Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[spud]

I just put in 2000 new drops on one section of woods. I too am very excited to be using my new electric releaser this year. Tapping starts Jan 21st for me.

Spud

[spud]

Looks like we may get some sap on Monday and Tuesday. I plan to turn on the vacuum pump and see what happens.

Spud

[wdchuck]

Keep us posted- historically, your sapflow mirrors mine pretty closely. I'm planning to start tapping on Tuesday.

[to100]

So for those who tap early before sap flows because of your size, do you run your vac from the beginning? If not when?

[woodchuck]

We are small time and with a few family members we can tap in a day. Holding off for now. We set up the tanks and releaser today and waked the lines.
With our 27” of snow, you can really see how the deer and turkeys are struggling. We dropped a few hemlocks to add some food below the browse line...

[spud]

I will be turning the pump on tomorrow and run it till Tuesday night when it freezes again. This will be a good time for me to check for leaks and make sure the woods is tight.

Spud

[VT_K9]

We still have a little ways to go...the roof is on and evaporator moved into the sugarhouse yesterday. Need to run wiring, oil line, build the RO room, and get the tanks setup. A lot to do and little time to do it in. Hoping for a decent year.

Mike

[spud]

We are small time and with a few family members we can tap in a day. Holding off for now. We set up the tanks and releaser today and waked the lines.
With our 27” of snow, you can really see how the deer and turkeys are struggling. We dropped a few hemlocks to add some food below the browse line...


This snow is very tough on the deer. They have been nibbling on some of my apple trees even though I sprayed them with deer repellent. First sunny day I have I plan to spray the trees again. Looks like we will be getting four days in the 40s this week. I hope to see some sap later today and tomorrow. Lets hope the snow melts a bunch. This is my first year of tapping without the help of my 4-wheeler. I really need to buy some tracks.

Spud

[spud]

Sap is running at 250 GPH at 12:30. Should pick up overnight unless the wind starts blowing. Good luck everyone. Electric releaser is working great.

Spud

[BAP]

Sap is running at 250 GPH at 12:30. Should pick up overnight unless the wind starts blowing. Good luck everyone. Electric releaser is working great.

Spud
How many taps running in there?

[spud]

How many taps running in there?

A little miss calculation on my part. My new releaser has 54.3 gallons when it hit's the upper sensor. It was dumping three times per hour today but has now slowed down. I have 4050 taps going into that releaser. My other 4000 taps are going into a different sap house. I have about 600-700 gallons in the tank in my sugar house. I did not test sap today. Sap should run a bit tonight and then tomorrow. The trees that ran are facing the S/E. The west facing trees did not do much today.

Spud

[BAP]

That’s still good considering how early it is, how short the days are and how cold it was leading up to this week.

[GeneralStark]

I started tapping last weekend and it has been running a bit. Onto the ground on gravity for now but hoping to get a bunch more done the next couple days to see if I can't get the vacuum running and check for leaks before it freezes up again this weekend. My hope is to be all tapped by the next thaw. Need more syrup....

[TapTapTap]

I just got back from Cabo, Mexico. I almost stopped at the H2O Innovation store in San Jose del Cabo but I figured that I'd look a little suspicious declaring tubing and fittings at US Customs!

Ha, Ha -

I'm sure they don't have maple equipment but I'll bet i could get a new RO membrane which also would seem a little odd at Customs.

BTW - the water in Mexico is good enough to drink now days, at least in some parts. But don't drink the concentrate!

[spud]

I was able to get one gallon per tap over the last two days. I spent today finding and fixing some more leaks. Vacuum now running 26 in the woods. Still want to see 27 or I'm not happy. Might see more sap on Friday.

Spud

[spud]

Got 500 gallons overnight. Sap is running slow but it's running a bit. Should run till about 2:00pm today. 10 day forecast shows no signs of sugaring in my area.

Spud

[spud]

I was able to get 1600 gallons in the last 24 hours. Pump is off now. Any other Vermonters getting sap? This thread has been very quiet.

Spud

[WestfordSugarworks]

We finished tapping on January 29th. This week I think we got 2 gals of sap per tap between the two warm ups. Been able to spend a lot of time in the woods and get things tight. Haven't boiled yet, going to sit on 15 brix until next warm up. Been nice being out in the woods.

[drewlamb]

Finished up all our line repair and spout/drop replacement, which with my small two-man crew, we do ahead of tapping. Will start tapping next week.

[WestfordSugarworks]

What is your replacement frequency and cleaning techniques with 3/16? I've heard that 3/16 is more prone to clogs and one must replace more to avoid reduced yields. I was real excited about it for a few years but after hearing about some longer term issues I shied away. We are still installing 5/16 on any new install.

[drewlamb]

We replace about 1/3 of our drops each year, so no drops are used more than 3 years. And unless I'm really pressed for time, I avoid unions/connectors when doing repairs, replacing whole sections of lateral from drop to drop. I don't do any cleaning at the end of the season, just make sure all lines are empty and dry. Our oldest laterals are 6 years old. We've replaced some gummy sections here and there, but by and large the laterals appear clean and unchanged other than some UV fading. BUT, we definitely get clogs, typically in Ts or even more commonly, in the connector hook fitting at the bottom of the line, just before the mainline saddle connection. I've gotten good at locating clogs and spend as much time as I can checking lines during good runs. Also, as we've put in new sections, the better yields from first-year, new tubing systems is obvious. Our syrup yield last year was 0.4/tap. We are using CV spouts this year for the first time. Not expecting them to have an impact on clogs, but who knows.

