2012 season - SE MN

[Peepers]

The 10 day forecast is all above freezing temps - since I tap silvers that get buddy fast I try to catch the first good runs. The ground is still frozen hard here but what little snow we have is melting fast. Unless the forecasts change it might be a really early year here in SE MN. If we keep hitting mid 40's and the forecast stays warm I'll probably throw a tap into our big fenceline box elder in the next couple of days to see what it does. I just hope with our fall drought that we have enough ground moisture to get some decent sap.

What is everyone else thinking about this weather?

[RileySugarbush]

I may go tap some Sugars that I normally don't tap just to see what they do. I think it is too early, even with this crazy warm weather.

[mnguy]

Here just north of the twin cities some of the maples have sap running down them from wounds. I also tap silvers so not sure what to think. Rileysugarbush let us all know what you find if you tap.

Mike

[dufftj]

I looked out my bedroom window after I got home from work and I noticed one red maple that was soaked from about 30' up to its base....Then I walked my property and noticed multiple maples with sap comming out of wounds. This is my first year tapping and I'm starting to get really excited, don't know how much longer I can wait to tap.
Tim

[RileySugarbush]

I drilled two sugar maples today, some of the low land trees right by the sugarhouse. Usually these run early, but they were dry. I went back an hour latter and saw some wet bark so I put in some spiles and hung bags. Now, a couple of hours later I have my first sap of 2012. Not much. One tree is dripping once per 10 seconds. The other once per 6. I am not sure what to do at this point. I am going to wait another day and see what happens with a full days run.

[Peepers]

I drilled a few holes in a field & yard edge box elder around 4:45 that is usually one of our early trees and the shavings looked pretty dry. I'll watch those holes over the next couple of days as well as the 10 day forecast. I tend to get the itch early and have to restrain myself from tapping too early. :) We still have around an inch of spotty/slushy snow on the ground and with the fog haven't seen the sun in two days now. I guess if it starts hitting 40 again for a few days with no cold snaps in sight it might be time to tap for real. Realistically I think the big sap is still at least a few weeks out though even with this weather.
Still hard to believe that its groundhog's day and the 10 day forecast only has one day with a high under 32. Maybe our two weeks of winter in early January was it and now its on to spring. Either that or after all this warm weather we'll get a late Feb - early March cold snap that is really going to screw up the plants and trees. Weird stuff.

[SDdave]

I think you may be right Peepers, with the late Feb. early March cold snap. But then again it could be like 6 or 7 yrs ago...mid 60's before St. Patty's, and the sap ran early here that year. I just don't know about this weather. I think I am going to hold off until March 1 for tapping. Unless this itch becomes a rash.:-|

Wish everybody the best of luck this year.

SDdave

[MN-SAPPER]

I too am Getting the Itch, i am in the north metro as well. this weather is making me wonder if i should be tapping, although i am not ready(building a homade oiltank evap) so I do need a few more weeks. I also dont want to miss the sap run either, thanks for the info, this is my 2nd year. I also tap mostly silvers.

[justin]

slow the bits down its still early here in mn. If you tap to early you might get a dry tap in the mild-season.

[Peepers]

yep, I agree with you Justin. The 10 day forecast is looking closer to normal now - still warmer than ave but many more days with highs around or below freezing than there were a few days ago. If this above ave weather trend keeps up it still looks to be an early season especially for us with silvers. Silver sap (at least in my neighborhood) gets buddy a lot earlier than sugars and box elders.

[rgoullaud]

Just drove the neighborhood in Plymouth, Mn Many huge silver maples and was stunned to seen buds on the branches of most trees.

[Peepers]

Yeah the silver buds like to start swelling early as a reminder that the season is approaching. :) With barely any snow on the ground I'll probably tap the next time we get a string of sloppy 40+ degree days going. Looking at the 10 day "forecast" that could be around V-day but considering that the past few days were supposed to be 40+ and weren't anywhere close who knows...

[RileySugarbush]

The two trees I tapped on the 2nd have a total of about a quart of sap. We were right to have waited.

[Peepers]

The box elders I drilled holes in didn't do anything at all even at 45+ degrees and full sun today. With all that fog the past several days we still have a bit of crusty snow around and besides the top 1/2 inch or so the ground is still frozen hard. That sun is getting up there though, I have a little coldframe and it was around 95 in there today. I think we'll be planting some cole crops when the next serious warm snap and tapping time hits. It's time to get the equipment and wood prep wrapped up - that sun and 40+ temps sure felt good today!

[SDdave]

Does anyone have tapping start dates from '04?

SDdave

[TBone]

Does anyone have tapping start dates from '04?

SDdave

Hi Dave,

'04 was my first year - I put in 18 taps the very start of March. The sap flowed right through the middle of April. I got 6 gallons of syrup total.

