Tapping for the January Thaw?

[thirteen]

Anyone think it is worth getting taps in for the January thaw? I tap South Gardiner & Richmond. I have everything ready to go but it is so very early.

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

might put in 40-50 on check valves...

[morningstarfarm]

how many taps do you have and are they on vac? how much sap do you need to sweeten your pans? ..those are the first 2 questions that pop to mind...Last year we tapped half in on 500 taps right about now and it really saved our season...but so far I am not buying that it is going to be a repeat year...or at least i hope not..I am nowhere near ready...perhaps in a couple weeks...just my .02

[twitch]

please don't talk about tapping yet :o

[thirteen]

If i can get enough for a few gallons of syrup i am going to see what it is like to boil this weekend. Never done it in January. I am in South Gardiner.

[Revi]

I think it's like a pig's tail. It's twirly.

[325abn]

Givin what happend last year If I was ready to boil in my new shack I would be tapping for this weekend but instead I am going to concentrate on getting the shack done.

[Revi]

We're not tapping yet, but it may be time soon. I like to tap and know that it is more or less the season. This is way too early for us. If you are on buckets and boil in a small pan, I think you could start up, get some syrup and be cleaned up and ready for the next time, but we have too much stuff to do that.

[red maples]

starting tuesday temp is supposed to start dropping and by next friday the high will be upper 20's thats southern NH.

[stephen wheeler]

We are going to put in a few taps in the morning. The weather here looks favorable for the next two days anyway. If we don't get enough to boil now - we will try to keep it cold until we get more. We will post back in a couple of days with any results.

[thirteen]

The sap is running well and the original forecast for the week of a cool down has been delayed. I don't know if we will get enough to be worth boiling but it is definitely running and our tanks are filling a little bit.

[JuniperHillSugar]

The shack is ready, the wood has been put up for a year and the crew is ready. We'll wait for the farecast, but we'll try to get our red maples tapped by the second week of February if it looks promising. I'm hoping there will be some sap for Maple Sunday in late March this year. Last year we had a good group of visitors but only water to boil.

[stephen wheeler]

Just a quick update from last week. We did put in a few taps. I think 16 buckets in all. Almost all of the trees ran and produced some sap. We have collected about 12 gallons so far. Maybe we should have tapped more - but it is early.

[Revi]

We're holding off for a month or so. It was 20 below here last night, which is not good for the sap flow.

[Bugsmudbooksandsticks]

I am new to this and working with Kindergarten ages kids in my room...we put in 11 taps, do we have to take them out when the weather gets cold again or can i just leave them in?

thanks for the tip
www.bugsmudbooksandsticks.com

[jgrenier]

Leave them in till the end of the season. Glad to hear you are getting kids involved.

[Bugsmudbooksandsticks]

The kids do nearly all of it. We tapped 11 trees and got 13 gallons of sap in two days but now it's all frozen again. Thanks for the tip. Such a great way to teach...all subject areas are involved.