Tapping in Forest County

[cole4train]

This is actually a question more than a statement. I have a camp in Forest County and am planning on going up this weekend. The temp was supposed to be up near 40 and then it went down and back up and now is forecasted for 22 on saturday. I was planning on putting about 50 taps in friday night but now im not to sure. I don't have a big tank so I basically just tap into buckets and then transport by filling milk jugs with sap. If I tap Friday and get nothing saturday I would leave the taps in until sunday because it is supposed to be close to 40 on Sunday. But since I dont have a large tank and I leave to go home sunday and will not be back up for about 2 weeks should I somehow try to plug the tap holes? I dont know if they will work as I am sure it will still leak. Or should I just leave the taps in until I come back and 2 weeks and let the sap the comes out just spill on the ground? Im only in my second season of this so im not sure how everything works yet. If I leave the taps will it totally drain the tree of its sugar content? Let me know...Thanks.

[Gary R]

All right, the second person we've heard of tapping in Forest County. The other is Dave Y, he has a few more buckets:cool: If you need supplies you may want to try contact Dave, he is right in Marienville.

Don't try plug the holes. The weather up there may not be warm enough for good sap flow. If you do tap, I'd just pull the buckets down and leave them upside down. If you don't two things might happen after two weeks. First, you could come back and find solid frozen buckets, second, you could find spoiled sap. Things ought to be running better for you in March. You could gamble then and leave the buckets up. If the sap is spoiled, dump it out, clean and hang them back up. Good luck to you!

[cole4train]

Thanks appreciate the info...

[WI Sugarpop]

If the weather is that questionable, why bother tapping for 1 or 2 days? Why not wait until you come back in 2 weeks?