Starting in Victor NY

[backyardsugarer]

If the forecast holds for next week I am going to tap super bowl sunday. Right now the 10 and 15 day forecasts both look ideal for making good syrup. I know those forecasts aren't ultra reliable but every meteorologist says that there is not a significant pattern change in the forseeable future. I will let you know how it turns out.

Chris

[SPILEDRIVER]

dont know where victor is but im in broome county rite below whitney point and im tapping this friday(3rd),i have a mix of maples with alot being silvers and with this weather were haveing im scared there gonna bud out alot sooner than normal.....exstended forcast for our area looks ideal for big sap

[ponderingjunkman]

Going to try to get ours in tomorrow here i greene county. The only thing we have ready is the big holding tank...:D

[Troutman10]

I'm in the Canandaigua area and looking to tap a few soon to see how things are goin. The weather looks decent. My operation is tiny, but my growth is slow and steady. Not really ready yet. The excitement of getting things ready is fun though. Good luck!

[backyardsugarer]

Tapped super bowl Sunday. Collected 1300 gallons of sap on Monday and Tuesday. Boiled down into about 17 gallons of the lightest syrup I have ever seen. Looks good for tommorrow and Friday and then again by next Tuesday. Make hay while the sun shines i guess.

Chris

[briduhunt]

What is your sugar count. If I see what you said you made 17 gallons of syrup on 1300 gal of sap. That works out to be about 76.5 gal of sap per gal of syrup. Is this all true or am I missing something?

[danno]

birduhunt - it takes many gallons of sap to sweeten the pans and I'm sure Chris has 50 gallons of sweet in his pans now when he shut when he ran out of more sap to put through. On my 3x10, at the begiining of the season, I'll boil a few hundred gallons of sap before I draw my 1st gallon of syrup. After that, it comes quicker.

[grimmreaper]

i live in rome ny............... and started tapping today...its going to be a short season i'm guessing, if you cant get what you can you wont have anything.while i was tapping today with no snow cover,i looked to the ground and new grouth is coming out of the ground (similar to like a tulip).its too early you would think for stuff to be start growing..oh by the way im still waiting for my new pans.who needs sap close to me,maybe we could work out some kinda deal?

[Mountain Winds Farm]

Finally have all the heavy lifting done, tanks in place, evaporator cleaned and ready, new (to us ) busch vacuum pump ,wet line installed out to first intersection. added about 150 more taps and we are going to start tapping Monday after the cold weekend ahead.Looked back at our journal and that is when we tapped last year. So all we can do is hope it works this year.Good luck to all

[backyardsugarer]

Sugar content is 7.5% after I ro it. One bush is 2% and my other woods with big trees was 2.5% I boiled 120 gallons of concentrate to sweeten the pans so it am doing better than 75 to 1. Thank god. Get tapped this weekend in this area or you may miss it guys. Good luck

[Mapleridge]

Looks like Sat - Mon is going to be really cold here in north capital area, so we are going to wait till Sunday and tap. Still earlier than any other year. Will be intersting to see what kind of season everyone has. Good luck all, and hope the season is long. It will be nice not to have to dig snow to get to the trees.

[backyardsugarer]

Dsiappointing day Thursday. Sunny and temps around 37 but the sap never really got flowing. Stiff wind probably didn't help. Got 200 gallons of sap. Gonna combine that with todays flow and process tonight. Cold ones available in victor if anyone wants to boil and watch tv.

[Troutman10]

My buddies were lookin to tap a few yesterday. I wasn't sure how things would end up with that wind blowing. It was quite dissapointing as you said backyardsugarer. Wish that wind was calmer. I think the weatherman said the temp with windchill was in the low 30's. Maybe late next week it'll be better!

[danno]

Still holding off just east of you, Chris. But have been spending allot of time in woods adding taps. Looks like things here didn't thaw today till mid afternoon and than re-froze by late afternoon. Looks chilly next 5-6 days. May wait another week, maybe more, unless I see some 40's in the forecast.

[backyardsugarer]

I'm up to 35 gallons of ultra light syrup. Running decent today through Friday. Should have 25% of my crop made by the weekend.

[backyardsugarer]

Made 75 gallons of ultra light so far. No change in color yet. I really need to make some medium and dark. I am sure that will come. Cleaning all the tanks up today to get ready for the big sap coming this week. Good luck everyone.

Chris

[backyardsugarer]

Been sick with the stomach flu all week. Woke up wed with tanks overflowing. Running the last 600 gallons through the ro. Syrup is still light. I will have just over 100 gallons of light amber by the end of today. Next week looks good too.

Chris

[HandsomRiver]

Do you think the activity is off on mapletrader because of the strange weather ?

[danno]

Heck of a start, Chris. Weather's been good for us too. Finally got tapped out last week - I'm at about 35 gallons, all light which is unusual for me. Good flavor too. Note to self - make sure stubbies are plugged at the end of the season - wound up haveing to replace about a 1/3 of my stubbies while tapping as they were plugged from bees. Turned a day and a half job into 3.