[VT_K9]

We have our tanks in the sugarhouse and evaporator ready to be hooked up for a first fire by CDL on 2/20. Time to build the RO room and then get tapping. It would be nice to be further ahead....

Mike

[WestfordSugarworks]

We replace about 1/3 of our drops each year, so no drops are used more than 3 years. And unless I'm really pressed for time, I avoid unions/connectors when doing repairs, replacing whole sections of lateral from drop to drop. I don't do any cleaning at the end of the season, just make sure all lines are empty and dry. Our oldest laterals are 6 years old. We've replaced some gummy sections here and there, but by and large the laterals appear clean and unchanged other than some UV fading. BUT, we definitely get clogs, typically in Ts or even more commonly, in the connector hook fitting at the bottom of the line, just before the mainline saddle connection. I've gotten good at locating clogs and spend as much time as I can checking lines during good runs. Also, as we've put in new sections, the better yields from first-year, new tubing systems is obvious. Our syrup yield last year was 0.4/tap. We are using CV spouts this year for the first time. Not expecting them to have an impact on clogs, but who knows.

Thanks. I bet CVs will help with yield at least, maybe not with clogs. And using the slide hook fittings could be good if/when you replace lateral, instead of the hook connector. Good luck this season.

[DrTimPerkins]

Thanks. I bet CVs will help with yield at least, maybe not with clogs.

That's correct. There appear to be two issues with 3/16" tubing. The first is the standard sanitation-related drop-off in yield over time. That is addressed the same way as it is in 5/16" tubing, with new spouts annually in combination with periodic replacement of droplines OR the use of CV spouts OR proper use of sanitizers (followed by rinse or allowing the first sap to run on the ground). The second issue is clogging with occurs at any type of fitting. Clogging is not a problem the first year, is relatively minor the second, but increases considerably after that. Since tees represent the majority of fittings in a 3/16" system, clogs tend to develop there. Sanitation-related strategies of new spouts and CVs are NOT effective in solving the problems of clogs. Replacement of drops is (the clogs are removed if the tees are replaced as part of drop replacement). Whether the use of sanitizer will also solve this problem remains to be seen, but is under study this year at UVM PMRC and at Cornell. Stay tuned....

[billyinvt]

Long term forecast (for what it's worth) looks like there isn't much of a warm up in sight. Town meeting day tapping just like the old days.
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/814temp.new.gif

[DrTimPerkins]

Long term forecast (for what it's worth) looks like there isn't much of a warm up in sight.

Fine by me. We're all tapped, but still have some research projects to finish setting up.

[WestfordSugarworks]

Thanks for that info about 3/16 Dr. Tim. Will be interested in results of ongoing work.

[PARKER MAPLE]

This weather is really throwing me for a loop this year.

[VT_K9]

Our test fire with CDL went great on Wednesday. Time to get the vacuum setup and put the taps in.

[spud]

While in the woods yesterday i noticed some of my spouts popped out of the trees. I sure hope this is not going to be a season long problem. I remember General having a bunch of this happen to him a few years ago. The ten day forecast shows no signs of sap running. I'm hoping the season starts the third week of March and runs hard for four weeks straight. The snow is still very deep in the wood. I hope the rain tomorrow melts some.

Spud

[blissville maples]

I noticed in past the CVS and white smart spouts do this alot. I again tried some CVS and hope doesn't present an issue. I guess that's another early season issue along with broken stuff! Glad I waited this year besides I'm after sugar not water!! I see gravity guys already tapped- they are gonna suffer poor yield I believe, it's just too early trees are sleeping still, we need to have winter first.....

[drewlamb]

While in the woods yesterday i noticed some of my spouts popped out of the trees. I sure hope this is not going to be a season long problem. I remember General having a bunch of this happen to him a few years ago. The ten day forecast shows no signs of sap running. I'm hoping the season starts the third week of March and runs hard for four weeks straight. The snow is still very deep in the wood. I hope the rain tomorrow melts some.

Spud
What kind of taps are they?

[spud]

The spout that popped out were all clear smart spouts. Half my woods has brand new drops with smart spouts. The other half has CV2 spouts.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Spud - The spouts came out of the tree? I haven't had that happen. My issue has been the drop coming off the spout; CV2 or smart spout without a barb. It's already happened again once but I'm pretty sure I have the fix.

I finished tapping this week and have pulled in a little sap the last couple days and it is running better today. Will end up letting it freeze in the tank until it really runs...some day. Last year we were boiling in January and most of February.

[VTfarmboy]

1gpt since friday testing 2.2%, ran well till about midnight.

[tcross]

I put in 225 taps saturday and it took me about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours longer than it ever has. snow up to my belly button without snow shoes, and up to my shins/knee with em. the local yarded up deer have taken a liking to the back half of my sugar bush gnawing their way through my tubing. sure hope they give me another doe permit this year!! the trees oughtta be froze up for a good while with the weather we've had and all this snow!

