Clark County

[dschultz]

A friend of mine started boiling tonight.It won't be long now before I start,he can start when he has 100 gallons,I have to wait till I have 3000.

[lpakiz]

Danny,
I got the vacuum going today. Still have a few leaks as we were at about 18HG. Sap was coming in nicely. I stopped at Steve's place to ask him to go down and shut it off whenever he thought the flow stopped. I called him at 8:30PM and asked if he got it shut off. He said it was still coming in at 7PM so he left it run. He was gonna go down about 9 and see what is happening. Looks good for a while.
How's those tracks working?

[dschultz]

Larry,
There's only one word for those tracks, EXCELLENT,I will never go through the snow ever again without them,you can go anywhere you want,don't have to think twice about it.And you should see the size tree's it will pull through the snow,don't even know it's pulling anything.

[lpakiz]

Oh boy! I can see another expense to enter into the record for next years taxes. Where did you get them?
I arranged for a neighbor to bring 600 gravity taps here to boil. He called last night--will have approx 400 gallons tonight (Wednesday). Looks like the maiden voyage Thursday AM. If you see a cloud of black smoke to the north of you, bring a box of Kleenex when you come to investigate.

[bison1973]

With 23 HG of VAC going the trees finally started running OK WED (nothing to shout about though either). So from the amout of sap I've built up since I tapped 3 weeks ago we will start cooking thursday.

To get close to what I want for the season I need this to continue until first week of MAY.

[dschultz]

Larry,
Got the tracks from TCR Power Products.As far as the new pan goes just ease into and the nerves will calm down. But it is a big step going from a flat pan to forced air.
How are your tree's running there on the north slope?
My tree's on the northern edge haven't woke up yet just the southern one's are doing a little here.But it doesn't help any with 2.5 feet of snow in the woods.

[bison1973]

Good run on WED. the 27th. Starting the RO here shortly and cooking the rest of the day. Still a lot of snow here too.

[bison1973]

good runs on thurs, friday and easter. Snow still here but if sun comes out/ or above freezing i'm getting sap.

[dschultz]

Tim
How many gallons you got made so far?
Having a slow start to the season here,I'm at 100 gallon's

[bison1973]

Danny,

I'm at about 185-190 so far.

[dschultz]

Went and tapped in a new woods yesterday that a guy just got ahold of me and wanted tapped. It took 2.5 hrs to tap and the first ones we tapped had a gallon in then,and the best part its 95% hard maple.

[dschultz]

Gonna be a good day, tree's are going already this morning.

[markcasper]

We put in 300 bags yesterday and about 3/4 of them were running nicely, the rest were not running yet or barely. Kind of funny the ones you think would be running weren't and some that normally produce well, not a drop yet. Shut the vacuum off on a north woods after not much running, some lats still don't have sap in them to check for leaks, hoping that will change by tomorrow.
Going to tap more today and gather the first load later today. Hoping to be cooking on Saturday. All the tanks have blocks of ice, so that will preserve things until I get to it.

[GramaCindy]

We put in 300 bags yesterday and about 3/4 of them were running nicely, the rest were not running yet or barely. Kind of funny the ones you think would be running weren't and some that normally produce well, not a drop yet. Shut the vacuum off on a north woods after not much running, some lats still don't have sap in them to check for leaks, hoping that will change by tomorrow.
Going to tap more today and gather the first load later today. Hoping to be cooking on Saturday. All the tanks have blocks of ice, so that will preserve things until I get to it.
Did you get a freeze down there last night Mark? It was 40 LOUSY degrees here when I got up this morning at 4AM. Southern Bayfield county…..UGH

[markcasper]

Did you get a freeze down there last night Mark? It was 40 LOUSY degrees here when I got up this morning at 4AM. Southern Bayfield county…..UGH
It did not freeze Wednesday night here, about 35, trees ran all night, the ones that were running. Some of the bags I tapped Wednesday noon were running over by early Thursday afternoon, yet there were several flapping in the wind. Left the vacuum on that night in my south woods and there was alot of sap there.

The north facing ones are not doing squat yet, hopefully that changes soon, there is 6 inches of frost in the woods ground, so am sure that is the main holdup. Forecast for the next week looks beautiful for sap though.

[Jeff E]

We ran all Wednesday night as well by Spooner. Finished making syrup Wed about 10 pm, empty tanks. By 6 am I had 500 gallons of new sap. Total for the day was about 1/2 gal/tap. Froze hard again last night and things are ticking pretty good this morning. With the weather system moving in, I am hoping it runs hard for the next few days.
Getting a bit nervous looking at the buds on the maples....

[markcasper]

Jeff E, Buds....jeez, don't say that yet! My bags ran over a gallon per tap In a day and a 1/2. Not too bad figuring several were flapping in the wind. The sugar has been awesome coming in between 3 and 3.7% tank averages.

The new north installation I did for this year has so far been a big letdown....only a 1/2 gallon of sap per tap total from them so far.

[dschultz]

I have no signs of any budding here,there's tree's that are still sleeping plus there's a average of a foot of snow in the woods still around here.
We gathered a north facing woods yesterday that was tapped on Tuesday and only got a gallon per tap.

[motowbrowne]

We've been having a little bit worth collecting almost every day. Of course I don't have lids on my buckets, and it's rained almost every day too, so we make sure to collect before it rains, otherwise we'd probably leave it on the tree. I'm hearing some people in WI saying they're done, but I sure hope that's not the case. I'm still hoping for a few good runs. I see some cold temps in the forecast, even into next week. Keeping my fingers crossed. Have made about 35-40 gallons so far, so better than last year. I have to say, I'm not that impressed with my new gravity installation, 150 taps and only about 200 gallons of sap so far. We have gotten lucky with sugar content though, seeing a consistent 4-5%. Hopefully we'll see some darker syrup, so far everything I've made has been really light.

[bison1973]

we started cooking mon MARCH 28 end we ended on April 28. I still have to tabulate everything and get all the totals but it was a record year for us!