[justin]

a litte pre-sap in my test trees too and low sugar. maybe 16th if it look good i will tap 400 on vac and see. Hope for good year

[SDdave]

Thanks TBone. I was curious about that. The weather this year and in 2004 are quite similar down here by Sioux Falls. Hardly any snow, warm temps, ice on lakes below normal, hardly any frost in ground.. etc. etc.
I am a landscaper, and I remember that year all too well. Fall of 2003 we were landscaping well into Dec. and started in '04 well before March 15th. My wife is a CPA and I was putting in more hours per week than her in all of March and April. So off of my memory I believe this year will be the same as in '04.

Does anyone else have start times for '04?

SDdave

[SilverLeaf]

Any updates from anyone in the past week? I haven't drilled any test holes yet, but I broke off a twig on one of my maples yesterday and it didn't take too long for a small droplet to form.

It's getting to be really hard to wait (especially with this week's forecast, which, after today's brush with snow, opens up once again to perfect sugaring weather: highs in the upper 30s/40 each day with lows in the low 20s), but my gut is still telling me it's too early yet. The NWS's climate prediction center is showing a likelihood of temps in MN being more or less "average" for Feb-April (no prolonged heat snaps or cold spells forecast), though I don't really know how much stock to put in that:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=1

[SDdave]

I must apologize for my over anxiousness earlier. I think I will be tapping no sooner than the first weekend in march.

[Peepers]

Silverleaf - if the 10 day Weather.com and NWS 7 day forecasts stay the way they are now without an end to the mid-upper 30's then I'll probably try a few more taps later this week. The trees I tap are all in yards and field edges where they get good afternoon sun/warmth so they start early. I don't have a ton of taps and the silvers I'm tapping produce buddy sap a few weeks before the sugars do so I try to make sure I don't miss any early runs. :)

Sunday it was right around 31-32 here and the sun was warm enough to get a few small maples making sap-cicles but the big box elders I test-drilled on 2/2 stayed dry.

This winter was another la nina year so NWS was predicting cooler and wetter than average but that hasn't happened yet. I don't think the long range weather models know quite what to do with this so called winter. Weird weather stuff going on for sure. We have sandy soil here so I hope we can kick this drought.

[SilverLeaf]

Well, after driving home from work yesterday and seeing virtually every maple trunk literally drenched with sap from any little wound or branch cut, I couldn't take it anymore. It just seemed like there was way too much sap a-flowin' for me not to be partaking, so I drilled a test tap this morning before work to get some "hard data". The result from today (a perfect sap day with a high of 42 degrees)? about 1 cup of sap. Much lower than I expected, given how much sap was coming out of the trees, plus the fact that I really don't think we have any frost in the ground. But I wanted to share with you all the good news that it suggests that we're all still on the right track with the "wait and see" approach.

I'm kind of expecting the trees to wake up in SW MN before most of the rest of the state. Our daily highs have been consistently 5+ degrees warmer than Minneapolis. Not sure what this might mean for you though SDDave....

[SDdave]

We are not too far behind you. First, I have to say God bless my wife. She is due any day now. Last weekend she asked me if I was going to sugar this year with the new one on the way. I told her that I have been thinking about it a little ;). Anyways she told me that she expected me to do it this year but to a lesser degree than the last year. So we agreed upon 3 to 4 gallons of syrup. But I still have to wait a week after the new one comes, which puts me to tappin' the first weekend in March still. Who knows if I'll reach the 3 gallons this year. Sugarin' is fun, but being a new dad again is more important this year to me.

If I don't tap at all, who's willing to give me a tour of their shack this summer?

SDdave

[SilverLeaf]

Wow, dave - you've got quite the catch of a wife there! :D Sounds like a reasonable compromise, and it looks like you've got your priorities in the right place. Good luck with the baby!

I don't have a shack (yet!), but if you're ever back up visitng your family in the Russell area you're more than welcome to swing by my place just north of Marshall. PM me if/when you're interested.

[SDdave]

She is a catch all right. I think I will take you up on that offer. If you're going to tap some box elders save me a pint. I think I'll be back home quite a bit this spring/summer/fall. Parents and in-laws want more trees and a lot more landscaping done.

RileySugarbush: Do you offer tours? I think I have a couple of weddings this summer in your neck of the woods...or close enough.

Good luck to all.

SDdave

[RileySugarbush]

Dave.... Of course we are happy to show anyone our operation, such as it is..! Let me know when you will be around.

John

jabushey at mac dot com

ps: two test taps in for two weeks. Less than one gallon total.

[mnguy]

Just thought I would add to the test taps. I have had one out just north of the twin cities for about a week now and still dry. The odd thing is though as Dan mentioned a lot of the trees are drenched in sap from wounds over the so called winter we have had.

Mike

[warners point]

Check out the forecast from www.johndee.com He has a fairly accurate forecast compared to the national websites. It looks like we might finally get a couple of weeks of real winter weather.

Friday, February 17, 2012

HIGHLIGHTS:

Things were fairly quiet snow wise in most of the region in the past 24 hours, with a bit of light snow falling in portions of northern MN, the UP as well as into the northern 1/2 of lower MI. Most totals were under an inch with that activity.