[DrTimPerkins]

Doesn't look real promising for northern Vermont for at least another week, so perhaps a little fun.

I've mentioned several times at work that when I was young I remember that the kids often drove the hay truck or tractor gathering sap, because they were too small to toss bales onto the wagon or to carry full pails of sap through the snow. I don't think they really believed me, but I recall driving the truck across fields (hand-throttle, no power steering). You just had to go reasonably straight and not run over bales. An adult would jump in at the edge of the field and crank it around and get you started on the next row). Of course, once you were big enough, you got promoted to sap buckets and lugging wood.

Anyhow, my wife was cleaning out a box of photos today, and came across a DVD of old home videos. One scene was sugaring with a bulldozer pulling a sledge with a gathering tank. A small kid about 9-10 crawls up onto the bulldozer (with some difficulty) and drives off, with the adults pointing out where to go as they walk around gathering buckets. Really funny and a great blast from the past.

19524

[blissville maples]

Looks like one more week of this cold and then we should all be in for some extremely busy days keeping up with some major runs. I'm liking the thought of a concentrated 6-8 week sugaring season sure beats last year.

Since Sunday the 17th I Have tapped and tightened up to 27" 2450 of 3450 taps. Started my last sugarbush today should be tapped and all equipment tuned up by end of week, tighten that up this weekend and get ready!!

[spud]

Dr. Tim those were the days for sure. The things we did back in the day are looked at as crazy now. Nowadays kids spend their time Face Booking their 50,000 friends and complaining how hard life is.

Spud

[n8hutch]

Doesn't look real promising for northern Vermont for at least another week, so perhaps a little fun.

I've mentioned several times at work that when I was young I remember that the kids often drove the hay truck or tractor gathering sap, because they were too small to toss bales onto the wagon or to carry full pails of sap through the snow. I don't think they really believed me, but I recall driving the truck across fields (hand-throttle, no power steering). You just had to go reasonably straight and not run over bales. An adult would jump in at the edge of the field and crank it around and get you started on the next row). Of course, once you were big enough, you got promoted to sap buckets and lugging wood.

Anyhow, my wife was cleaning out a box of photos today, and came across a DVD of old home videos. One scene was sugaring with a bulldozer pulling a sledge with a gathering tank. A small kid about 9-10 crawls up onto the bulldozer (with some difficulty) and drives off, with the adults pointing out where to go as they walk around gathering buckets. Really funny and a great blast from the past.

19524

That reminds me of me, I can remember putting the 1 ton in Low Range, someone would let the clutch out for me in granny gear and I would drive the truck and trailer around the Hay field. Probably no more than 5 years old. I hadn't thought of that in a long time.

Like Spud said things sure have changed.

[GeneralStark]

My dad tells a story from growing up in Maine that there was some absurdly young drivers age limit so that kids could drive farm equipment on public roads. Anyone remember having a license or permit before 16?

Latest long range I have seen looks like warmer weather by the 10th of March or so. Looks like it could be a fast season, which will be very different than the 3-month season last year.

[GeneralStark]

Nowadays kids spend their time Face Booking their 50,000 friends and complaining how hard life is.

Spud

Man I got to get to work. I only have like 15 followers on instagram....lol

[doocat]

What’s Instagram.....:)

[Sugar Bear]

Man I got to get to work. I only have like 15 followers on instagram....lol


Nowadays kids do a hole lot of nothing, or if its something, then it is petitioning to have things that are extremely bad for you legalized and thus for your own decision making on the most ordinary things like which way to drive on the interstates.

I remember in the early 1970's my sisters older friend got her permit at either 14 or 15. She lived on a active cattle farm in Waitsfield and man was she a Cutie Pie.

Anyway ... we got dream streams made of gravity into the barrels today here in Southern CT. Not sure why, not that sunny out or warm. May well run out of fire wood this week.

Have sap send wood. Dry wood.

[MikeVT]

.....seems as though this thread has gone way off topic.....

Just finished tapping in Fairfax. And hooked up new vacuum and ran several hundred feet of vacuum and pump line into woods. It’s been real cold here, even these warmer days haven’t been enough to get the sap moving. Looking like next Monday we may start getting enough sap to boil. Last thing to do is clean r/o. What are people using for first rinse? Water or permeate? I’ve got a friend that can give me a couple hundred gallons of permeate, but water is easier.....

Happy sugaring!
Mike
Summit Maple
Fairfax, VT

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Started tapping today. Been in the woods for two days pulling lines out of the snow after the last snow storm. Pump house is done, all I have to do now is finish the "old" woods and I'll be ready to go.

[hookhill]

We use water from the well to rinse the RO at the start of the season. Not sure what other folks do. It is the only choice we have. I guess a guy could save some permeate from last season. Not sure how much better that would be after being stored for months.

[hogisland42]

I know a guy that uses lake water to wash ro at the start of the year.

