

[lew]

We always look for that mid 20's at night and 40's during the day associated with a low pressure system forescast, a rare commodity. Like sapman was saying, USUALLY when you get a south or east wind the sap will just dribble and dirty up your tanks. But I do have to admit that my best run ever was in a hard south wind with no freeze for three days. We had two pickups with 350 gallon tanks on them gathering 2700 taps. We gathered 21 hours a day for three days straight. Everytime you got back to a bucket or tank, it was ready to run over. Never seen anything like it. Its a good thing we were just selling the sap at that time, because there was no time to boil with just two of us gathering. tha run went against everything we think we know about sap running. That run was close to 20 years ago. Now that I have been in the business long enough, I know enough to know that I don't know much about this business.

On another note, I have several of you out there talking about "the fabled 1 gallon run". A 1 gallon run is a decent run in my book. Obviously we get smaller ones, but we also get larger ones. These last several years have not been conducive to large runs in our area. But when we set up a woods, we almost always select our tank size for 2 gallons of storage per tap hole. Have seen several times when this wasn't enough. Again, the last 6 to 7 years have not been great years for big runs and 2 gal. per tap storage has not been needed. But I will continue putting out this much storage space. Any thoughts?

[mapleman3]

yep not a run yesterday.. mid 40s sunny... go figure, today it's going to rain/sleet, watch this will be a good run and have to collect in the crappy weather.

[maple flats]

We had rain all day temps in low 40's, overnight last nite was 30. about 220 taps in, only got 45 gal sap. One location is on mature roadside sugar maples on new tubing(60 taps) and buckets (28), buckets are yard trees, this is where all sap came from, my woods trees did not run yet except one small 20 tap section on 3 yr old tubing gave 5 gal sap. I still have not boiled but will during the day tomorrow as the rain and slowly rising temps overnight will likely keep sap running so mid morning I will finally start the evap up.

[oldemaple]

I've found that I get the best runs when the temperature gets down to about 25 at night and 45 during the day with a gentle wind from the west. "Wind from the North, not a drop. Wind from the East, sap runs least. Wind from the South, look for a drought. Wind from the West, sap runs best."
Steve

[Jim Brown]

I have to agree with everyone else. We thought this was the weather we were waiting on but maybe not.My 350 on tubing in the woods only ran about 100 gallons today but 40 buckets in the yard ran 30 gallon.Go figure!

[mcsap]

I always have to check my enthusiasm here in west. Mass. I work down in the CT River valley but live up in the hilltowns. Yesterday for example, it was mid-40s at work, but I came home early at 3PM to hang some more buckets and it was only 36 at our house. Trees were running when I drilled them, but today I might have got 15-18 gallons out of 45 buckets. Tonight it was 30 when I got home at 7PM and there was just a skiff of icy snow on the driveway.

John

[maplehound]

I have about 600 taps out. On Tues night it got down to 22 deg. and on Wed. it got up to 40 deg. (It was a cold 40 though with no sun) We brought in 300 gal ov sap during the day. That night it didn't get below 40 so it ran all night. My vaccuume ran probably till midnight when the gas in the generator ran out. This Morning our 500+ gallon wagon was full to within a couple inches of overflow and the 300 gal tank (now on gravity only) was clear full and the lines backing up. I would say I got over 1 1/2 gal. per tap last night. It also ran all day today and brought in another 500 gallon at least.
Ron

[WRMAPLE]

An old time sugarmaker that taught me everything I know about sugarin always said "The sap runs the least when the wind is in the east and the sap runs the best when the wind is in the west" I am sure many of you have heard that but some may not have. Good luck and we should finally have sap this weekend. Good luck to all, I hope you have a fun season

[Russell Lampron]

WRMAPLE, I have heard that saying before but have had alot of potential good runs shut down by that cold west wind.

Russ