The forecast still holds very little in the way of new snow for the region through the weekend and then some snows are seen for the northern Midwest the early to middle of next week and LES could get heavy late next week. A big storm is still seen as a potential in the 11-16 day period.

1-4 DAY FORECAST:

Things will be remain fairly quiet across the region for the next 3 days. A few light patches of snow are possible across areas of the northern Midwest from time to time (see maps), but none of these snow areas look to bring more than a dusting to an inch. The exceptions could be in the western UP tonight and early tomorrow, where an inch or two is possible.

By Monday, an area of low pressure looks to bring some snows to the Dakotas and NE and then those snows will spread into MN and NW IA Monday night. Most totals with that activity look to be in the 1-4" range, although some 4"+ totals will be possible in eastern SD, northeast NE, NW IA and western MN.

Temps today will run above average, with above freezing temps in just about all the region. Slightly cooler air will occur for tomorrow and Sunday, with most of the Northwoods to stay below freezing for highs.

5-10 DAY FORECAST:

That system impacting the far NW Midwest Monday and Monday night will work east and looks to bring a couple of inches of snow to all of the UP and most of WI and lower MI, with some light rains south of that.

Yet another system is indicated by later Wednesday into Thursday and Friday of next week. It still looks like that system will be a strong clipper that intensifies further as it drops into the Great Lakes. The net result to this would be for a general 2-5" to fall in most of the Northwoods, perhaps even most of MN, WI and MI.

Cold air dumping in behind the system also looks to get lake snows going at a pretty decent clip by Thursday and Friday and they could even continue into Saturday.

It's still too far out in the forecast to be trying to put a ton of faith into the exact details with this system- especially the LES totals, but if things pan out as currently indicated, there could be some areas that see 1 foot plus totals in the UP LES belts, with some fairly healthy LES possible in northern lower MI as well.

Temps for early next week look to be a little cooler than this week, but still above average, with the freeze line generally sitting around the southern edges of the Northwoods. By the end of the week, arctic air looks to settle in and send temps to average and even below average levels, with the freeze line being pressed into portions of the central US.

11-16 DAY OUTLOOK:

The models continue to be onto the thinking that a fairly large scale change in the upper air pattern will unfold as we go through next week. Initially that change will be noticed with some colder and snows in the northern Midwest, but there are also ideas of a large winter storm to impact the northern Rockies by around the weekend of the 25th-26th and then work through the northern Plains and into the northern Midwest by later Sunday into Monday.

I will continue to remind folks that the forecast in this time period is always wrought with uncertainty due to it being so far out. So I would right now put the odds on the pattern change somewhere between a long shot (10%) and a reasonable possibility (45%). Also even if the pattern were to change, there are no promises that it would be a long term thing and could amount to just a 4-6 day window of cold and snow in what has otherwise been a very quiet and mild winter for these areas.

Behind the storm, conditions could be quite good for a multi-day period of LES across the UP and western lower MI.

So it is still something to be hopeful for, but still not anything to get too excited about just yet. I suspect that by early next week, confidence will be higher as to if this change and the big storm will pan out or not.

[StewieSugar]

I'm in SE MN (Chatfield), and the last two weeks of warm weather got me itching too much. I had to get out.

I just finished tapping half my trees. We're in bluff country; the trees on the south-facing hills were running while the trees on the north-facing hills were not. The forecast looks good this week, so I'm hoping to cook two or three days. After that, who knows what the weather will bring us...

[Peepers]

Good luck with your future sap hauler SDDave! :)

Here in Hastings we hit mid 40's again today and put in a couple of test taps in silvers with East and West field/sun exposure this afternoon. One was oozing really slow, one was dry. I'll check the pails tomorrow but I'm not expecting much and I think the forecast is looking like a holding pattern for the next week with that cold air coming and decent frost in the ground still.

The big box elder I drilled in two places still hasn't done anything.

The township had some tree trimmers driving around the roads yesterday and they buzzed a couple of branches off at the trunk on one of my front yard silvers facing the road. The top 3" branch probably 15+ feet up was wet yesterday and today but only oozed down the tree a couple of feet today so not much going on there. The lower branch was smaller and was dry both days. Both have full afternoon sun but the yard is still frozen hard. Even with the weird so called "winter" it looks like we might be tapping in March after all.

[TBone]

I put in 4 taps today. 3 in Red Maples and 1 in a Butternut. All dry.

Anyone else ever tapped Walnut/Butternut? I tapped a big Black Walnut a couple of years ago - 5 gallons of sap boiled down to a quart of syrup at 66 brix. That's 20:1 sap:syrup. So the sap is much sweeter than my average maple sap where I average about 35:1.

[SDdave]

I'll post it here first for the MN guys.

New sap hauler delivered last night. Mom and bouncing baby boy doing great. I am tired. One more post in sugar inn for tonight, and probably for a little while.

SDdave:D

[RileySugarbush]

Congratulations Dave!

[zzammon]

Congrats Dave. I put a test tap in a large boxelder yesterday. Had about a cup of sap in one hour. Might be time in Mankato.

[SilverLeaf]

Congratulations Dave! What's the new little guy's name?

