How was your season???

[79Binder]

Now that the season is over, I thought it might be fun to see how the season went for those on this forum. Please post your general location, and your opnion of how your season went as compared to "normal".
Here in Clark county wisconsin, we got about 18% of normal. We consider normal for non- vaccuum systems to be a final output of 1 quart of finished syrup per tap. I am hearing reports of from 15 to 20% of normal, with 1 small operator claiming 33%.
I am not asking for a contest from producers as to the total output of their operation, so please check your suger bush size at the door.
Thanks in advance.

[spencer11]

bad..extremely bad..to say the least. was hoping for 20 gallons this year and ended up with 4. the trees ran good for like 4 days and then stoped... at least i got something!

spencer

[jgrenier]

:cry:Not great at all was hoping for a total of 350gals and made only 200:mad:

[PerryW]

Was hoping for 120 gal and got 51 gal . And 10 gallons were Commercial.

[driske]

On March 10 th we had our first run. Test was low, but the next 2 days we had decent runs. Then the heat hit ; day after day of record highs.
By March 18th the tubing was milky looking and sap flow had all but ceased. Red Maple were flowering and buds on the Sugars swelled. Crop was mostly dark, flavor OK at best.
We recorded 1.22#'s of syrup per tap. About a third of long term averages for our system. Lowest yield encountered in our 32 seasons of sugaring.
I'm looking back at this with a heavy dose of that "All dressed up and nowhere to go" feeling.

[slammer3364]

Season only lasted about 3 weeks,but we made 14 gals of syrup on 94 taps. Two years ago we made only 3 gal of sap,last year 16.5 gal,so I guess we were about average..

[mc-vi]

Here, In northern Maine and Southern-east Quebec, we are doing very good. At first, we thought the season would be very bad like anywhere else, having some days over 70° in the first week of sugaring. Red maple even budded. But after, we had a week (5 days) of freezing (without running the vac. pumps). Since were still running. (we've first boiled march 9 th). In Quebec we are at 125% so far (approximately, based on many decades of experience in this sugarbush). In maine it is our best season (But it's only our third season here). I really dont know how the other around are doing but it should be in the average. I expect the season to be over by the end of this week-end.

[lafite]

about 30% of last years total in southern CT. My worst year in only 4 years of sugaring!

[Mountain Winds Farm]

Season was short but we made 265 gallons this year which was a new high for us. We were really hoping for twice that at least but thats farming

[smokeyamber]

Matched last seasons production, but with more taps. Tapping in early gave me almost all my sap. 4 1/2 gallons of very dark syrup. Barely boiled it all before it spoiled as the evap build happened at the same time the sap came in. Next year will expand taps and storage and hope for a longer season. Overall I am feeling very lucky compared to others experiences ...

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

Brandy Brook Maple Farm is thankful for what we produced, but disappointed in what we didn't.
Less than a quart per tap on vacuum.
A little less than 60% of a crop.
We stopped sucking on Easter Sunday.

[Pibster]

I ended up with 25 litres compared to 6 litres last year. New evaporator and more than double the taps from last year. Overall, not a bad year.

[highlandcattle]

This was such a dissapointment this year. We tapped early. Worked so hard,then no season to speak of. Either too cold and sap froze in the lines or it got so hot one week..hoped for over 100 gallons easily, but got 25, with a couple of 5 gallon buckets for bulk. UGHHHHHHHHH More taps for next year to max out at 500. That's all we can handle.

[Rhino]

0 taps in, 0 syrup made, still in utter disbelief, Buddies of mine say to me now that the season is over that we did the smart thing by not tapping our 4500 trees, but i don't feel any better or smarter. A few weeks ago we were able to string more lines up when we should of been makeing syrup so we still did maple related stuff, should increase around 400 taps. Side note, a friend who tapped big pasture trees (86 taps) did end up with a half crop, all on bags, thats the best i heard of, others are right around 25% or less that i heard around these parts.

[sjdoyon]

As of today, 30 barrels (1,200 gallons) and still going. First year in production with this many trees, not a bad year for us considering the weather.

[Butcher]

2.5# per tap on one woods tapped feb 1st. one woods t.apped feb 25 got 1.25# per tap these all on high vac soft maples. Roadside hard maples very large trees 3# per tap tapped feb 25 .season ended march 11 . Best runs were in feb which is not normal,but nothing was.

[backyard sugaring]

Should have made 10/15 gallons made 4 gallons. Will do better next year. Lee

[mathprofdk]

Crappy. Made 2.5 gallons last year (my first) on 7 taps. Less than a gallon this year on 18 taps, and I think some of it was metabolic. Just opened up a jar from the last batch I made, and it smells horrible. Such a bummer.

[PerryW]

Worst year in 24 years with 51 gallons (and 10 if that was commercial). Prior to 2012, my worst year was 1989 with 72 gallons. I was expecting 120 gallons.

[northwoods_forestry]

Not great, but not a complete loss either. We did .15 gallons/tap on gravity, less than half of 2011, but better than 2010.

