test tap in coldwater

[daverobitaille]

Hi all,

Just came back from my maple bush and did 4 taps just to test. Temperature is +3 but cloudy. No sap running. The saw dust was dry as a bone. I will go back late afternoon to take a look again.
I am hoping to put my 80+ taps on Saturday. Anyone in Ontario as a run yet?
Dave
:cry:

[Run Forest Run!]

Hi Dave:

Looking out my window I can see that one of my buckets has a gallon in it since this morning. I'm going to check on it and run a sugar count. I hope that it isn't mostly rain water from last night and early this morning. lol There also seems to be a little in a couple of other buckets. I'll report back.

Karen

[daverobitaille]

Hi Karen,

How warm was it in Caledon today? My taps are dry. I must say that the ones I taped are big mature ones and it may take more time to thaw than a smaller one.
How did your test go? Looks like we are getting cold again till the weekend. Let me know how your test go..
Dave

[Run Forest Run!]

Hi Dave:

We got up to a balmy +2 today. I'm really hoping that the forecast for this weekend and next weeks holds true because we might finally start to see some action.

Anyhow, as for my tests.......... what a total bust. :-|

The bucket that had a gallon in it was registering almost zero. I have lids on my buckets to keep out as much precipitation as possible, but obviously the driving wind was working against me. A lot of the liquid in the bucket has to be sap, but it is so watered down that I've got no option other that to pitch it. Thank goodness I have a sap refractometer now. I'm not going to waste any time or energy on boiling water.

My tap holes are 50% damp and 50% dry, so we are obviously hanging on the very edge of the sugar season. I plan on moving some of the taps to other trees deeper in the forest as the season progresses.

[govner4]

hi Dave I put in a couple of test taps here last Friday and did get about 20 liters of sap on 10 taps in three hours but it got cold right after that and has been cold since
but I think I will put my taps in this week end it might be a touch early yet but i may not have time later in the week so it looks like it should start this weekend t least I am hoping it does :)

[daverobitaille]

This is amazing how we all look like kids on christmas eve!!! All excited and waiting. I think I look at the long range forcast every day at least twice. I am going to tap my remaining 76 taps on Saturday as we may get a flow on Sunday and Monday...I hope...
Dave

[Run Forest Run!]

hi Dave I put in a couple of test taps here last Friday and did get about 20 liters of sap on 10 taps in three hours but it got cold right after that and has been cold since
but I think I will put my taps in this week end it might be a touch early yet but i may not have time later in the week so it looks like it should start this weekend t least I am hoping it does :)

govner4, are you on vacuum?

[govner4]

no i am just buckets around 175 this year i hope !

[ennismaple]

Several of the larger producers near us (Wheelers and Temples) have started tapping. They have more taps to get in than we do so they need to start tapping as soon as they can get into the woods. We'll likely get up to 3,000 taps drilled Saturday and Sunday and may get some time to turn on the vacuum and check for leaks too. We've already found a lot of critter damage to laterals that has been repaired but I'm sure there's a lot more we need to find and fix. No point in being on vacuum if you're sucking air instead of sap!