When to tap?

[maple87]

I know it has to be freezing at night and above freezing during the day but when are all you guys tapping. Im tapping about 15 trees how many galllons of sap should i expect each day on a decent sap run? Thanks!

[happy thoughts]

I know it has to be freezing at night and above freezing during the day but when are all you guys tapping. Im tapping about 15 trees how many galllons of sap should i expect each day on a decent sap run? Thanks!

I can't tell you when to tap in your area. As for how much to expect, that depends on whether you're on gravity or vacuum, the type of maples you're tapping and the size of the taps you're using. On an average good day on buckets, a gallon or so per tap is about ballpark for me on my sugar maples. On really good days I might get 2-3 gallons or more but those days are few and far between. Many days you will get nothing. Red maples are harder to gauge. When I used to tap them they were temperamental. Some trees ran great and others did not run at all.

One thing I learned early on is not to count your chickens before they're hatched. Plan on about 10 gallons of sap/tap per season and hope you are pleasantly surprised.

Good luck and have a great year!

[SeanD]

If you are anywhere near me, it looks like late this week or next weekend (if you have a M-F job) is the time to tap. Looks like perfect weather is on the way.

Sean

[Farmboy]

The different weather stations I have been checking say the sap should start flowing between Wednesday and Friday. Hopefully I can tap after school Wednesday or Thursday if everything is ready. I will tap trees on vac first then gravity then buckets last probably not till the weekend. I will keep checking forecasts several times a day through the whole season especially before I tap.

[foursapsyrup1]

We reset tubing yesterday and plan on tapping on the 9th. Will be cleaning all holding and transport tanks this week along with the few buckets that we use. Weather looks very favorable for a decent run next week.
Can't wait to get a nose full of the sweet smell of
"the nectar of the gods"

[ColonialMaple]

I tapped 1/31/2013 and 2/1/2013....about 80 trees... sap ran for me on 1/31... but too cold to run since... I plan on tapping the remained 320 trees (all on buckets) this week.

[Maplesedge]

I know it has to be freezing at night and above freezing during the day but when are all you guys tapping. Im tapping about 15 trees how many galllons of sap should i expect each day on a decent sap run? Thanks!

East of Worcester, this weekend looks good. I'm tapping Sunday. If you're up in the Berks, check the weather.

If you use something that holds 5 Gal of sap, per hole, you'll be allright. On the best days you might get 5 Gal per hole, even more, but it would have to be a great tree and perfect conditions.

[ejmaple]

I'am 30 min. north of Worcester @ 1300' elev. I think I'll wait till the 16th, forecast doesn't show highs in the 40's till then for my area and still need some time cleaning tanks, evaporator, sugar house

[Tithis]

Well 'currently' it looks like Monday will be the day for me, I emphasize 'currently' because just two days ago I was looking at tapping on Friday. At this stage of the game you just gotta be ready to go at any time, at least for smaller tappers that can reasonably do it in a day.

I still got some minor preparation to do, gotta clean my buckets, sanitize my taps and make sure all my sap containers are in order.

Looking forward to this year. I got more potential taps than I do physical spouts, or a means of keeping up with. So come tapping time I'll probably be spending quite a bit of time out in the first week comparing sugar and flow levels of different trees so I only bother with the best.

[Rangdale]

I have only been tapping for a few years and always wondered when the best time was to tap ( got the taps out way too late last year waiting for the perfect weather) when I came across this study done out of the University of Vermont. It's a pretty interesting read.

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/tapping.pdf

[Maplesedge]

That was a good read, thanks. I think I'm changing my mind now. Between the results of that study, new predictions of it being colder next week than the last prediction I saw, and the upcoming snow (which will slow the flow down anyway), I might as well hold off tapping until the 15th or 16th, depending on how it looks after that. No need to start too soon. Mid Feb to mid March is pretty normal for here. Can use the snow to help keep my sap bags cold too.

[SeanD]

Yeah, they really changed the forecast for this weekend! Originally it was hitting the high 30s by Friday, 40s for Sat and Sun and some 50s next week. Now all that is off b/c of the winter storm. A warm up is still on the way for next week, but it might be short lived and this weekend is colder. I'm afraid if it does warm up on Monday I'll miss the first run because I can only tap on weekends. If it gets up above freezing at all, I might try to get them in in anticipation of the mid-week run. We'll have a better idea Saturday.

Sean

[ColonialMaple]

That's a great article about tapping times....its a question I always had, and wondered what the tradeoffs are... thanks for sharing.