[WestfordSugarworks]

Go ahead and trash the younger folks but holding those kind of attitudes will limit your ability to see the reality around you. Some young people are doing not much, some old people are doing not much. People of all age are doing all different things. I'm 22 and have been sugaring for 5 years. Graduated UVM with a degree in forestry in 3.5 years this past December and managed 10,000 taps (now 15k) the whole time. Also started a business last year while running the sugaring business. Now have a full time employee who starts with me in 2 weeks. I know a lot of other young folks doing cool things and working hard. Also know some who aren't doing much.

Anyway, we still haven't boiled. Sitting on a few hundred gallons of 15 brix concentrate for like 3 weeks now. I'm headed to Florida tomorrow to pick up a truck. Looks like we will get some sap and hopefully my dad can manage alright, but he works full time. We'll see. Ready for the sap to come hard and heavy once I get back. I'm checking out leases on neighbor's property- hopefully going to start runnning wire on a lease within a month or two.

[drewlamb]

Amen to that. Happy to see a handful of my oldest daughters friends at town meeting today voting for the first time. And I guess I like my own kids allright - proud dad watching my middle daughter placing second in the nordic state championships yesterday and the team taking the whole thing (https://www.timesargus.com/slider/u--girls-fuel-xc-skiing-sweep/article_385567db-1f40-5765-b8c6-ce07b4f9596a.html). Sorry to gloat so blatantly.

Haven't done it before but was thinking of rinsing with sap. Anything wrong with that other than losing a couple gallons of syrup? Is there a rule of thumb around gallons per tower? I just have a single tower and CDL told me that a 100 gallon rinse is enough.

[blissville maples]

Started tapping today. Been in the woods for two days pulling lines out of the snow after the last snow storm. Pump house is done, all I have to do now is finish the "old" woods and I'll be ready to go.

Was thinking this myself!! And agree with Westford, I started working for myself an incorporated business at 22 years old- had 5 guys working for me at one point until I smartened up!! now at 36 I have run a second business for the last 7 years of maple sugaring have three kids on a 3500 square foot house on 13 acres.... I will say I grew up different than most do these days I came from a poor family and we only had we work for, I lived with uncles and grandmother to make ends meet. At one point our toilet was 5 gallon buckets because we couldn't afford to fix the backed up sewer system that nobody ever pumped out, my mother went to college got a nursing degree and it all changed from there and that's how I learned if you want something you better start now.... I also grew up around a lot of alcoholics and I don't drink it all, so sometimes hardships build character and wisdom I believe..

On another note as far as using Lake water to rinse the RO out I don't know if that's such a good idea since the amount of bacteria in that water could be substantially higher than groundwater. At least this is what I've heard.

Vacations over everybody starting Sunday Monday spring is here!! Get ready

[blissville maples]

Quoted wrong post and don't know how to change it now, you'll figure it out!

[JoeJ]

Drew,
I was told by a membrane expert that you should use soft water to rinse your membrane. Water should be low in iron and manganese. He also said not to use sap to rinse your membrane. You will just pack the membrane with junk from the sap and reduce the effectiveness of the membrane. The expert also said to do the water rinse with the size of the membrane. 600 gal membrane = a 600 gallon rinse

I have a deep well at my sugar house and had a water test done to check for hardness. Not good water, lots of minerals and very hard. I had my well at home tested and the water was soft with low minerals. So I have to haul my start up rinse water from home. Kind of a pain hauling 1,200 gallons of water 3.5 miles to the sugar house to do the rinse.

Joe

[MJPJ Sugars]

I live in Georgia, VT, above Milton, below St. Albans (for reference). We're at about 300 feet above sea level -- the goldilocks zone last year (we couldn't keep up). Walking the kids to the bus stop this morning, my 8-year old was thrilled to have spotted a downy woodpecker in one of our trees. What struck me most, however, was how swollen were the buds on the Red Maple the woodpecker had chosen. Right as rain, cold or warm, apparently, those buds are swelling at the beginning of March, no matter what.

We haven't tapped yet... I keep pretty good records for the last few years since I've been doing this. I tapped March 6 last year, but only because I had to spend a work-week out West and wouldn't saddle the wife and kids with hauling buckets in my absence (although I would have this year, tehe ;) Hopefully the forecast holds and we'll tap-in Friday or Saturday to catch the start of the season Sunday or Monday.

As far as social media, et al. -- whether 1919 or 2019, most youth -- most people, old & young, period -- follow the path of least attentive resistance. Old timers should no more frown upon Instagram or Facebook than they should Elvis the Pelvis or cruising the strip on Saturday nights -- remember when Rock-n-Roll was evil? The band KISS stood for Knights in Satan's Service? Ozzy Osborne bit the head of a live bat? All ridiculous, no real difference as a pass-time. All had pitfalls and benefits, and it was up to the user/consumer to pass or fail.

Then, as now, enterprising youths are standouts. Most are slackers. Always have been, always will be. Facebook has no influence there. Let the sap flow :)

[spud]

Looks like next Thursday the weather starts changing for the better. Even on a cold day the sun is throwing off some good heat. There is still a ton of time to have a successful sugaring season.