Quick update on my test tap: still getting only about a cup of sap per day, plus or minus. For kicks, I tested the sugar content - granted its the first sap of the year, but not bad at 3.75%

[warners point]

Congrats Dave!!

I just got word from my folks who live up at the sugar bush in McGregor. The local we let tap about 100 trees put his taps out this morning. In my opinion, that is way to early for that far north. I told my mom to make sure that dad doesn't get to anxious. We are planning on putting ours out around March 10.

[SDdave]

My little guys name is Dylan. His bigger brother (3yrs old), is quite happy, but a little jealous. I might have;) to tap some trees soon! Finally got a chance to watch the weather...looks like a cold snap coming at the end of the 7 day? who knows anymore.

Good luck to all,
SDdave

[dufftj]

ok guys i know its a couple of days later but I tapped a large silver in ST.Paul on Sunday afternoon and it has sap running before I could get the tap in........At home later in the day I tapped a few woods reds.....The large silver made about a gallon and a half by the next day and the reds only a couple of cups......Boiled it down on my stove and had some really sweet first time syrup! Although it was only about one quarter cup or so......Cant wait for some big runs so I can try out my makeshift evaporator....

[StewieSugar]

Anyone else ever tapped Walnut/Butternut?

My woods is quite diverse, and I wasn't sure of some trees. During my first year, I accidently tapped walnut, oak, ash, ... None of them produced any sap - while my maples were running strong. I've since learned how to recognize the trees, so sap production is up. ;)

Although I have heard of tapping birch, I haven't heard of tapping walnut or butternut. What's it taste like? Is it temperature-sensitive like birch?

Also, got any spare butternut trees you'd be willing to timber? Woodcarving is another one of my hobbies, and butternut is great for that.

[TBone]

My woods is quite diverse, and I wasn't sure of some trees. During my first year, I accidently tapped walnut, oak, ash, ... None of them produced any sap - while my maples were running strong. I've since learned how to recognize the trees, so sap production is up. ;)

Although I have heard of tapping birch, I haven't heard of tapping walnut or butternut. What's it taste like? Is it temperature-sensitive like birch?

Also, got any spare butternut trees you'd be willing to timber? Woodcarving is another one of my hobbies, and butternut is great for that.

Walnut syrup is mostly just sweet - not a lot of flavor like maple. Don't know about temp sensitivity - I just boiled it down like maple sap. No sap from the butternut yet this year.

I only have a couple of butternut in the yard. None available for timber.

[dufftj]

Hey everyone, Collected another three gallons of sap from a large silver in St.Paul today....Not much out of my woods trees at home....I'm sure those will come around in a couple of weeks...:)

[dlucas]

We tapped 90 silver maples on vac today. All of the taps in the sun were wet. I know the forecast calls for cold still this week but I have company coming next weekend. Hoping to tap another 30 or so on buckets in the next couple weeks.

[SDdave]

Tappin' on sunday. I think only 5 or so for this year, kinda busy ya' know.

SDdave

[warners point]

Well I think I'm going to start tapping this weekend. I was hoping to wait until March 10, but the forecast just looks to good for next week not to have some taps in. Probably do 150 this weekend and another 150 the following. Still seems like there is a ton of stuff to do...

[StewieSugar]

With my 20+ taps, I've collected about 20 gallons of sap so far. Plan to fire up the cooker on Sunday. I spent two days modifying the cooker this winter to make it more efficient - can't wait to give it a whirl.

[mrnorthshore]

I am north of Duluth by 70 miles, anyone put there taps in yet up this way.

[WI Sugarpop]

Dey still have trees way up der?

[SilverLeaf]

Well I put in my first 20 taps last night, and am aiming to do some each day to get most if not all of my taps in by the end of this weekend in time for the big thaw a'comin. I am not very happy about the long-term forecast though. You folks north &/or east should have some great sap-flowing weather, but way down here in the SW corner I'm not sure what's going to happen - it looks almost like spring will be here. After Monday, highs are pretty consistently close to 50 with most lows barely breaching the freezing point.

Good luck to all!

[Tonka Grove]

I think we're going to tap some this weekend. It will be what it will be.

[Peepers]

Starting to tap trees here today. First tree had 3 or so inches of sap in less than four hours. Tapping the rest of the trees in the next day or so.

[sk8heaven]

I plan on putting my taps in this weekend.... highs next week barely touching 40 according to the National We Are Always Wrong Service, I mean weather service. Usually up here I don't get the good weather till later in March but I hate to miss out with the way the weather has been so weird this year. I may put in the 1st 100 and see what happens.

[SDdave]

big thaw a'comin. [- it looks almost like spring will be here.

Just look at it this way Dan...at least your buckets won't be swimming in the river this year, but you'll have to swim in the mud to get to them. :lol:

SDdave

[Leo]

Hi. I tapped 2 reds and 2 sugars yesterday at Aitkin as a test. Even though it was 46 degrees here all 4 taps were dry- not a drop! I may check a few more this weekend, but I guess no hurry to get them in this far north.

