Any Yoopers tapping yet?

[Billy_the_Kid]

Any Yoopers out there tapping yet? I'm going to get the last of my stuff all cleaned up and ready to go, and see what it looks like on Sunday. I'm really anxious to get started, but theres still 2 feet of snow and God knows how much frost still in the ground. Will it affect the overall production any to tap a week early? Will the holes dry up at all in that short time?

[JRCunningham]

We're holding tight here north of Manistique. Looking like mid next week is probably go time. We've got 3-4 feet of snow in the woods up here. I'm thinking as soon as the daytime temps start holding above 32 it's time to tap. Those sunny days work fast on the trees...

Best of luck. Let's hope we have a longer season than last year...

[U.P. Sapsucker]

The temps are not supposed to get above freezing until the end of nest week. A Couple of big producers I know are getting the taps in but think we are still two weeks out. Hopefully I'm going to tap at the end of next week and test the pumps and get ready. 42" of snow in the woods will make for some good snowshoeing!
Todd

[fishman]

Laying down a firm snowmobile trail to my trees. Getting stuff ready for next weekend but I'm not holding my breath. Still have about 2.5 feet on the ground here. Hopefully it will be better than last year. Son just bought the house next door so looks like I'll get at least another 50 trees to tap. Hopefully this will be the last year that I have to juggle work and sugaring

[JRCunningham]

Hey folks. I'm revising my original assessment. We're going to tap at the end of this week or on Saturday. We're consistently seeing above freezing temps in the afternoons. I had a friend one time who worked for the National Weather Service, and he used to remark that the UP was one of the hardest places to forecast weather for. No kidding...

I hope you all have a super Yooper maple season! There's something truly special about the long history of sugaring in the UP. Bishop Baraga wrote in 1836 about the first people disappearing into the woods this time of year to sugar. Can you imagine sugaring by dropping hot rocks from a campfire into a hollowed out basswood log full of sap? Yikes...

Anyway, best of luck.

[Rapid River Lodge]

Going to start tapping St. Patrick's day


Hurliman & Sons Forest Products

[Billy_the_Kid]

Well, I put 30 taps in yesterday aft, and will do another 16 today. Things are still pretty tight in the woods, not much flow. We'll see how the rain/snow that's coming today and tomorrow affects things. My father in law put in 25 yesterday about noon and by dark he had only about 4 gallons. That was a lot less than I expected for the warm temps and clear skies we had all day.

I have a whole new energy now that my season has started. Like you said JR, when I'm out there in the woods I can't help but think about the Native Americans and how difficult it must have been to sugar back then.

Good luck to everyone, especially us Yooper's. I'll keep you all posted on how much we're collecting and boiling.

[Soo Hill Sap]

Hello fellow Yoopers. This is my first time tapping trees. I am tapping 18 red maples in my 0.7 acre yard and have had some trees flow nice and some flow not at all. One tree has a brownish/dirty looking sap compared to the others. Should I keep the sap and hopefully it will filter out, or pitch it?
I purchased some old taps from a guy locally who said they were his Dad's from 50+ years ago. They are stamped PAT'D 1884 on the bottom. Does anyone know anything about these? I scrubbed them up real good with a bleach and water mixture and a toothbrush. I am hoping that these taps are not the reason for my bad looking sap.
I am new to tapping and want to be able to get a gallon for my family's pancakes and french toast breakfasts. I am open to suggestions and tips.
Thanks

[fishman]

Decent run today. 55 gallons from 60 taps. The other dozen had nothing. I'll have to double check to make sure they really are maples. Looking forward to my first boil of the year tomorrow or Wednesday.