My hats off to people like Westford and Blissville for being such hard workers in their early adult life. You guys remind me of myself when I was your age. Westford I take special interest in what your doing because your tapping in my old neighborhood. I have walked in your Jericho woods many times as a young man. I'm so excited to read your post on how your doing. My previous post was referring to kids. You are not a kid. You are a young MAN working hard and full of ambition. You should be proud of yourself and your parents should be very proud of you.

Spud

[blissville maples]

Its about time!! looks good after Saturday. Doesn't show any crazy warm ups, let's hope march stays on the cool side like they are projecting so we can get some yield. Will be an interesting year I believe. I'm wondering how the bigger guys that tap in December tap holes will fair out come April- 12 week old taphole can't be too fresh. I think it will be a good year for the bulk price to go up. A repeat of last year just more significant, let's hope.

[GeneralStark]

What struck me most, however, was how swollen were the buds on the Red Maple the woodpecker had chosen. Right as rain, cold or warm, apparently, those buds are swelling at the beginning of March, no matter what.



The flower buds on red maples always appear very "swollen".... I doubt you are seeing signs of bud break especially given the cold weather we have had. Trees are smart...:)

It seems like every generation looks down on the younger generation in some fashion... I guess it's just part of getting old and bitter...

It does look like we'll get some action this week. That march sun is feeling warm for sure.

[blissville maples]

That is correct, if u look In December they look the same. Red maples actually flower before they bud......

It started to flow a little bit today in the sun, a whopping quart per tap. Better than nothing, it's a cumulative effort!!

[GeneralStark]

Not much sap flow here the last few days, which is ok because the sugarhouse floor drain (ro drain) froze shut so no way to rinse/wash the ro. Fortunately after many gallons of hot water poured into the outlet of the 4" pipe it is flowing again. This is the first time this has ever happened.

Looks like we should all be busy starting tomorrow. Good luck!

[drewlamb]

Yikes! Hope there's not something more major going on. Last year was my first with RO, and I was super nervous the drain field I built wouldn't be able to handle it, or I'd get a similar plugging problem. Good luck.

Still not a trickle here in Calais. Sun felt so strong today, water running everywhere and mud on the roads, but air temp didn't break 30. Looking forward to real sap Thur. No excuses for not being ready this year.

Thanks Joe for recs on RO rinsing. I sent 250 gallons through yesterday. Without the high pressure, thinking this is only really getting the outside of the membrane, so am planning to concentrate a few hundred gallons to get sap to rinse the inside of the membrane and do a wash and rinse with the permeate. And chuck the concentrate. Is this overkill?

[bees1st]

It seems like every generation looks down on the younger generation in some fashion... I guess it's just part of getting old and bitter
General, not all of us get old and bitter. Some age and mellow.

[blissville maples]

Finally!! Boy that sunshine really kicked things up yesterday, went to the releaser not expecting much and it was pouring on gravity!! Fired everything up and probably got 1/3 gal per tap from 130 pm to 6........sugar is highest I've ever seen, 2.1 with reds and 2.6 with all sugar maples. 14 degrees last night not going to help much this am other than a nice drink for the trees !!!

[spud]

General is right in saying that there are some old and bitter people in this world. Unfortunately there are people of all ages that are bitter. There are many positives in this world but unfortunately there are many negatives also. People in this country are getting soft. Anything and everything that is said seems to offend someone. Lawsuit over silly nonsense are at an all time high. My dad always said that the three most important things in life are God, Country and Family. I wish parents and schools would instill that to their children. The world would be a better place for it. I hope everyone has a record season this year. Sap should start flowing tomorrow for me.

Spud

[BAP]

General is right in saying that there are some old and bitter people in this world. Unfortunately there are people of all ages that are bitter. There are many positives in this world but unfortunately there are many negatives also. People in this country are getting soft. Anything and everything that is said seems to offend someone. Lawsuit over silly nonsense are at an all time high. My dad always said that the three most important things in life are God, Country and Family. I wish parents and schools would instill that to their children. The world would be a better place for it. I hope everyone has a record season this year. Sap should start flowing tomorrow for me.

Spud
Well said Spud. May your sap run sweet

[DrTimPerkins]

Looks like good sugaring weather finally headed our way folks. Best wishes for great vacuum, no leaks, and plenty of sweet sap for all. See you on the far side.

[spud]

I just fired up the pumps. I plan to keep them running till the end. Let's make some money.

Spud

[woodchuck]

Started a little today. Quart/tap. Main lines aren’t frozen and solid vacuum to the end of each line. Its go time! Best of luck to everyone.

[VT_K9]

Finished tapping today. Turn on vac and have a few more leaks to chase down. I hope our woods open starting tomorrow. By this time over the last two years we made more than 50 gallons of syrup each year. Stll have about 2 feet of snow in the woods.

Mike

[MikeVT]

Never got above 34 degrees yesterday at my place. Had just enough sap run to freeze in the releaser. Thanks for all the advice on r/o rinsing. I ended up getting some soft water from my neighbor. Looks like today is the day things start! Good luck to everyone.

Mike
Summit Maple Farm

[GeneralStark]

Yikes! Hope there's not something more major going on. Last year was my first with RO, and I was super nervous the drain field I built wouldn't be able to handle it, or I'd get a similar plugging problem. Good luck.

