tapping ,my troughts

[Mike in NY]

We like to be all tapped in by march 1st, last year we missed the 3 biggest runs of the year around February 14-20th. And the rest of the season pretty much sukked. My plan is to forget about last year and watch the snow cover and the extended 7-10 day forecast. This year we have about 18 inches of snow as of today. If I miss some big early runs again I may rethink early February tapping. but not this year

[can'twaitforabigrun]

sounds like a good common sense plan. See my previous post under the tapping thread- Connecticut for my detailed thoughts on when to tap. I think many people are rethinking their strategies after one spring of record breaking heat. It may be of benefit to those producers who take more than a few days to tap all their trees to be ready in advance and possibly put some extra dough in their pockets by catching some of the early runs. On the other hand I would prefer to miss out on a few early runs, rather than tap early and miss out on the runs we normally get in mid April at the end of season due to my taps drying out.

[Dave Y]

Last year I tapped my tubing first week of Feb and buckets Presidents day weekend. I never boiled till Feb 26. I will do the same this year, and every year untill something tells me to do different. I rarely make Feb syrup regardless.

[daileytapper]

Last year I tapped the last day of January and it only stopped running for five days or so till I pulled the taps march 18th. I'm watching the 7-10 forcast and trying to plan around that. The bush I tap had been used for years before by my grandfather and he said it's an earlier bush than everyone else round here. They always tapped last week of january regardless. Time will tell.

[markcasper]

Better read this:http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/nasty-cold-waves-could-be-in-t/3586088

[Dave Y]

This is why a Jan. thaw never got me to excited! Like I tell folk every year, spring comes but once a year, and this is not it.

[unc23win]

I was always taught the longer the ground is froze and the longer their is snow covering the roots prior to the season the better the sap runs. My bush tends to runa little later than some in the area. In the past I have always tapped Presidents day weekend. This year I plan to start 1 week earlier now that I am getting more check valves. I will consider tapping a little earlier if we still have snow as it will take longer to fight through it, right now we have about 15" on the ground.