Hows the flow???

[dracmaple]

Hi guys,

This is my 3rd year sugaring and this year I upgraded to some lines and have a new thor evaporator. I'm not really getting much in the way of sap flow. I've had a couple good days in the last 2 weeks or so and have processed about 50-60 gallons of sap on 60 taps. Is everyone else experiencing the same thing with not a lot of sap flow? Do you think the season is going to make it into march or will the buds prevail before then? I would like to hear your thoughts on this year. Thanks

[bunkerchump]

I'm a rookie this year, so I wont give much advice, just observation. There is no sap flow on my ~15 or so taps since Wednesday. Here in Seymour, temps have been warm during the day and are not getting below freezing at night. Even my steady producers are as dry as a bone. I took the liberty to pull off the sap bags/buckets, clean them, dry them, and waiting till tomorrow morning as tonight might be our first good freeze. Temps tomorrow in the 40s so I'm hoping the Sap will run a bit. Boiling tomorrow and right now I only have about 13 gallons (collected Tuesday and Wednesday). I'd like to get 15-gallon run by the time I'm done. I pulled the taps from my 2 reds, as they were budding heavily. The sugars seem to be holding up so far. I'm on my second week as well and got only 27 gallons so far from my 15 taps. I wish I tapped a bit earlier, but my homemade evaporator wasnt ready. Hopefully the next 2 weeks are better, but doesnt look too promising based on the weather forecasts.

[Mike Van]

Good sap flow here in Kent - I just hit 800/gal sap so far yesterday, from my less than 100 taps. This time last year, I was at 80 from the same trees.

[merryall]

Buckets dry yesterday. Except for that we've had very good flows for the last week.

[killingworthmaple]

I am haveing very poor sap flow here in Killingworth. I put in 120 tap the last two weeks in Jan. and got ok flow back then however the last two weeks have been poor. I thought maybe the holes are drying out but I am using check valves so they should be fine. So I tapped 45 new trees this week and the flow seems to be the same. I am hoping the this cold snap will reset the trees and the weather will be good from here on out we will see.

Nathan

[GramaCindy]

I am haveing very poor sap flow here in Killingworth. I put in 120 tap the last two weeks in Jan. and got ok flow back then however the last two weeks have been poor. I thought maybe the holes are drying out but I am using check valves so they should be fine. So I tapped 45 new trees this week and the flow seems to be the same. I am hoping the this cold snap will reset the trees and the weather will be good from here on out we will see.

Nathan

Nathan, I just took the time to watch your smilebox video. What a great job you did on that. The whole family, great pics, great music, and nice info. Really enjoyed it!

[Tanta K]

Welcome to the Seymour sugar maker (my hometown) and just to let you all know Hamden's not faring much better right now. Threw out yellow sap yesterday, tons of moths in most of my buckets, etc. Need to keep teaching this coming week and hoping for boiling sap not water for the kids. Will finish and bottle this coming week what we have stored in the fridge for Saturday's Open House. Weird season, I'm tired.

[ebourassa]

Just wondering how everyone is making out with sap quantity. I boiled 850 gals so far without any vacuum.

[batsofbedlam]

Yesterday (Friday) was the pits. I collected only 250 gallons. After checking my tanks this morning and seeing that they were empty and nothing was running by 10 am, my wife and I took off for the day to visit family. Upon getting home at 7:30 pm, I check my 1000 gallon tank and it was overflowing with a huge pond of sap on the ground surrounding the tank.
At 9:30 pm, I just finished unloading 1320 gallons to lower the levels in the two tanks. It looks like I will have plenty to boil tomorrow.

[CTfarm]

Collected 20 gallons from 30 taps, some buckets were full. A lot of ants on the taps. I have not tested sugar levels yet. 10 more taps with bags to collect. Up in the woods and I hate hauling.
Update: Collected 15 gallons from the 10 bags. Will boil tomorrow.

[merryall]

decent flows today, which is a nice change from the last several days - 55 gal from 40 taps, but several buckets all yellow.

[lafite]

my sugar maples in Cheshire decided to give me 60 gallons of clear sap between yesterday and today. It's all boiled down....:) med amber!

I was thinking about pulling the taps but this week looks like a good last run!!!

[lafite]

my sugar maples in Cheshire decided to give me 60 gallons of clear sap between yesterday and today. It's all boiled down....:) med amber!

I was thinking about pulling the taps but this week looks like a good last run!!!

[hodorskib]

We collected 65 gallons Saturday and 71 yesteday from 75 taps. Sugar is down to 1.3 hopefully this cold snap tonight will change things around. On a side note if anyone is interested I took the advice from the homemade section of this forum and put together an R/O system using residential parts. I took the 65 gallons Saturday and reduced it to 22 in 12 hours, then last nights run of 71 I have down to around 20. I have been measuring the sugar content of both the waste and concentrate and 0% in waste and concentrate is running around 4.5-5%. For those of you like me who boil on little hobby evaporators (2x3 or smaller) it would have taken me 20+ hours to boil down the 130+ gallons that ran this weekend. Now it is around 6-7. I will be finishing off this batch from the weekend Wednesday night and will see if there is any difference.

[ebourassa]

Not a bad run between yesterday an today I picked up 255 gal an just finished boiling it off

[Tanta K]

Pulled our taps. Time to get on with spring programming and summer nature and farm camp planning. 1/2 our spiles had ants all over them, some sap was cloudy. 5 weeks was enough for me. Taught close to 750 and our Open House last Saturday was a resounding success! We will need extra volunteer help next season if we're going to up our taps to 40. Only made 2 gallons of syrup but it was a nice medium amber and sold out by noon. Thanks to Clark from Bethany and Steve from Cheshire for helping out and so glad we could help you sell your syrup too! See you all at the international meeting in October I guess.