Thanks! No big deal in the end. Just had to thaw the ice in the pipe with hot water. The pipe daylights so pretty easy to troubleshoot...

I got the ro rinsed + washed yesterday and woods tight. Probably pulled in about a quart/tap despite the cool temps and lack of sun.

Time to put the evap. back together and get ready to boil. Thinking friday but we'll see what happens today. If it gets as warm as predicted it should run ok and with no freeze for a couple nights that should help break up some ice and snow.

GOod luck everyone!

[tcross]

Well, it appears as though the trees have woken up a little bit. i'm getting a decent run right now. certainly not mid season 2gpt run, but i'd say about 1gpt. 45 degrees here right now. be nice if tomorrows warmer weather would keep this flow up for another day or so!

[DrTimPerkins]

Never got above 34 degrees yesterday at my place.

About the same here on the hill. Enough to fill the releaser once or twice. Starting slow today. Smaller trees are waking up and running some. Bigger trees still have some thawing to do. At least the thaw means it is a good time to run the woods to check for leaks...especially after all the wind we've been having. Smartrek system is up and running. Hopefully it'll break open a bit more overnight and tomorrow. RO has been rinsed (twice) and we did a test boil with permeate to clean the evaporator up some. Experiments all tapped in and ready. We're just waiting on the sap now.

[MikeVT]

Really starting to thaw out and run this afternoon here. Weird thing happened, I had a leak on a saddle fitting and the sap around that fitting was frozen solid and leaking out around the fitting making a large ice ball around it. I remember reading something Dr. Tim was mentioning in a different post about sap freezing under vacuum with a leak. Well it happened. There were several gallons of sap behind the ice jam. I had to turn off vacuum to that line and thaw the ice with my hand. Then fixed leak. And then that line really started running good. Always learning something.
Thanks for the info Dr Tim.

Mike
Summit Maple

[VTfarmboy]

ran just ok here today .33gpt, was hoping for more not sure if it was lack of freeze here last night(wed) or trees still cold, still alot of snow in the bush and a serious ice pack under, hope it continues through the night, sap testing 2.2 still

[bj's sugaring]

Waking up, about .6 gpt so far and its thawing out more as we speak...

[spud]

I'm at .75 gph since yesterday morning. I hope sap runs all night again and into tomorrow. Trees are still thawing. Looks like next weeks things will get better.

Spud

[MJPJ Sugars]

Only .48 gallons of sap per tap since tapping on the 9th. :cry: With the warm-up yesterday, was hoping trees would run all night, but they didn't, all but stopped this morning. Methinks I'll get out the jumper cables today...

[smokeyamber]

Things were waking up here, still alot of dry buckets. Got around .2 gal per tap, though I am very happy to see my new 3/16 run at 26in of vacuum !

[DrTimPerkins]

Things were waking up here, ...

Same here. Only about 1 gpt of sap so far. Trees are still thawing out. The driveway still has a lot of ice on it (not slush) and isn't muddy, so that indicates the trees are still mostly frozen too. They'll be thawing out a bit more today before they freeze up again tomorrow.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

What's everyone getting for sugar content? Just checked mine and it's a whopping 1.3... :cry:

[Msboucha]

We tested 3.7 last night, but that is not unusual for us as we're only tapping a few trees in an isolated bush with lots of sun exposure.

[spud]

My sap today was 1.7.

Spud

[DrTimPerkins]

My sap today was 1.7.

Trees finally coming around. About 10,000 gal off 5,150 taps in the past 24 hrs, running 2.4 Brix. RO is running right now....sap is too...until probably late-morning tomorrow. Vacuum at 25" Hg in one bush, 27" in the other.

[blissville maples]

Finally- certainly a slow start.... the sunshine really kicked it in yesterday for a few hours. All leaks found here, a nice healthy 27-29 vac levels on all releasers so I am happy, started filling third barrel yesterday. Sap has been unreal at 2-2.5 percent, never seen it at 2.5!! Not complaining. And also we bought a used D&g 1000 r o, slapped a couple CDL Max membranes in there and this machine was moving 1,100 gallons of sap at 380 PSI putting out 9%. it drink 2500 gallons of sap in just over two hrs- I can't believe it never would have thought one membrane would move more than 350-450 gallons in an hour!!! The machine was built in the 80s all new pumps, with the pressure pump being a high performance pump is what D&g said.......

[blissville maples]

Things were waking up here, still alot of dry buckets. Got around .2 gal per tap, though I am very happy to see my new 3/16 run at 26in of vacuum !

I think it's almost still early for gravity collection, I put my three buckets out this week and maybe a gallon combined. Lot of people are going to be hurting tapped way too early!!! Everybody needs to ignore the bigger producers that start in December it's not necessary for anybody with less than 10,000 taps

[spud]

I got another .75 gpt in the last 24 hours. Sap has stopped now and should not start back till Wednesday. I was down to about 25.5 vacuum yesterday. I know I have a few leaks in the far section of the woods. I will have to find and fix them next week. I hope to be at 27 again. Snow is still very deep in the woods.

