Few Questions

[derekp]

Hey everyone,

Im new on here and this is my second year tapping trees and i have a few questions since i upgraded to tubing this year. I have 15 trees, all red maples tapped in about a 500 foot stretch all on 5/16 tubing...it seems like things started to get going yesterday up here with the warm up. i thought for sure that the trees would run during the day yesterday, but they didn't. at around 8 pm i went out to make sure everything was buttoned up for the night and i noticed that there was sap coming down the line. it was about 50 degrees out still and it stayed that way all night..this morning things were still flowing slowly but stopped around 9am....around 6 pm tonight, everything seemed to start up again...and its still going now....they are by no means big runs but its the biggest for me so far this year..things are just starting up here so i expect better runs this weekend but are these night time mini runs common??or is it just a red maple thing??any help understanding this would be appreciated!!

'

[PerryW]

Pretty much the exact same thing happened here in the Littleton NH area. Sap didn't really get going until late yesterday the ran half-hearted overnight and this morning. I got about 50-60% of what would normally be expected for a decent run.

I just got tapped in the last few days, but other producers in the North Country really haven't made much syrup and our brethren sugarmakers in southern NH seem to be having the same low yields.

[Stamford sugarmaker]

Very similar situation here in southern Vermont. Wednesday had ideal conditions (on paper)- 25 degrees F the night before plus sunny in 50s during the day. But only a half-hearted run! Man, it shoulda been gushing! And just when I thought I knew enough to predict something!

Peter

[Brokermike]

It ran like heck yesterday almost 3 gallons per tap!