[U.P. Sapsucker]

Soo Hill Sap,
If the taps are metal I think you are OK as long as there is no flaking of the metal. The dirty looking sap I would not use at all just in case. The sap should be nice and clear, when it starts to turn yellow it will be bud sap and don't use it will not have a good maple flavor. Try and boil down every day. the longer you wait the more chances you take.
Have fun

[CampSNOcook]

I did get a little run this past weekend, but waited to put more taps in. Watching the extended weather forecast is driving me crazy. At one time the temps looked to be going up. Now they have taken that out even in the 10 days forecast. I should remember that I really can't rely on forecasting all the time. I have seen them change it at the 6 pm news. Just have to watch day to day. I want to get going, but I guess I have no choice. When it does warm up, hope it doesn't do it too fast.

[Soo Hill Sap]

Thanks for the advise.

[Billy_the_Kid]

Soo Hill, personally I wouldn't be too worried about the yellowish colored sap. As cold as its been, there is no way that your trees are budding already. In my experience, the yellowing is usually associated with rain and sometimes snow (which we had plenty of both over the weekend). If you are using regular taps (and not tubing) what happens is, as the rain/snow hits the branches and trunk of your tree, it washes down the tree, and depending on where the tap happens to be in relationship to the bark and its creases, you can actually funnel all that washed down "bark water" and a portion of it will hit the tap and run into your buckets. My syrup has always been for my own personal consumption so, in a slow year, I've cooked down the yellow "bark water" with good sap and I've never noticed any difference whatsoever in the finished product.

We had a couple decent days of sap flow Sunday/Monday, but nothing to speak of since then. And the future doesn't look much better either. I'm hoping things will pick up and let loose by the end of next week.

[nwoods57]

I'm from Iron River, usually over here i start about the middle of march , but this year you get a warm day then it gets cold again. It looks like the extended forcast it should start at a steady pace the last week of March this year. Hope to get a good season this year. I won't tap until the daytime temps get around 37 to 40 and stay there, and gets cold at night.

[fishman]

Got to 34 in newberry today but nothing ran. Boiled down 53 gallons and got a gallon a quart and a half pint. Good ratio. Looks like we're probably done for a week or more here also. At least I got a start. Glad I tapped early last year since that was half my run. Hope its not like that again.

[Billy_the_Kid]

Just what we needed, more flippin' snow... And cold weather... Are you kidding me... What month is this?

Got about 60 gallons of sap frozen solid in the buckets. Been there for a week now, and I'm not even sure what to do with it. It's got rain mixed with it and snow mixed with it... On the days when it has run, the sap will flow for a couple hours and then freeze solid over night. Not sure it's even worth monkeyin' around with. I've considered trying to melt the blocks down in the boiler, but I can't finish it because it needs to be filtered.

What do you think, dump it? Or keep it? I think we'll have a good run by the end of the week, mostly clear with temps in the high 30's and just below freezing... Perfect weather if it ever gets here!!!

[Mark]

You guys down by Lake Michigan must be a little warmer down there. We have not had any sap run yet. Over in Nisula we finished putting in about 20,000 taps on the 6th. Just waiting for the warm weather and it looks like it could start this weekend. It takes a few days to thaw the trees out for the good runs. If the forecast changes to the cold side we are thinking about putting up more tubing. I have a couple mainlines up with no 5/16 on it so we could throw up a couple hundred taps in a couple days.

[CampSNOcook]

Just what we needed, more flippin' snow... And cold weather... Are you kidding me... What month is this?

Got about 60 gallons of sap frozen solid in the buckets. Been there for a week now, and I'm not even sure what to do with it. It's got rain mixed with it and snow mixed with it... On the days when it has run, the sap will flow for a couple hours and then freeze solid over night. Not sure it's even worth monkeyin' around with. I've considered trying to melt the blocks down in the boiler, but I can't finish it because it needs to be filtered.

What do you think, dump it? Or keep it? I think we'll have a good run by the end of the week, mostly clear with temps in the high 30's and just below freezing... Perfect weather if it ever gets here!!!

I have about 30 gallons frozen solid and I am keeping it. It should be okay having been frozen. I worked for that so it is going in the boiler whenever I get enough to start it up. I hope the forecast holds true for the weekend/next week. And being a little away from Lake Michigan, the temps get a little warmer away from the cold lake.

