what's the deal with last year?

[JSEDLAK]

Last year was my first and I thought it went fairly well, but I have nothing to compare it to. I see a lot of posts about how bad last year was...what is a good year like and what was it that made last year so bad?

[spencer11]

last year was bad cause in alot of places the sap never really ran, i know i only ran or a couple days at my house and the those 80* days started and the trees budded and stopped running. the sugar content was also very low for me, in 2011 i made about the same amount of syrup i did in 2012, but in 2012 i had 4 times the number of taps i did the previous year

[red maples]

for most folks me included it was about 30% less syrup tthan an average year. I have only been doing this for a few years so I am really still trying to figure out what average is :) but yeah poor spring temps lack of snow and moiture in the ground, 80* in march was the killer for most of us. the weather was nice for the beach not for maple. it made the the sap go buddy very early after the buds popped!!! based on the amount of wood I burned it was a bad year!!!

[be3169]

Last year was my first and I thought it went fairly well, but I have nothing to compare it to. I see a lot of posts about how bad last year was...what is a good year like and what was it that made last year so bad?
A good season is about 1 quart of finished syrup per tap for the season. Compare that to what you made last year and it will give you an idea on how you faired.

[JSEDLAK]

How long is a normal run? we seemed to be collecting for about 5 weeks and yeilded roughly 4 gallons on syrup on about 35 taps...so what you are saying is on a normal year I would have gotten about 8 1/2 gallons of syrup off those same taps....*hit, I think I may have gotten a little carried away with my plans for next year.

[RUSTYBUCKET]

JSEDLAK -

Welcome to Mapletrader. Am I reading this right. 100-200 taps in 2013 on a 5x12 ?

[JSEDLAK]

Yes...but I believe the pans are flat pans...not really sure what we are doing. We got 2 5x6 leader pans that we plan to pipe together in an attempt to make one large pan. Again this is only my second year and just trying to figure it out. Each pan is divided into 5 or 6 channels that the sap zigzags through, pipe the pans together to get 10 or 12 channels. Have the colder sap enter at one end and syrup flow out the other. Is this not how it works? Just starting the arch so, I beg you, please, if this is drastically wrong please tell me.

[RUSTYBUCKET]

My experience with flat pans extends no further than an 18" x 4'. With that pan it would take us 10-12 hours of boiling to yield one gallon of syrup. You can do the math or try a search to see if you can find some posts on boiling rates for flat pans.
Is your sugar bush local to Port Ewen ?

[JSEDLAK]

Not really a bush but part is local and my cousin does some in saugerties.

[SandMan]

Micro climits were a huge factor last year. Your pretty far south so you probably faired better then those that were further north. Sap production on gravity can vary depending on many factors. Tree size, location, crown, species, etc. If you collected 5-6 gal of sap/tap over a 5 week period, that is ok. One may see up to around 10 gal of sap/tap if all factors are optimal. I average 5-7, but I don't have optimal trees. Last year I was <1gal of sap per tap...should have skipped the season.

[Mike in NY]

should have skipped the season. dollars and cents wise we should have skipped the season as well. Tapped 200 and told myself when these start running I shall bang in another 200 ish, they never ran. We made about 30 gallons of dark amber borderline commercial grade. Felling sorry for myself about the cash we spent on improvements then one day I decided a bad day in the sugar house beats any day in the paper mill. Full speed ahead and a better 2013 for all!

[SevenCreeksSap]

I guess we didnt have a great year either but was a building year so made more than ever before. still only got about 6-7 gallons off of 140 taps, but not many good sap flow days. On a 2x8 set of flat pans and homemade oil tank evap.