Spud

[sapmaple]

We're getting 2.3-2.5 here as well Keep in mind that you have two brand new membranes and the sap is sweet (they are not having to work as hard)also the temperature was almost ideal for max RO production I Have a CDL six post machine and it was doing 3000 an hr. going to 14% on friday (pretty Awesome!)

[DrTimPerkins]

Keep in mind that you have two brand new membranes and the sap is sweet (they are not having to work as hard)also the temperature was almost ideal for max RO production

It's a little slower going to high brix -- but so worth it :D We have about 520 gal of 35 Brix concentrate sitting upstairs in the refrigerated bulk tank "chillin" at 23 deg F. Still have room for another 430 gal of concentrate, so probably won't bother boiling until next Thursday or Friday (or even Saturday) depending on how it runs Wed/Thurs/Fri.

Sap has pretty much stopped running here. A little dribbling in, but temperature just dropped below freezing, so looks like that'll be the end of this run soon.

Went out and measured/drained/reset my research chambers early before they froze up. Good til the next run.

Has anyone tried the CDL Vacuum Protection Valve? It's an automatic valve that shuts off the vacuum line if the extractor overfills (during morning breakup) to give the pump a little extra time to evacuate the releaser. Was thinking we might put one in since we upgraded the vacuum line from the pump to the releaser last summer (nice CDL 3" fused line), so our vacuum went up at the releaser. Now the pump is having a little harder time with the higher vacuum level.

[GeneralStark]

Pulled in over 1 gpt in 24 hours from thurs. afternoon to friday afternoon. Processed over 1500 gal of sap from this week and a portion of the 400 gal. ice cube from February. Sweetened the pans and made almost 20 gal. of AR. I didn't have a chance to check sc but I'm thinking it's higher than last year due to how much syrup we made.

Sap ran ok in the afternoon the last two days but still not too impressive despite the 60F temps. Slowed way down overnight despite no freeze. Sure felt nice to work outside in a t-shirt. We lost a lot of our snow here and most of the woods is now open.

Overall a good start to the season. We'll see what the next week brings.

[GiddingsHill]

2.2gal/tap out of this run. deep deep snow here in the woods, but starting to get some tree wells opening up.

[steve J]

My sap registered 2.7 yesterday and I am 60 percent red maple. But was slow going . I got 16 gallons on 16 taps are my shurflo experiment. 13 gallons on 26 buckets. And 15 gallons on 75 3/16 taps. Less than half my trees are running.

[blissville maples]

We're getting 2.3-2.5 here as well Keep in mind that you have two brand new membranes and the sap is sweet (they are not having to work as hard)also the temperature was almost ideal for max RO production I Have a CDL six post machine and it was doing 3000 an hr. going to 14% on friday (pretty Awesome!)

I'm thinking that deffinantly helps, but still impressive as at one point it was almost 1200 gallons an hour on a 1000 gallon an hour machine!!. Our old machine was a springtech six hundred, we replace the membranes and lucky to do 350-400 gallons an hour. I also noticed the nighter and minerals seem to be low maybe that helps out the new membrane also.

It did run a little bit today in the sunshine I was surprised nothing special but at over 2% it's well worth it. Looking forward to this coming week will be a real nice recharge for the trees!!!

[bj's sugaring]

Well, our sap was only 1.5 or so, and over the couple day run we got 1.4gpt, 275 gallons total. Kinda disappointing but im telling myself things are just waking up. My buckets ran the first half a day and were dry the rest of the time, 3/16 did well, but not what I hoped. We were at 25-29" on all of our lines.

We removed 200 gallons of water with our new lapierre junior in just over 2 hours, and boiled the remaining 9% into almost 6 gallons of amber rich in under 3 hours. Some of it even approached delicate! A nice surprise on our natural draft 2x6.

We then spent an embarrasing amount of time filtering and bottling, and ended up with a little over 5 gal jugged up. Need to reclaim everything thats in our flat filters...trying to figure out the best way to do that. We definitely need to refine this process as it sucked in a bad way. Maybe its time to set up a vacuum filter.

Overall I was happy with most of our process, we changed literally everything this year and spent a lot of time and thought getting it set up. Oh and money 

[VTfarmboy]

ran strong but not till late in the day as cold as it was, .15gpt testing 2.5%, trees seem ready to go now this week should be good

[blissville maples]

Bjs- funny I know what ya mean, whatever works at times!! New system always new kinks to work out.

Well got nearly half a gallon of sap per tap today, hard to believe i didn't think would run that well, looking forward to this week.

[MJPJ Sugars]

Sitting at just under 6% of the sap collected same day as last year.

Change "Beef" to "Sap"
19733

I guess it makes sense that if we could be in the goldilocks zone last year (twice the average year), we could be at the opposite end of the pendulum another year.

[VTfarmboy]

.33 gpt today testing 2%

[VTfarmboy]

.5gpt still testing 2%, still plenty of ice in the woods, woods road still rock hard, tomorrow should be big.

[DrTimPerkins]

Took a while for the trees to thaw again after the deep cold we had, but starting to come in fairly well this afternoon. Vacuum level in the research area and in the main bush from the webcam in the releaser room in the photo. Max we can do at our elevation is 28.6" Hg.

Hoping to find a bunch of full tanks come morning. Sap running about 2.5 Brix.