[regor0]

I'm going on a tapping frenzy friday, saturday, and sunday! Going to need a step ladder to get the taps out in the spring.

[Billy_the_Kid]

Well, I hauled in about 60 gallons worth of frozen blocks of sweet water, so now all my buckets are empty. The blocks are now melting in the garage so I can filter it for this weekend.

We should have a good run this weekend. Mostly clear skies and temps in the mid to high 30's for the next 10 days. Gonna need to mix up some more gas for my work horse... a '71 Polaris Colt.

[Billy_the_Kid]

First boil of the season. We started about 10:30 this morning.
7498

[DonMcJr]

Cool! It just starting flowing again today and with the 10 day forecast it Might be done by next weekend. But with 41 taps I already have gotten 360 Gallons of Sap and just over 5 gallons of Syrup....

[Billy_the_Kid]

Well, we ended up running two batches, and cooked a little over 80 gallons total. Looks like it will finish out around 10 quarts of syrup. Pretty good sugar content. Sap ran a little the last two days, but still really slow. Hope it picks up this week, I'd like to be done before June!!

[Billy_the_Kid]

When is the sap going to start running???

I know we have lots of snow and things are way behind normal, but I can't believe how slow the sap run has been, especially lately. We've had good conditions the last few days, and it's still really slow. In the last 4 days, I have a little more than 40 gallons of sap out of 50 taps. Not very good. And I still have at least 5 or 6 trees that haven't produced more than a few tablespoons of sap, and they are new trees that I've never tapped before. What gives?

[regor0]

Just went and checked mine..............NOTHING...........not a drop. 37degrees and sunshine.

[fishman]

Just got 65 gallons off 70 taps and boiled down 80 gallons today. about time it started. still have 5 taps with nothing. snowpack is still about 2 feet but it's settling fast. had a few 3 gallon buckets today.

[Billy_the_Kid]

Pulled about 15 gallons off my 50 taps last night. Still a few buckets that are dry too.

Had a Big Horned Owl scare the bejesus out of me last night while collecting in the near darkness and a full moon on the rise. He was in the top of one of my trees not 30 feet away and started hooting... I nearly jumped out of my snowshoes. Turns out there was at least one more further up the ridge and they must have been talking to each other. A buddy of mine from work said that its mating season for owls right now. Anyway, it was a really cool experience. I sure do love to be in the wild of the UP northwoods.

[fishman]

I'm waiting for the local wolf that we've seen a few times to surprise me out in the bush. His tracks have gone right past some of my tapped trees. I try not to wear my red hoodie when I'm out collecting.:lol: I'll trade my wolf for your owl.

[DonMcJr]

Won't be long folks us Trolls below da bridge way at da bottom of da Thumb are swamped with sap da last few days!

[Billy_the_Kid]

Ya eh!! But we still gots lots o snow, eh!!

[Billy_the_Kid]

Had a real good run going, pulled 80 gallons after two days. Now it can't decide if it wants to rain or snow.

So far I've cooked down 115 gallons of sap for about 3.25 gallons of syrup. And I still have 65 gallons of sap in the bulk tank to cook tonight.

[fishman]

I'm getting 75 gallons a day for the last 4 days. cooled off and started snowing this afternoon. Had a major screw today as i turned my back on my finish boil for less than a minute and lost about 2 gallons of syrup. I was only 1 degree from being done. Hate when i do stupid things like that.

[KitchiGumee]

Howdy gang, I'm new around this forum. Looks like it's got info galore.

I moved this past year so I had a set back as far as my set up, but i've got about 30 taps out here near marquette...I've been pulling about an average of 1/2 gallon per tap day the last four days. Now I'm wondering how much these few days of cold is gonna shut it down.

Is there anywhere on this forum where people have put in their temporary stove plans? I usually make one out of cinder blocks and a single length of chimney clay and it works well enough; I'm wondering about using similar materials but in a little more efficient set up if possible.

Take care!