[SV Sugarer]

We didn't do too bad considering the short season. We made 53 gallons from 340 taps - all gravity tubing and about 20 buckets. Mostly light, 15 gal medium, about 10 gal dark. About 70% of what I would have expected during an average season. Glad we tapped early - tapped on Feb. 4th and 5th. Last boil was March 13th.

[MillbrookMaple]

Catskill mountains, NY We made 228 Gallons for the Season Were hoping for 400-500. We ran vac for the first time this year. 500 taps went in at the end of January and the first week of Feb we had over 50 gallons. We added another 800 in Feb and it ran good for a while and then it went 70-80s for a week and a half. By the point it froze again the trees had bud. It's too bad the weather has been perfect for about 3 weeks now around here. Upper 20s at night and 40-50 each day.

[argohauler]

Yes better than 2010 that made me 56 gallons. Made 143 Imperial gallons last year and 82 this year which is .246 litres/tap. Tapped around 300 less this year as the big swamp I tap, never froze up enough to walk on. Started tapping mid February, but should have been all tapped for the 1st of Feb. Our winter saw no more than a 3 day stretch of frozen temperatures.

[TunbridgeDave]

On 740 taps we made 225. No Fancy, and 60 gal of com. at the end. We called it quits after the warm up because the sap was down to .9% and was so slimey we couldn't keep the foam down in the pans and the syrup couldn't be filtered. The sap kept right on running though and week later it was up to 1.4% but didn't smell very good. Now the lines need a good rinsing!

[maple marc]

Made 37 gallons on 100 taps. Down from 47 gallons last year, but I'm not complaining, considering the conditions. I'm glad I got the taps in early, or it would have been a bust.

[crawflyer]

for my first year with this rig i think I did OK. I was one of the few in my area (nw Crawford county, PA)to tap early (jan29). first boil was jan 31. with a couple 4 or 5 day gaps till the 3rd week of Feb. set goal of 40 gallons and made 42. season ended around March 12.

[Randle]

We had a respectable year. ~315 gallons on ~1,400 taps. We rolled the dice and tapped early - January 30th in north central Massachusetts (about 3 weeks earlier than normal). Had good runs early and made beautiful light syrup. High eats in late February/early March slowed everything down. Hearing from those that tapped mid/late February in our area got less than 50% of typical annual yields.

[sjdoyon]

Final count was 1,320 gallons and thankfully only 80 was commercial. Considering the conditions, we're very happy with our first year in operation. Now have to add 1,500 taps this summer.

[Michael Greer]

We made 40 gallons, down from 100 last year and with more taps. We also started three weeks earlier than normal and it's a good thing 'cause it got hot and ended our season a month early.

[Mike in NY]

30% of 2011 that was our best year. Tapped 200 by feb 18th (2+weeks early for us) and was ready to tap 2-300 more when they started running. and then they never did start running. I do not regret tapping more trees this yr; no matter how many holes we drilled this yr it was doomed from the start. We made 90% dark amber this yr; last yr we made 60% light amber and the rest med amber.
If I EVER have another yr with no/minimal now I will tap only 40-50 buckets for personal use and not bother with the lines
all said and done; "any day in the sugarhouse beats the hell out of a day in the paper mill!"

[maple flats]

I made 233 gal on 1100 taps, all on medium vac (half 20", half 17"). Finished tapping Feb 6, 3 weeks earlier than normal. little ran until the last week in Feb, then got 8 days good flow out of 12. Then the heat shut things down.
I was still pulling taps 4/12 and about half still had sap flow, but the leaves are on the tree, that was 24 days after last sap flow before the heat. I think the Leader Check valves showed their ability on that.

[Brent]

We're 25 miles north of the Toronto Intl Airport
We made about 125 gallons last year, with some lost due to ropy sap
We about 70 gallons this year with enough sap lost at the beginning to make another 25 gallons.
We had the bush going but couldn't get the evaportor and sugar shack going fast enough to save the first runs.

Seems like we always manage to lose 20 to 25% due to "operator error"

Like our hockey team ..... next year !!!!!

[Fishgill]

I made just over 9 gallons. Last year I made 18 gallons.
Can't wait to see what next year brings.

[motowbrowne]

We made about 38 gallons from 450 taps, 130 on gravity, the rest on buckets. We normally do just a bit less than 1/3 gallon per tap, so we were hoping for 120 gallons at least, but at least we got something. A friend of mine put out 175 taps all on red maples and never once collected sap, it was his first year too. About a third of what we made was commercial, which we never make. Well, a good year to work some bugs out with the new system I guess, hoping for better next year.

[fishman]

hoping to make 15 gallons and made 5. Tapped last week of March which was 3 weeks early. A lot of guys around me waited thru the warm spell and never ended up tapping. Got some bugs out of the new setup anyway.

[MartinP]

8 gal this year compared to 30 last year. 10 less taps. Only had one good weeks run.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

0.22 gallons per tap, tapped at the regular time, but it turns out it was about two weeks late as everything ended three weeks early for us.

[sugartree310]

510 gallons on 3000 taps finished tapping on 2/17 and 3/20 was our last boil. We made 900 gallons last year on 2600 taps.

[Rand Hill Maple]

Did a little less than normal, still ended up alright