[MN_Maple]

I am thinking that with the big thaw next week things should start running pretty good. I was going to wait till the 10th by I think I will put everything out this weekend and see what goes. If it is like the rest of the winter....... Who knows

[RileySugarbush]

Same here. We are tapping on Sunday

[foxtail]

I drilled a 10 inch box elder on Wednesday and it didn't produce a drop. The next morning it was still dry as a popcorn fart. Didn't look at it today.

[Peepers]

1 of the 6 taps I put in produced a few gallons mostly on Thursday. Friday was pretty slow for my silvers but a neighbor's sugar maple was all wet. I'll put in the rest of my taps tomorrow. Next week looks like the real fun starts for us.

[SilverLeaf]

Just look at it this way Dan...at least your buckets won't be swimming in the river this year, but you'll have to swim in the mud to get to them. :lol:

SDdave

Very true!!!
It is rather amazing how different things are from year to year. Last year, between the six-foot snowdrifts and the flooding it was dang near impossible to get the sap out. Had to go in on foot & couldn't get the truck in anywhere near 'em. This year? Geez, today we put in 100 taps and pretty near drove right up to each tree.

[syrupdreamer]

Hung 300 bags today, some were dripping right away. very nice day for tapping. Good luck to all, this week looks like perfect sap weather!

[RileySugarbush]

160 taps in this afternoon. Taps in sunlight were flowing a bit.

[MN_Maple]

Got all 300 taps out over thee weekend. It was a lot of work but nice to see things finally in place. Also got the shack setup finished and ready for a test boil on Tuesday night. Hopefully all goes well. Kinda coming down to the wire.
Tim

[muddyfootprints]

Its good to have good friends and family, I had to be in Texas last weekend for a army retirement, so I couldn't be at the sugar shack but thanks to great friends and family they got about 300 taps put out. It is here

I hope to have a busy up coming weekend with cooking and more tapping.

good luck to everyone.

[SDdave]

I got a question for ya' all. I checked my old tap holes and a handful of them haven't fully sealed up yet. I know I tapped to only 1.5" depth. Just curious as why?

SDdave

[warners point]

We got our 300 taps in on Saturday. Dad says he might put in another 80 if he feels like it. He'll do it because there are still some very productive trees to tap. Got the sugar shack all straightened up and ready for the weekend. Father-in law is coming up this weekend for the first time. Lets hope we get some nice freezing nights to go with the perfect days!!

[foxtail]

After work today I went to the woods and started tapping trees. I think I must have done more than 50 in less than 2 hours.
This was a lot of work and the hard stuff is yet to come. Tomorrow I have off. I will probably run out of taps and bags, but if so, I will call it good enough. Some trees flowed immediately, others seem to be dry. I guess we will have to see what happens.

[SilverLeaf]

I got a question for ya' all. I checked my old tap holes and a handful of them haven't fully sealed up yet. I know I tapped to only 1.5" depth. Just curious as why?

SDdave

Are they old trees or younger trees? In my experience the older the tree the slower it fills the hole back in. Although even my older ones still pretty much have the hole closed up by a years' time.

Boy, today was sure a beautiful day, wasn't it! Sap flow out my way was still pretty meager though.

[justin]

SD dave Are you tapping 5/8,5/16? The 5/8 tap will seal up in 2-3 years.The 5/16 seal up1-2 years and the tree will not split on smaller trees. The 5/16 will get the the same amount of sapas 5/8.

[Leo]

Hi. I put in 110 taps almost all sugars at Aitkin on Monday and Tuesday. All were dry except 4. Today the 4 had maybe an inch in the buckets.

[Pine Tree Lake Maples]

Hi all. I put 41 taps out on Saturday with drops to 5 gallon buckets. So far I have only collected about 2 gallons and most of the taps are dry. With the weather this year do you think the trees will produce vety much? I just started last year with 5 taps, so I am very new to this. I am located in white bear lake.

[davidpetersonmn]

I have 105 taps in a mix of sugar and silver maples in wright county with maybe a total of 2 gallons of sap collected thus far.

[mnguy]

I put in 100 taps last weekend. The 86 that I have farther north near Cambridge are dripping slow. The 14 I have at home I have collected 20 gallons since last weekend.

Mike

[SDdave]

Sorry for the delayed response Silverleaf & Justin. I have been using 7/16" taps. The trees are older I guess, the ones that didn't really heal over from last year are really close to the gravel road. Don't know if that would make a difference or not. I have been toying around the idea of using 5/16" tubing spouts next year and run tubing to a central tank.

Yesterday was a beaut. Got to 69 F. Sap flowed all night so far have ended up with 20 gal. on 10 taps over 3 days. Pleased so far. 10 day forecast does not look good though.

Havin' a great short season,
SDdave

[Pine Tree Lake Maples]

The 15 day forcast for the NE metro only shows 3, maybe 4, nights below freezing:( big bummer for me as I moved from 5 taps last year to 41 this year and invested in the equipment. Oh well, there's always next year right. Its still a good excuse to get outside and into the woods!

