Tapped in Poconos

[Maplewalnut]

Well I got 800 woods taps finished yesterday and turned on the vacuum. Low and behold 5 at the pump 4 at releaser. That's right 4! Off to the woods and after a couple hours find 4 untapped drops, four squirrel chews, two bear punctures of mainline and a wide open sap ladder drain. All fixed and 23 at pump, 22 in the woods. Probably still find a couple more little leaks but I am happy with that for now. 800 gallons from time pump turned on yesterday til noon today and it is gushing now ahead of this weather front
So far so good....buckets and roadsides will wait until next warm up
Good luck everyone

Mike

[Brian Ryther]

Looks good Mike, Have a great season.

[Z/MAN]

Good luck Mike but with all gravity I'm going to wait. Looking at the long range I probably will tap around the 9th.

[Gary R]

Mike, good luck to you. I hope your season runs well!

[Maplewalnut]

Ran strong overnight even through the rain storm. Collected another 1100 gallons from 7 pm last night til 4pm today. Was still running at 29 degrees so system must be pretty tight. Then as if someone flipped a switch it froze up! Awesome start to the season, we now have a week or so to fine tune things and get ready for the real sap runs!

[Maplewalnut]

Got some decent runs the last two days. Love the cv2 when walking the woods looking for leaks. Had a bad vacuum gauge send me on couple hour, pull my hair out looking for what was causing a drop of 5 inches from releaser to woods before I figured it out. No excitement to report, just sort of plugging along. Will be tapping buckets tomorrow but it looks like a cold week up coming. Time to clean pans, wash tanks and change vacuum oil

[Maplewalnut]

Sap flow yesterday was mediocre (38 degrees) but man was the sugar high. Got 2.2% from woods on vacuum and 3.1% from buckets (alot of roadsides). Made some very light syrup last night. Never froze last night and it looks like may get similiar run today. Saps not gushing yet but were are filling baby barrels. Stay at it everyone, weather will break next week and you better be ready!

Mike

[happy thoughts]

Sap flow yesterday was mediocre (38 degrees) but man was the sugar high. Got 2.2% from woods on vacuum and 3.1% from buckets (alot of roadsides). Made some very light syrup last night. Never froze last night and it looks like may get similiar run today. Saps not gushing yet but were are filling baby barrels. Stay at it everyone, weather will break next week and you better be ready!

Mike

That's good to hear Mike:) Flows are finally starting here. We woke up to buckets that needed dumping after a small run yesterday. It looks like the season may actually be starting just about right on the traditional starting date for our area. Let's hope it's at least as long of a season as "normal" especially after last year.

[Z/MAN]

Good to hear you're running up there Mike. Yesterday here we only got a few gallons. Today they flowed decent. I figured I would wait til tomorrow to boil and use up all the sap that flows today as there won't be any for at least a few days here.

[doocat]

Very spotty start to the season. A couple of good run days. Sugar is high here as well this year, 2% on vacuum. Waiting on the big days that will hopefully be coming soon. I am getting too much sleep for maple season.

Craig

[doocat]

How is it going down there?

[Maplewalnut]

Sap ran well today and we had about 500 people thru on first day of open house. Never had it run do well with people watching and kids tapping some buckets. People loved seeing releaser dump every 90 seconds!
Still at medium but also still behind total syrup for normal year. Its just been too cold for good runs the last few weeks until now. Chased a lot of leaks last few days after latest freeze up and wind but should have it under control now

Craig- you getting light or medium?

Mike

[doocat]

All light so far. The barrel I filled last night was the lightest we have ever made i think. I don't think that can last through this warm though. We too have vacuum issues because it has not stayed warm enough in the evening for me to get out and walk the lines. Lots of sap this morning though.

Good Luck Mike.

Craig

[Maplewalnut]

Was expecting more sap today. Decent run but I really thought it would let loose. Winds shifted to almost due east this afternoon here and sap slowed way down from this morning. Looks like 32 or 33 degrees here tonight so it should run all night.

