I've Tapped!

[Sugar]

My children and I have put in 90 taps, this past week. We are in Allen County, Kentucky. The first night, we got 17 gallons, off of 19 taps. Some of the taps have kept a slow drip and the newer ones haven't started at all. We are hopeful the sap will run over the next few weeks, because it looks as though winter weather is arriving...Finally! The syrup so far is a beautiful light amber...Much lighter than last year's...I'm hoping it continues. We are using 5/16 spiles and hangers and bags.

[nace]

i wish you good luck but the tree frogs are singing and trees are budding. i don't think that last nights frost will help...i could be wrong. should have tapped in mid december.

[afretired]

Nace
Did you ever get started this year yet? I emptied out my evaporator this eveing. If you need any syrup I've got plenty. Should have enough to pay for all I spent this year. I'm going to price it at $100 per pint. I've got about 4 gallons. Really, I don't think the flow ever started, it's been way to warm to do anything.

David

[Logan Cabin]

Put in some taps at our family cabin in Butler County yesterday. 10 taps had 3 gallons of sap today. Plan to get back down Friday & boil over the weekend. Noticed the sap had a yellow tint when I put it in a white bucket for storage. Hope it's not a sign of "buddy" sap. There were a few daffodils blooming down there. What a bizarre year.

[nace]

hello david, no i didn't even tap. on dec 8, i got a strep infection on my leg...never heard of such a thing, put me out for a month. after i got better, i kept watching the forecast, waiting for a solid week of freezing nights which of course never came. i used to enjoy hearing the tree frogs in early spring but now their mocking voices are calling "it's overrrrrr it's overrrrrr iiiiiit's ooooooverrrrrr, i hate them. looking back at the recorded temp's, we should have tapped around the 10th of december. who would have guessed that. if people understood this addiction, you wouldn't have any trouble selling $100 pints, i'm glad that you at least got that much. i ordered some tee's and stubbies in early january and strung up tubing on the 15th. expecting the temps to drop. now that the trees have started to bud, even if we get winter in march and april, i don't think the trees would start over, but i would take a do-over if that's possible. federal grove is having their syrup festival early this year, i think it's the end of feb. i wonder if he froze sap or will go up north and buy some, i may call and see. have a blessed day david....nace

[nace]

i had a little time to investigate the posibility of a second season, so to speak. i found a few post on here that said that if the temps drop to 17 degrees, it would basically reset the tree. one post indicated that it would take 3 weeks of those temps to work. i couldn't find corraborating info on proctor maple research center to back it up but i wasn't quite sure how to phrase the search. a search with only one word is difficult. it is possible to get a very cold period here in kentucky, so i'll just be ready to tap if the trees go dormant again. drop back pass as time expires...shot at the buzzer....fumble on the kneal down...defence recovers. i'll be watching.

[afretired]

Well I hope the weather drops. I really don't have much faith in it though. I laid the problem on everyone at church the other day. I told them I didn't have a chance since the whole congregation was praying for warm weather and I was praying for cold. I was out numbered 100:1.

David

[nace]

after further review, looks like it takes about 2500 hours of continous cold to restart the cycle. i guess we'll see what the fickle finger of the jetstream can do. you never know, God may want the congregation to spend a little quality time cuddled up together at home out of the cold. after all He controls all things. have a blessed day...nace

[Sugar]

We have 14 gallons of sap cooking now, all off of the one section of woods. I was told today, that the Mennonites said that if we go through a warm spell, and it turns cold again, I need to re-tap the same trees. The syrup has been very nice, not too dark. Sometimes, after a rain, the sap will have a light yellow tinge, but it doesn't seem to affect the syrup color or taste.

[Sugar]

You guys go back out! We are getting crystal clear sap. It started running this afternoon, in the one section of woods. The other section we tapped during the warm spell and we barely got a drop. The 2 sections of woods are about 1/4 mile apart. Some Mennonites stopped by and told our friends, who are letting us tap, that we needed to pull the taps, and retap the same trees. I explained, to our friends, that I didn't think we should do that, but he said DO IT! We pulled taps and redrilled new holes and the sap was dripping down the sides of the trees, in trees we weren't even getting a drop. We got about 12 gallons today, so we are hopeful to get lots more. I sent some of my children down to our woods to put in 4 taps. I wanted to see if the sap was flowing, before we went to our friends. My children said the sap was pouring out of the trees.

[Logan Cabin]

Good to hear there's some sap running, surely the conditions aren't too different in Morgantown. Put out 20 taps Monday & Tuesday in five gallon buckets. We'll be back at the cabin mid-afternoon Saturday. Hope to have some family over for a boil on Sunday.