[Peepers]

I noticed that mine didn't seem to heal as good from last year either. maybe the dry fall made for less growth overall last year. hopefully this growing season is more "normal" (whatever that means these days).

We got about 15-20 gallons of sap from our 22 taps collecting yesterday. The silvers in our front yard that are sitting in slop and water right now are producing the best. One of our neighbor's double-tapped silvers is in a shadier woodsy area and still froze in pretty good so it hasn't done anything. Three single tapped sugar maples are barely doing anything and five taps in some huge field-edge silvers aren't doing much either. Hopefully we'll get some crazy runs with the freeze/thaw over the next few days. I hope the weather guys are wrong or this could be it for our silvers. The sugars don't even look like they have buds on em yet.

anybody boil yet?

[justin]

The healing of the tree is just a sign of the health of the tree, not just the dryness of the weather. If tapping more than 2 taps per tree and not healing over or starting to heal you should tap less the following year. The bigger and fuller crown size of the tree, generally means a healthier tree.

[Leinie]

Collected about 8 gallons from 10 taps. Tapped them Tuesday afternoon , emptied them this afternoon.

I'm making some big iceblocks out of it. Sounds like I'll need it according to the weather reports

[Minnesota Acer]

Put in 33 taps Friday thru Sunday, then added one Monday and another Tuesday. Silvers and Boxelders. 6 taps (silvers) are in the neighboorhood and have been doing all right. Although, the tree I tapped yesterday gave a gallon and half today and one tree with one tap gave four gallons. I checked it last night and it was at about a gallon and when I checked it tonight, it was to the top (5 gallon bucket). So, either someone has a sense of humor or this tree will have another stellar year. The remaining 4 have given about 3 gallons. Going to check on the other buckets tomorrow after work. Excited to see what they do, although, I too am bummed by the forecast. This weekend might have me pulling taps on some of the silvers. Fortunately I have boxelders tapped, so I'm expecting more time out of them.

[mrnorthshore]

Just got 800 taps in ( 2 long days and its done!!!) got very little sap today, I will have the vac pump running sat.

[StewieSugar]

Got about 30 gallons of sap from 36 taps today. Best run so far this year, but nothing like last year. The forecast for SE MN (Chatfield) is 60's and 70's for at least the next 10 days - and in the 40's at night. I fear this season might be over. I have more taps than ever, and I'm getting less than half the amount of syrup. Although it's nice being outside, it's been lousy for syrup.

I plan to pull the buckets tomorrow to avoid mold growth, but I'm thinking about leaving the taps in for a week to see if the weather dips down in temp next weekend. Any problems with leaving a tap in like that in such warm weather?

[SDdave]

Done on Sunday as well. 7 day season. :( Oh well always next year.
SDdave

[warners point]

I put in another 70 taps this morning for a total of 350. Only a trickle coming out of a few of them. Went and checked back around 4:00 and the entire bush is still a sleep. Some taps were dripping but the majority are still dry. Could it be the deep frost this year? We might have 2 more days with freezing nights in the next 5. It will be interesting to see if we return to normal temps next week.

[lastwoodsman]

Bags are almost empty here in east central mn. About 3 gallons on vacuum today. That is about 80 trees and 300 total with bags.
Nothing happening yet here. Hoping for a good day tomorrow.
Woodsman

[RileySugarbush]

I added 20 more today for a total of 180. The fresh taps ran very well. Collected for the first time this year and got 60 gallons. Many taps still totally dry.

[davidpetersonmn]

I collected 5 gallons from 105 taps today.

[mnguy]

I pulled 30 gallons today on 100 taps in the north metro. Pretty disappointing this year so far. Not sure if they have just not started to run yet or what.

[Leinie]

I pulled my taps today. I had a total of 15 gallons of sap. I had almost 250 last year.
I gave the sap to a local park (Murphy's Landing) that has a maple syrup demonstration every year.
I figured it wouldn't be worth the time and effort to set up and boil.
It'll be better next year- right ?

[RileySugarbush]

Leinie, I think you gave up too soon!

[Minnesota Acer]

Collected 25 gallons from 17 taps today, but 13 of them were a first time gathering after being out for a whole week. My running total thus far on 18 taps is 35 gallons. I also have 18 more taps on Boxelders that I'm yet to collect, but when I checked them on Friday there was about 3 - 4 gallons, but I left them in the bucket. Plan on collecting those tomorrow. Judging by the forecast, the season will be over soon, barring a strong cold front that resets the trees. Looking too boil real soon.

[MN Jake]

I pulled 16 gallons today from 30 taps. 8 of which were put in about 1 Oclock today. Those were almost a stream at first then two hours later were almost dry. Kinda bummed about that but good news is the sap hydrometer was showing 4-4.5%. Pretty happy about that.

[Peepers]

sap was starting to run here on my silvers last night (Friday) at midnight when I let the dog out. Had a few full buckets by 11am today and most silvers were running good then. 23 taps on silvers gave me about 25 gallons of sap as of 11am, I didn't collect after that - was busy boiling. Of the three sugar maple taps I have, two of them had about a gallon each and one in a shadier spot was still dry. This is my first year tapping these sugar maples but the buds on those are nonexistent so I assume they are still sleeping.