[doocat]

Our taps ran all night and still going today. One bush slowed a little but the vacuum is down to 24 so I need to get in the woods tomorrow.
No freeze tonight but tomorrow night it will. Back to good temps after that. Bring it on!!

Craig

[Maplewalnut]

Still filling baby barrels. More sap today then I expected and the buckets are still filling every two days. Sugar dropped and sap turned a little cloudy yesterday but we need b syrup in a bad way so I was happy. Evaporator is drained and sitting in vinegar. Tomorrow is clean day, and then it's back to sap on Friday. Have the sp-22 running at 25 inches and system is tight...sweet

[Maplewalnut]

No sap again today, tomorrow looks like a stretch to get any also with snow and a high of 33. Getting concerned since i am only at about 1/3 of expected crop

[Brian Ryther]

Mike, I would be concerned if it was warm. This cold snap can only do good things for us.

[doocat]

I am al little concerned as well. I like the cold this late but I remember what happened in Wisconsin last year. Cold to hot in one week. We will see.

Craig

[Maplewalnut]

Got a small (ok very small) run yesterday but looks like nothing again until Sunday at earliest. I have never made any appreciable syrup past April 4 in the last 12 years...wanted to buy a cream machine this year but thats not looking good right now.

[doocat]

We got a few hundred gallons yesterday as well but nothing to call home about. I hope the weather comes on Sunday and beyond as currently predicted

[Z/MAN]

I got about 10 or so gallons the last 2 days. Can't believe this. 5 degrees is all I want!

[Maplewalnut]

Looks like next week is the hinge point to salvage the season. Temps look good in forecast but my wife reminded me this week looked good two weeks ago also in the 10 day!!!

[doocat]

Just another day of freezing temps here in northeast Pa. That forecast sure has changed alot in the last week. I am afraid we may have to tap alot of spouts in after this spell.

[happy thoughts]

Looks like next week is the hinge point to salvage the season. Temps look good in forecast but my wife reminded me this week looked good two weeks ago also in the 10 day!!!

I'm trying to stay positive, too, but your wife may be right. The 10 day forecast and even the weekend doesn't look as good today as it did yesterday. I'd kill for a few more degrees during the day and some sun. Not a single drop of sap collected yet this week :(

[Z/MAN]

I agree on the forecasts. For the last three weeks the coming week looked great for sap and by the weekend the forecasted temps changed to right on the line, and then of course it ended up being just a couple of degrees too cold. I NEED SAP!!!!

[doocat]

just looked at the 15 day and now they say 60 by first couple of days in April. Boy I hope not!

[Maplewalnut]

Another day of snow and below freezing temps...couple hundred gallons yesterday but they certainly didnt let loose by any means...7 day keeps getting colder and no sun...

[Maplewalnut]

Sap has run well the last few days and is still clear. No sign of buds yet although I know that can change overnight. No boil yesterday but I have a couple hundred gallons of 10% waiting for a final RO pass before being cooked today! Buckets are over 4 weeks old and starting to dry up so we are pulling those not running and tapping fresh trees

[tuckermtn]

Good luck finishing out the season Mike. I think you all might outlast us since you have been colder the last week or so. How many buckets this year? We put out about 200. They have been in since March 4th or so, and still running well.

[Maplewalnut]

Eric- we are just north of you bucket wise...maybe 250 or so. Our gravity lines in the same grove are producing better than buckets this year. Hoping to hold on for another two weeks but that may be pushing it
New bucket trees tapped yesterday had a steady trickle coming out...no drip drip here!

[Maplewalnut]

Sap has slowed way down after a great run yesterday. We r at B grade now and have enough to boil again tomorrow after Easter concludes. Good cold snap coming mon/tues. Should have few more days of decent runs after that

[Maplewalnut]

Still getting sap, in fact yesterday was one of the better runs we have had all season. Looks like a couple more days of clear sap then all bets are off. The last week seems to have salvaged an otherwise dissappoiting season. I do miss the smell of cooking mersh...not