What do you do when trees start to bud

[jake22si]

Ive got a spot that I may go with tubing next year and was wondering how you go about it when some of the trees start to bud. I noticed some of the trees were still closed up and some were bright red. Do you just call it quits or can you get a few more days out of it by plugging the taps by the budding trees?

[Shawn]

I have some reds that are showing buds but they are still running hard and the sap is clear still:cool:

[PACMAN]

Reds, or soft maples, have buds on them all the time.they are bigger than sugar maples. The sap will be fine on the reds until the buds open. The soft maples bud about 2 weeks before the sugar maples. At least where I am.When the reds bud I go up the lines and pull the taps off the reds.I dont have very many reds, about 10 % of my trees are reds.