I was boiling outside in short sleeves today and was wishing I had shorts on, WTF???? Just finished about a gallon of syrup and I have about 15 gallons of sap left + what's in the buckets, that'll probably be it for me this year as the silvers are going to bud out fast with temps in the 60's all week. All my trees are in yards or part of a field-edge windbreak so no deep woods here.
I hope we get a serious cold snap in April so that all of you around here with sugar maples will get some sap and so that the orchards don't get messed up again. A couple years ago when it got unseasonably warm early like this the apples all budded out around here and then many got nipped by frost in early May. Maybe these messed up years are becoming the norm instead of the exception? Maybe I need to look into a small vaccuum setup for years like this...

[Leinie]

Leinie, I think you gave up too soon!

Well, I'm betting the weather guys got it right this time. My taps are all on silver yard trees and I'm expecting buds by next Sunday.
With the warm weather storage problems, the weather reports, the time and effort to setup, and then tear down and clean everything for a gallon or two , I decided to wait till next year.
Heck, they're talking ice out on Minnetonka this week !
For the rest of you guys- I hope I'm wrong !

[mnguy]

Pulled 20 of my taps today. 80 left farther north. Boiling what I have. Maybe 3 quarts. Hardly worth the effort. Hopefully the trees up north will do something this week. If. Of I am pulling the taps. Talked to my brother out in Maine they are having same problem. No sap

[warners point]

The trees started running a little today. Dad collected about 30 gallons this afternoon. I'm hoping that we can get more in the next couple of days, but am worried about the warm weather. We are going to hang in there until April though and see if things improve. What is there to lose at this point??

[MN_Maple]

I had about the same weekend as everyone else. I have everything I need except SAP. First year all on my own, whole new setup. Going like crazy for the last 6 months of weekends..... Now it is like I am all dressed up with no where to go.... But I am with warners point. Going to just wait it out and see what goes nothing to lose at this point. Hate to wait all year just to pull early.

[mnguy]

Well maybe there is some hope yet for this year. My nephew just called from up by Cambridge. He pulled 30 gallons today from the 80 taps I left in. The 20 I pulled this morning the buds were opening as others are seeing. So far up by Cambridge the buds have not even started to swell yet.

[Peepers]

Big news today were two of the yard silvers flowering out. One with silver bud flowers about half way down the tree, one flowering about 95% of the tree. I barely believed it when the wife told me this AM, I didn't even look up yesterday when I collected thinking it wouldn't happen until later in the week so I don't know if they were flowering on top yesterday or not.

Collected another 35 gallons of sap mostly from yesterday's run from my other 19 silver taps. A bunch of fenceline silvers were running big time this afternoon but the rest in yards were barely doing anything. Still no action on the three sugar maples. Most of the other silvers didn't look to be close to flowering yet and sugar buds aren't swollen at all. Hopefully the rain tonight/tomorrow might kick some more sap out before the silvers all bud out. Maybe the sugars are waiting for St. Patties day?

[mrnorthshore]

Got about 10 gal of sap today on 800 taps pulling about 18-19", all sugar maples. Dont think it pays to run the vac yet!!!

[Peepers]

We collected about 10 gallons today from the few silvers we have that aren't totally budded out and the two sugars that are slowly running. I ran almost all of my old sap tonight and drew off as much as I could before switching over to this new stuff just in case it's buddy. I'm guessing that I'll end up with about 3 gallons again this year after significantly increasing my taps to 20 silvers and three sugars. Tomorrow I start the cleanup wearing shorts since its supposed to be 75 here. Saw a bat flying around tonight at dusk, I guess spring has sprung. Glad I didn't push too hard to get my new pan built this year, ugh.

[Leinie]

Peepers, you have time for fishing now. I heard the Walleye are biting like crazy on pool 4. Just sayin !

[foxtail]

I pulled everything today. No sense in having moldy equipment or sour sap.
When I pulled the bags were fuller than I have ever seen them this year.
Tomorrow I will finish the last 30 gallons or so of sap and finish for the year. Except for clean up.

[Peepers]

fishing sounds like a good plan Leinie - I'm more of a bass/northern summer fishing guy (when its not ice fishing season). I've been down here 7 years now and haven't tried fishing for eyes in pool 4 below the nuke plant yet. With the warm air temps and low river flow this might be a safe year to try. Syrup season is done, no toe warmers or dodging logs in floodwaters required so maybe I should fire up the boat :)

We got another 10 gallons of sap today from the few silvers that weren't all budded out and the 3 sugars we tap were trickling a bit more than before, ran that as a mostly separate batch and started cleaning up and pulling taps. Last batch was pretty dark and starting to taste really mapley - almost buddy. We've seen butterflies, bees and the dog had a deer tick on him yesterday. Anyone seen a mosquito yet? If summer is starting already in March I'm worried what July and August are going to be like. Who knows, maybe winter will start in September...

