To Tap or Not to Tap.........That is the Question

[Flat Rock Farmers]

Hello All,

We're up here in Irasburg and are wondering if it's too early to start tapping this weekend. We're on a south-south-westerly facing hill with alot of roadside trees.
We have about 150 taps - all buckets and will be using 5/16" plastic health spouts. The weather is showing sun on Friday, 36 deg. then some snow this weekend
in the mid 30's, Monday 37 deg. and sunny and then mid 30's all next week. Is this good weather to get going or are we jumping the gun? We're eager to get started
but don't want to go too soon and mess up the season. Any advice would be great!

As an aside, we've been checking out this site for a couple of seasons now and have found it to be a wonderful resource of information. The sugaring community seems
to be a great thing to be a part of and we're proud to be included!

Thanks a Bunch,
Jay & Tonya

[GeneralStark]

I would suggest that with buckets you wait a bit longer to do the whole lot, but you could put some out to see what is happening. You may get some runs when the sun comes out and the trees heat up, but it will likely freeze in the bucket. It doesn't look like the weather will be ideal for sap runs within the next week.

[Paul VT]

I would suggest that with buckets you wait a bit longer to do the whole lot, but you could put some out to see what is happening. You may get some runs when the sun comes out and the trees heat up, but it will likely freeze in the bucket. It doesn't look like the weather will be ideal for sap runs within the next week.
I second that.

[vermontpure]

I tapped some last sunday, some last night and will finish tomorrow. Whats the worst that can happen? You may be checking empty buckets for a week or so. I don't belive you can screw up the season by tapping a bit early.

[325abn]

I am taping this weekend but I am south of you. I think the problem with tapping to early is that the holes will close up sooner thus ending your season.

[northwoods_forestry]

I'm going ahead with tapping out all the existing tubing, but I'm holding off on buckets for now. I don't see anything real good in the extended weather forecast right now, though some sap may trickle in over the next week.

[Flat Rock Farmers]

Hmmmm..... Maybe we'll throw on a few test buckets today and let that be the deciding factor. The weather shows some days slightly above freezing but not real close to 40ish. Do you guys ever have any luck with those temps? We were thinking it would maybe better to try to get in on some early runs rather than some of the later runs that would make lower grade syrup if the taps dry up a little early. What do you think?
Thanks for all the input so far!
J&T

[GeneralStark]

I tapped some last sunday, some last night and will finish tomorrow. Whats the worst that can happen? You may be checking empty buckets for a week or so. I don't belive you can screw up the season by tapping a bit early.

The worst that can happen is 1. Your season will be cut short or 2. If you are using buckets with seams, they will fill with sap and freeze and then split open, rendering your buckets useless. This is why the old timers waited until town meeting day.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

My temps here in Duxbury were forecasted to be 38 today. It's 3:50 and is only 30 at my house. Never broke 30 today. Then predicted for 38, 37, 39, 40, 37, 37, 37, 34, 39, 39, 34, 29, 27, 25, 28, and 26 for the next 2+ weeks. On the days expected to be above freezing, it looks like it's going to snow and be windy. I am not tapped and don't plan to until the tree I tapped behind my house (a 30" maple) lets out a drop, which it has not done since I drilled it a week ago. I must be several hundred ft in elevation above the closest weather station. My temps rarely match the Hi predicted. Generally assume that my temp will be 2-3 degrees below the best estimates I can get from accuweather and weather.com. I'm only seeing more snow and wind in our future.

My test tree won't be giving anything anytime soon. If I had less that 2-300 taps I'd wait til a test tree gives and then tap them all in a day or two.

[steve J]

I cant tap until; next weekend regardless but found it interesting that wood loader temps are always cooler than local predictions I am in Middlesex not far from Duxbury and I am fairly high up elavation is around 975 but I tend to go the other way if they say its going to get down to 29 my temps are likly to be 34. I have many a night that down lower is much colder than were i sit.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Steve J, that is interesting. My Sugarhouse is at 1200' and my Sugarbush goes to 1900'. I think the closest accuracy we get for weather is Waterbury? All I know is that it's always colder up here compared to Waterbury (500' elevation) by 3+/- degrees. We are on the SW side of Camels hump in a bowl. A lot of my trees are NW facing too.

[Flat Rock Farmers]

Hi Guys,
We threw up 10 buckets yesterday on some different sized trees. The larger trees were not doing much but our smaller ones were dripping like crazy. We had 35 deg. yesterday and off and on sun throughout the day. The extended forecast shows mid to upper 30's all week with sun mon. & tues.. The week after shows only one day at freezing and mid 30's again. It'll be cloudy a lot but you know how the forecasts change! I think we're gonna pull the trigger and put at least 100 buckets up. We have more that we can put up on the lower trees on the property later in the season. Maybe it's better to catch the earlier runs than the later ones that would end up with "buddy" syrup?
BTW we're at 1400' elevation and the forecast for Irasburg is fairly close. With south exposure maybe it'll be worth it!
Hopefully this season is good and not like last year! Good luck to everyone tapping this weekend!