bad season for sugaring in cheatham co.,TN

[skidiver]

2012 was my first year to tap.I tapped 44 sugar maples with 57 taps on 25 acres. Sap started flowing on my control tree on December 27th.I tapped the other trees the next day.Sap only tested 1.2% sugar and stopped flowing by mid -January.It got into the 60's some days and much of my sap got infested with ants,flying midges and other insects.I had to discard almost half of the sap and only got 1.5 gallons of syrup.I will say the syrup taste great but it was a lot of work for very little.I figured how to keep the bugs out of my jugs for next season I just hope we have better weather.Did anyone else have similar problems?Also,I am an expert on tree identification and all the trees I tapped were sugars.I did not tap any of the southern red maples which we also have on our land.Can't understand why the sap tested so low. skidiver:

[Greenwich Maple Man]

SkiDiver, It was a bad year all the way across. Some pockets did alright but not many. On a "normal" year you shouldn't have as much of a bug problem if the nights go below freezing. Very bad year to start sugaring with. They aren't all like this past one.

[Maple Ridge]

Here in Maine it was not much better. Season started good and then the warm weather hit. I only ended up with 15 gallons and was hoping for 45 to 50. I am hoping for a better season next year. The one thing I am worried about already is, Last year the maple leaves dried up and fell off the trees early. No color at all. This year it is happening again. I hope it isn't a repeat of last season.