[warners point]

We boiled down about 100 gallons last night, so now the pans are sweetened. Trees are still only giving up about 25 gallons a day. We had a good freeze here last night so hopefully we get something today.

[RileySugarbush]

We sweetened with the first 60 gallons last night. Collected 80 just now. Trees are running a bit. More than I expected with the warm nights. Boiling at 7:00 tonight.

[mnguy]

We just collected 120 gallons up by Cambridge. The trees are running good. Hoping to get another 100 gallons by Saturday. No buds on the trees up there yet.

[doop]

Hello fellow sugarers. I'm just outside of cloquet tapped 100 trees on Saturday collected 5 gallons yesterday.getting nervous with forecast for next week or so glad to see your getting SAP in Cambridge maybe it'll work its way up here tomorrow or the next day.

[SDdave]

Collected about only 100 gal sap this year, got 'er down to 12 gal of sweet. Now I have to find time to finish it. (one bad thing about warm weather coming early is the wife makes your summer honey do list earlier and longer.)

Take care all,

SDdave

[mrnorthshore]

Got about 175-200 gal today from 800 taps. I need about 100 more before I can do my first cook down.

[doop]

Still not running here. Starting to slowly drip a little though.

[dustinanderson]

I got 5 gallons off 20 taps this morning, then i tapped 33 more in the afternoon because sap was runnin again. Should have ten gallons to collect in the morning. Doubt it will run with these temps though.

[dustinanderson]

I have light purple tinted sap coming from two trees... Anyone ever had this?

[doop]

Finally started to run late morning and some ran real good this afternoon but this crazy weather has me worried. Hoping to get enough for 1 boil anyway.

[RileySugarbush]

We have had a slow but steady run on many of our sugars. Made a bit over 3 gallons of delicious dark amber this afternoon. Saw a sugar maple with very swollen buds an the other side of the lake, so we may be done.

[dustinanderson]

Out of 53 taps i got 9 gallons in 3 days....Looks like the faucets are turning off.

[ThiefCatcher]

Finally had 6 gallons from silvers on 10 taps yesterday in the Milaca area. It was the first sap I collected this season.

[Gissert]

I got 60 gallons off 140 taps yesterday morning, got 5 qts lovely dark amber from that. Pulled another 65 gallons this morning. (Ottertail county)

[RileySugarbush]

Sundays collection, about 80 gallons in the evening, yielded about 2 gallons of very dark, grade B last night. Yesterday's collection of about 15 gallons was decidedly buddy, and we used it to flood the flue pan while we finished carefully on the front with the valve closed. It protected the pan, but what a stink!

So we are done here. Most disappointing year of my sugaring career.

[BC Birch Tapper]

I've had some of our birches turn pink at the end of the season. Quite common, a bacteria or yeast thing

[SilverLeaf]

All my taps are now pulled and the last tiny batch is finished & filtered. Gonna wash my buckets out tomorrow and call it a year.

In addition to being the worst year in my short sugaring experience, it also was the wierdest. Most trees didn't do squat (my average was less than 1/2 gallon of sap per tap), but I did have a couple trees that gave decent. The wierd part is they were bone dry until after their buds had opened, and then, on one of those 70+ degree days they decided to wake up and ran real good for a day or two. Good (not buddy) sap, too...!

Already looking forward to next year! (Also enjoying the fact that the woodpile is all ready to go...)

[SilverLeaf]

Most disappointing year of my sugaring career.
Just curious, John - how many years have you been at this?

[RileySugarbush]

Just curious, John - how many years have you been at this?

I think it was 1996 that I tried to boil on my Charmglow grill. Maybe that was the most disappointing!

[doop]

Well we tapped 110 trees on bags on the 10th and so far only have collected 55 gallons. Hope the trees don't bud before we get some cold weather. Don't look good though.

[GramaCindy]

I tapped 87 trees in the 11th pulled Taps 11 days later. 9.5 gallons of sap in the freezer. All of my reds are fully budded, maybe a friend's sugars later?…...

[davidpetersonmn]

I have 105 taps and have collected approx 180 gallons of sap. I am pulling taps this weekend as all the sap is now coming out cloudy. I had some trees giving 5 gallons of sap a day.

[doop]

This is my just my third year tapping, and only tapped sugars how long after reds start budding do the sugars start budding approximately?

[mrnorthshore]

pulled 700 gal on 800 taps at 2% best run for me this year.

[sk8heaven]

After a lot of worrying that my syrup season was going to be a bust, the frost went out of the ground on Tuesday and I have been collecting 100-150 gallons a day from 250 taps all week. YEAH! I am afraid that with the warm temps and now rain, the buds will be appearing in the next day or so but until then I am in sap heaven!

[Gissert]

Been having a good run in Ottertail County this week. Been pulling 80-100 gallons a day all week on 140ish taps. The first 3.5 gallons was some fantastic dark amber. two gallons I finished today was still good, but the end is probably nearing. Ran 100 gallons thru the evap today and will finish in the morning. If its marginal, I'm pulling the plug.