Does near end season sap lose sugar ?

[TerryEspo]

I am wondering if my low sugar has anything to do with near end of season?

My last two boils have been way less syrup per sap ratio. I do not have a sap hydrometer, but know from all boils this season, that my last 2 saps have had low sugar content.

Today was 60 gallons and received 1 gallon of syrup.

I dont know if this means the season is ending, or the trees just do this due to weather conditions ?

Input is welcome.

Thanks.

Terry

[Run Forest Run!]

Terry you've really got to go online and by yourself a cheap sap refractometer off ebay for next year. None of us have power over Mother Nature, but at least when you can measure the sugar content of the sap she's offering, you know when to tell her that you've got to go to work in the morning and just walk her to her door.

[lwlvine]

I am just east of you and the sugar content has dropped quite a bit the last few days. It always gets lower as the year goes on. Mine was 1.5 today.

[TerryEspo]

LOL, Karen

After today and yesterday I am ready to kick her out for the rest of the season. Sooo much sap boiled and not fair amounts of syrup. Oh well, better than no sap or buddy sap.

Refractometer, Do you have to test every bucket individually? Or, do I collect all buckets, swishy swishy and test the days offering?

I have also read that the sap has to be a certain temp???

I know nothing about a sap refractometr or sap hydrometer. Are they easy to use in the bush, cold days etc. ??

Thanks.

Terry

[Run Forest Run!]

Terry you have many more taps than I did this year, so I doubt you'd want to test each tree. I did do some individual tree tests and some bucket blends, mostly because I was having fun playing around with the refractometer. I did find, in the case of my trees, if one tree registered higher than the others one day, it generally registered higher all the time. When the sugar content would increase and decrease it usually did so across the board.

The refractometer that I bought came with a chart that told you how adjust for temperature. The colder the sample, the higher the sugar would read and you'd have to subtract a preset brix amount (as shown on the chart) for the true sugar reading. I also had small empty pill bottles that I'd put sap samples into as I collected my buckets in the forest and then when they warmed up in the house I could measure without having to adjust the reading. Once I got used to the approximate amount I needed to subtract from the readings in the forest it gave me a pretty decent idea of what was happening day to day. When I needed an exact reading, I collected the sap in a pill bottle to read later on in the house.

Having the luxury of reading sugar in the sap was a real boost for me as I am only boiling over propane. I'd rather not spend the time and expense of boiling water with minimal sugar. Checking the sugar content in ice also saved me a lot of guess work when trying to decide to pitch it or boil it.

I wouldn't be without one. :) Mother Nature can't trick me now.

[dufftj]

Hey Terry,
I bought a long stem sap hydrometer callibrated from 0-12% sugar. The first part of the season I'd test gatherings from each property I had tapped. I used a thermos as a test cup, fill it up with fresh cold sap and float the hydro, worked great. Near the end of the season I'd just test my storage barrels when they were full before I'd boil just to get an idea of what I'd end up with. The highest individual collection I saw was 4.5% and the highest average from a full barrell was 3.0%..

Hope this helps,
Tim

[TerryEspo]

Boy oh boy it sounds like a bit of work to figure out sugar content. Maybe for next year I will.

I still kinda want to know if sugar can raise after being low.

As I type this, the weather is great, still very cold, freezing, all puddles are frozen, snow is crunchy,,,just ideal. The sun is out and temps are going up to 6C or 40'sF.

Today the sap is going to run excellent.

Will the sugar content be good or can it still be very low ?

Thanks.

Terry

[happy thoughts]

I still kinda want to know if sugar can raise after being low.


The answer is yes but not in the way I think you want to hear:) Per this older research study that looks at sap sugar concentration within a year and between years, the findings were that sugar content tends to start lower, then peak, then decrease as the season nears it's end.

http://vermontdesigninstitute.org/~uvmaple/sapsugarcontentvariation.pdf

[TerryEspo]

Thanks Happy Thoughts for that article, I will read it fully later.

I thought Dr. Tim or someone said though that if it freezes pretty good the tree changes starches to sugars or something like that.

My last couple boils were from sap that was from the night before not real cold. Boderline frezing.

Todays sap run is going to be different as it was definately freezing cold last night and sunny warm today.

I guess I was hoping for that starch to sugar miracle.

Thanks to all.

Terry

[happy thoughts]

Terry, there will be day to day variations. Dr Tim also mentioned how sugar content tends to decrease over time in periods of extended flow like the overnighters and several day drips we all occasionally get. But the research article I linked to notes the trend over the season which showed a curve of sugar content that starts slow, peaks and decreases toward the end. So in answer to your question re if there's an end of season decrease in sap sugar, the *trend* would indicate that decreasing sugar content at the end of the season would be the case.

[TerryEspo]

I guess I am not accepting the end of season, lol.

My thoughts were that since I have only gotten Light Amber syrup, not dark yet, that my season is not ending.

Just these last two boils the syrup is a bit darker, but not dark at all. Maybe a medium, but closer to to light, just a bit darker than all my other batches this season. I thought I would get a few different colors through the season and end up with some dark, no dark yet.

Its killing me that the run today is going to be a great run, but sad if the sap has super low sugar.

Thoughts ??

Terry

[unc23win]

In PA for us this season about 3/4 of all the syrup we made was light. It actually got a little darker and then lightened back up some 2 times I think we never really made anything real dark until clean up. Lowest sugar content was a small load of 1.3 the rest was 1.5. Sugar content dropped about .2 on those long runs.

[maple flats]

My sap % sure changed near the end. In my good bush I had 2.2-2.3 early and 1.6 on my last load, On my more dense bush (I'm not allowed to thin either but I've been trying to educate the land owners) I started at 2.0 and the last week it was at 1.5%. Without the RO it would sure be slow.