[backyardsugarer]

Glad to hear you are started Danno. Just bottled up the last of it from this week which puts me at 106 gallons. Just turned to medium so I cleaned eveything up good today. Not that I want to make any more light. Medium and dark are really popular with my customers. Looks like a great week ahead so enjoy your few days of rest. Monday could be crazy around here.

Chris

[Mapleridge]

We are much smaller and do it the old fashion way with metal buckets, but have had a good start. Have packaged over 8 gallons all light with great maple flavor. We have had an unusually heavy amount of the brown minerals that we filter out when we draw off. Any one else notice this? Really cold here last night,14*, so all trees should really run this week.

[backyardsugarer]

Mapleridge,

I too have been getting a ton of sugar sand. I had to drain and clean up my syrup pan today to get rid of some of it. Going through a ton of filters but there are worse problems to have...................

Chris

[sapman]

Sugar sand bad here, too. Recirced permeate in the front pan a few hours the other night. Press plugs up pretty fast, too. Need a double bank, I guess.

[danno]

Yup, sand is bad. First season using a press - getting about 15 gallons through a short bank - I guess that's about normal? The by-pass really helps the press keep pressing.

I did the heated permeate bath in the front pan today - worked well. I think the trick is not letting the syrup pan get out of control with niter - cleaning it every 2 or 3 boils. I know in past cleaning it once the niter is really baked on is brutal.

[sapman]

My thoughts on the front pan, exactly. Flooding it, and recircing cleans it right up. Flooding the Steamaway also, and leaving the bubbler on a couple hours. 15 gallons is good on a short bank, I'd say. I've been struggling with 30-40 gal. on my full bank.

[backyardsugarer]

Solid day Tuesday. Got over 600 gallons with the brief thaw.

[backyardsugarer]

Made another 14 gallons of medium last night. Up to 150 light and medium so far. Sap flow has stopped after 3 nights without a freeze. Could be good next Tuesday and Wedensday but looks to warm up too much. I fear we may only have a couple big runs left if the temps get into the 60's like is forecast.

Chris

[sapman]

Yeah, my flow got real slow today, too. Man I would hate for the season to end soon! We should be able to withstand a couple warm days. Hopefully they will keep taking the warmer temps away as it get nearer. Figure I'm at a half crop right now, being conservative.

[danno]

3000 gal 1.5% sap on 600 taps in the last 2.5 days, sap slowed down last night, still running, but slower. Up to 80 gal syrup with 1000 gal of sap for tomorrow. Sap also went cloudy today.

Temps mid week don't look good, but looks like after a 2 day warm up, days time highs are supposed to drop back into the 30's with 6 out of the next 7 nights forecasted to be several degrees or more below freezing.

[danno]

Temps mid week don't look good, but looks like after a 2 day warm up, days time highs are supposed to drop back into the 30's with 6 out of the next 7 nights forecasted to be several degrees or more below freezing.

I take it back - make all the syrup you can over the next 7-10 days, cause the long range is just butt ugly - not happy. Up to 100 gal and wanted to break 200 and was hoping for 250...

[backyardsugarer]

That's right danno. 15 day around here only has 2 freezing nights after tonight. Its not even close either so run the pumps till they are pulling nothing but sludge this week. Glad I tapped feb. 5th.

Chris

[backyardsugarer]

This weekend will be the last of it in this part of the state. Made some tastey grade b last night and I may get back to dark amber this weekend with the colder temps. 50 and 60 degree temps all next week with no freeze.

Chris

[sapman]

I keep hoping for a change in forecast, but if anything, they have temps going higher! Made first dark of season last night.

[danno]

Other than moving to dark, 2 day heat wave this past week didn't kill us. Sap flowed well through the warm temps and again today, even though we only got down to 31 last night. Next week however .... not good!

[Mapleridge]

Seams like the 2 warm days changed the sap from grade A light to medium. Each draw off is a little darker, still has a good flavor. Trees are dripping slow today after a cold 19* this am and only mid 30s today. May drip tomorrow, and then a major 5-6 day 60 warmup. That will do it for us.

[danno]

Frusterating weather - low 30's today and no sap & 60 tomorrow - really!?!?! Can't we just split the differance and do 45 both days. Closing in on 1/3 gallon per tap. Releaser issues yesterday, ran surprisingly well for 35 degrees, today 33 degrees and nothin.

[barkeatr]

yep..frustrating. I missed the early feb "runs" but i have collected 85 gallons from 300 taps. i flooded my pan today and that used up 25 gallons of it. ..then i sweetend my pans with the rest. . tomorrow it should run but if it gets that warm it may slow down like it did last week on the 55 degree day. ON this string of 55 degree days forecasted i see a few go to 35 here in my area so I hope they end up dropping to 29 or so...

[backyardsugarer]

very slow run this morning when I turned the vac on. Sunny and 43 at 7 am and not much flow. I'll take what I get today and start to clean up. March 11th and I'm cleaning up. It doesn't seem right but the buds are out on the reds and silvers.

[davey]

Nice job in the article, your sugarhouse looked very good.

[backyardsugarer]

Thanks Dave, now I hope we don't run out of syrup given our down production this year. If you have any equipment you want me to display/sell for the weekend bring it over Saturday morning and let me know the prices.

Chris

[davey]

thanks, will do.