Are the reds all done?

[Tom59]

Anybody else's reds stop putting out? :o Trees I mean. Havent had more than a few drops for a couple days now on any of the reds. This weeks weather looks pretty good, was hoping for a decent run. Only got 5 gallons from 14 taps today. All of that was off 6 taps on silvers. :( Will the reds start producing again if the weather cooperates or are they done for the season. The buds havent started popping yet, hoping to get a little more out of them. Been a very strange season so far. Hope it aint over yet!:cry:

[jmp]

Tom I am about 40 minutes north of you in Ware. All I tap are reds (not by choice) and had a good run today. Season has been very strange for sure. I tapped a few weeks ago and had one good run. Other than that its been crappy. Reds tend to be less reliable than silvers or sugars from what I have been told. I try to figure out why two trees next to one another, with same DBH, crown size, exposure, etc. will give me varied results on a regular basis. Crazy huh?

[thecabinguy]

I'm over in northern RI. The reds seem to be all done. Many of them never started. The buds are already showing. I collected so little sap this year it's pathetic. 40 taps, mostly reds, averaged about a quarter gallon per tap total collection. Many remained dry. It was hardly even worth boiling it down. Got about a quart of syrup. :( Not quite what I'd planned for this season. Oh well, maybe next year we'll have a winter.

[Tom59]

This weeks forecast looks good for flow. Would it help to increase flow if you drill the tap holes a little deeper? Would the tree "wake up" ?

[happy thoughts]

If the sap's not flowing, drilling deeper won't wake up the tree. All it's going to do is cause more and deeper damage to the tree.

[jmp]

Don't drill deeper.

[markct]

i tap abput 80 percent red maples, i can say that mine are still alive and well, they flowed over 2 gal per tap yesterday, so im not complaining, some of them have been tapped for five weeks now so i think the leader check valve adapters realy are paying off

[Littlesap]

It's 100% check valves for me next year... Mark, I'm 50/50 reds and have been tapped about the same number of weeks but mine are down to a trickle. I boiled last night but don't have enough collected today to fire it back up again :(