I'm still new at this so may not be the best to say but it seems like a 5 x 12 should be able to handle 350 taps, maybe 3500, but with 35 taps you'll have about 1/4 inch of sap and burned pans on most days. That or you need lots of storage to build up your sap. Have you considered using just one of the pans to start? a 5 x 6 setup could still boil off at least 10-12 gph, and I'm sure there's a formula for the square inches. At any rate, you need an inch or 2 in the pans to keep from scorching them, and more to feed as your boiling.
Your going in reverse from most, everyone seems to start with not enough pan and too much sap. at least your boil times should be short:lol:

[JSEDLAK]

Well, again the pans are flat pans, no flue pan, and we are going to go for 200 -250 taps at this point. It seamed like last year by the time the sap really got going we were just so tired of sitting out there boiling we just pulled taps. We were getting an easy 1-2 gallons of sap per tap per day at that point and couldn't keep up. From what I could find approximate evaporation rates on flat pans are 1 gallon per square foot per hour, 60 square foot of pan = approximately 60 gallons per hour. I can store 275 gallons of sap plus some extra if needed, I plan on boiling every 2-3 days. It should take about 50 gallons just to get 2-3 inches of sap in the pans...that puts it at 325 gallons on hand. I guess if I hit that 1 gallon per tap per day again I will have to either pull some taps or get more barrels. Only time will tell.

[Revi]

You will have plenty of capacity for 250 taps and it will be fun. In a normal year you will get about 10 gallons per tap, so that means you'll get about 2500 gallons the whole season. That means about 10 boils of 250 gallons each, or 5 of around 500 if it all works out. Of course that's a perfect season, and we don't always get that.

[michiganfarmer2]

We had a week of 80 degree temps. the buds opened, then our temps went right back to freeze/thaw for 3 more weeks. If there was a market for buddy syrup, we could have made ****loads.

[adk1]

Being my first year last year as well I learned a ton when it comes to when to tap and when my bush will run and when it wont. I tapped on Valentines Day last year. the other producers in my area always say "Be tapped by March 1".. well, when their trees were running mine were still froze up. I tapped way to early last year for my bush. My bush faces almost due east. I will of course watch the weather but this year I will probably hold out until March 1 even if it is looking like the weather will be cooperative before.

Second thing I learned is that I pulled the taps way to early last year. THe other producers pulled theirs right before we had that crazy warm weather for nearly a week. Then after that, the weather came back down and those who stayed in the game got another 2 weeks of producing. My bush is a later bush to run but will also run later in the season.

[Ausable]

Hello again my Friend - I had the same type of year as You. Mother Nature messed with me all the way and it was one of the worst sap years I ever had. However - My Son and Grandsons - 80 miles South of me - were awash in sap and hauled up around 500 gallons of sap for me to boil. So with that and my own sap - it turned out ok. But - ADK 1 - I have had Two bad Sap Years in a row - I sure hope it changes in 2013 for both of us. -----Mike----

[adk1]

Hello again my Friend - I had the same type of year as You. Mother Nature messed with me all the way and it was one of the worst sap years I ever had. However - My Son and Grandsons - 80 miles South of me - were awash in sap and hauled up around 500 gallons of sap for me to boil. So with that and my own sap - it turned out ok. But - ADK 1 - I have had Two bad Sap Years in a row - I sure hope it changes in 2013 for both of us. -----Mike----

Boy I hope so Mike! Like I have said, last year was te best year I have ever had cause it was my first every year! haha. wont be able to say that only longer though!

[morningstarfarm]

welcome to the insanity...when to tap is going to be a huge question for all of us to face from now on...especially if the global warming zealots happen to be right..Last year was the best I have ever had...BUT...I was the one everyone said was nuts when I tapped all in the first week of January..ended up making just over 100 gals on 350 taps...yes it was a big gamble that paid off in spades...some days i had almost 600 gals to boil on that little 2x6...made for some very long nights...bottom line is this...you cant boil anything if it is still in the trees...a 5x12 with flat pans?? do you have any idea how much wood you are going to burn for that 60 gals an hour??? I have a 5x12 raised flu and she will burn close to 300 gals an hour on the same wood... the last year she boiled Bob burned a tick over 30 cords on 1500 taps...and was averaging about 7 gals of syrup an hour...with the new ro and the change to oil we will see how she does...

[JSEDLAK]

Well, sad to say but after taking all the info in from everyone we decide to use only one of the 5x6 pans. We will see what happens.

[mike z]

I think that's a good idea. This way you'll be able to control things better and really get a feel for the process. You may even have fun doing it:D