Silvers not running

[bnbmaplesyrup]

We tapped in Central Iowa this week. We put in 35 on Silvers and 50 on hard blacks. The blacks are giving about 1/2 gallon each tap. The silvers were damp but have basically stopped running. We were in a bad drought last year would this have an affect on there production? We will be cooking saturday morning!!!

[jmayerl]

They are very finicky trees. Sometimes they run well under vacuum but I have a few in the yard that I don't even hang buckets on anymore. A couple are 16-18" and a few are larger. I never got more than a gallon per tap from any of them. If they weren't shading my house they would be firewood.

[SilverLeaf]

I doubt its anything drought related. All I tap are silvers and I've had some excellent years directly following dry spells. But I do agree that Silvers are finicky. They seem to wake up at different times depending upon where they are located, etc. And some just never do put out much. But some that do put out - whoa - really put out once they get going.

Whereabouts in "central" Iowa are you?

[bowtie]

this goes back to tap what you have and live with it, it is just nature. like i have stated before i tap alot of reds and some(very few) out produce my hards but most run maybe half as much, some not at all, but i will still put a tap in them in case they do wake up some year. i think everyone on here will say that reds and silvers will produce under vac but that they may need to be put on seperate lines, esp silvers, i do not really understand why this is it just is, they may just need that little extra "push" that vac gives them. that's why when the talk is about planting maples i would try some of the high sugar silver and reds because they grow faster than hards but it sure would stink to plant a bunch in hopes of tapping and when they reach appropriate size they do not produce, which is why i plant and will continue to plant hards at least 4 to 1 vs softs.

[markcasper]

The drought may have something to do with it. Its still early though and with you telling the hards are only giving you a 1/2 gallon, that seems to me like you have a decent amount of frost in the ground. Some will disagree, but in years with ample frost in the ground, things just don't get going very early. We have a pretty good amount of frost in the ground this year thanks to not much snow all winter and some fairly cold temps at times throughout the winter. The city of Eau Claire about 30 miles away has been reporting water main breaks almost on an every other day basis now.

[bnbmaplesyrup]

We do have a lot of frost in the ground. Where the silvers are at we did not have any snow cover. We are between Des Moines and Ames east of Interstate 35
I doubt its anything drought related. All I tap are silvers and I've had some excellent years directly following dry spells. But I do agree that Silvers are finicky. They seem to wake up at different times depending upon where they are located, etc. And some just never do put out much. But some that do put out - whoa - really put out once they get going.

Whereabouts in "central" Iowa are you?

[SilverLeaf]

We do have a lot of frost in the ground. Where the silvers are at we did not have any snow cover. We are between Des Moines and Ames east of Interstate 35

At your latitude, it's definitely on the early side. Plus that frost is the main culprit. Wait a couple weeks and they'll probably wake up. Good luck!

[Spolcik]

I tap a few silver maples last year towards the end I was getting 5 gal a run so far this year about a quarter gal. My guess is as it gets warmer they will do better?