19783

[spud]

Sap started rolling about 3:00 pm here. Consistently 400 GPH now. Lots of foam and testing 2.3%.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Left this am before things thawed and came home at 5pm to just under 1 gpt. Had to chase a few leaks but got the vac. back up to 27" and sap is still flowing well. Should be an interesting few days with warm temps. and then some sugar snow for open house weekend. Looks like I'll be boiling tomorrow...

[VTfarmboy]

.75 gpt today testing 2.6, sap moon!

[spud]

Sap ran last night and I woke up to 4500 gallons in the tank. Sap is still running at 150 gph but should pick up during the day. My vacuum is down to 25.5 in the woods so today I plan to find and fix the leaks.

Spud

[GiddingsHill]

we had hoped for an all-night run, but we ended up freezing around midnight with temps as low as 22F. I went down around 1:30AM to find pump cavitating due to the freeze. I hadn't bothered to set the regulator, thinking we'd stay in the mid 30's all night but no luck. hopefully this cold valley will work to our benefit in a few weeks...

[DrTimPerkins]

Moderate freeze up here on the hill. Sap ran all night lightly (just some areas froze, others didn't). About 8,000 gal of sap at 2.6 Brix being concentrated right now. Will most likely boil tomorrow.

Realized I should include a cautionary note....we store our concentrate in a refrigerated bulk tank until we boil. If we didn't refrigerate it, we would boil it immediately -- concentrate does not store well.

[smokeyamber]

Trees woke up finally yesterday, bunch of 1/2 full buckets, one overflowing and the 3/16 ran all night ! Looks like I will have my first ( and latest ever ) boil this weekend ! Hope the temps stay good for at least next week !

[TapTapTap]

3rd boil of season. And, our first barrel ever.
19791

[DrTimPerkins]

Philip Young, a teacher at Essex Middle School, in Essex, VT, sent me this photo earlier today of the sugar content in the sap bucket from one of their trees. They do a unit on maple. This is straight from the tree - NOT concentrate. He's called me in the past to talk about the sweet trees there. You don't find them like this real often.

19793

[raptorfan85]

Philip Young, a teacher at Essex Middle School, in Essex, VT, sent me this photo earlier today of the sugar content in the sap bucket from one of their trees. They do a unit on maple. This is straight from the tree - NOT concentrate. He's called me in the past to talk about the sweet trees there. You don't find them like this real often.

19793

Sweet Jesus!

[BAP]

Holy Mackerel, imagine having 100 like that

[Bruce L]

Should market saplings from those trees!

[Msboucha]

And I thought the 5.7 we saw today was good....that's just plain impressive!

[spud]

Woke up to 2000 gallons in the tank. Sap is still trickling in a bit. Testing 2.2% this morning. Sunday it should run again.

Spud

[tcross]

i had a pretty dismal run yesterday. it set up to look like excellent conditions to run, but only got less than a gallon per tap. probably something to do with the 3' of snow still hugging the trees. However, the rings at the base are started! got some pretty heavy sugar snow coming down right now!

[hookhill]

Dr. Tim is that really reading almost 10% raw sap? Can't be. I must be missing something.

[drewlamb]

Philip Young, a teacher at Essex Middle School, in Essex, VT, sent me this photo earlier today of the sugar content in the sap bucket from one of their trees. They do a unit on maple. This is straight from the tree - NOT concentrate. He's called me in the past to talk about the sweet trees there. You don't find them like this real often.

19793
Unreal. I ran into Philip at CDL last week and we were talking about his high numbers. Also said he had red maples that were regularly running 3%. Is it possible there are dissolved solids other than sugar being measured there? Would be interesting to test the composition.

[MDR Maple]

Just pumped 50 gallons from the recent run and was shockingly surprised to have 3% sugar.

About 1 gpt for 41 road tree taps on 3/16 and 7 yard buckets.

Snowing and barely running now.

I was pleasantly surprised to collect 2.6% last weekend.

Last year I didn't measure sugar on the first run, but later runs were 2.3% and below.

[VTfarmboy]

after todays boil im at about 1/2 crop, .25gpt is full crop for me in my all gravity setup, forcast looks promising! could do without with snow though

[bj's sugaring]

We had 1.7gpt as of yesterday when I got home from work, and then got another .4 gpt overnight. RO took 265 gallons of water out and we boiled our 10% until 1230 last night, made a little over 9.5 gallons. This is good for our small op, and we even made some golden delicate, a first for us. Made for a long day at work on 2 hrs of sleep though!

[bj's sugaring]

3rd boil of season. And, our first barrel ever.
19791

Hi Ken! I bought your lapierre junior, its working great for us! Glad to see you are having a good season!

[TapTapTap]

Hi Ken! I bought your lapierre junior, its working great for us! Glad to see you are having a good season!
Brett, right?
I'm glad it's working good for you and it sounds like you would have had 0 hours of sleep without it. I hope this snow doesn't f up your trees. I'm worried about mine.
Ken

[blissville maples]

Philip Young, a teacher at Essex Middle School, in Essex, VT, sent me this photo earlier today of the sugar content in the sap bucket from one of their trees. They do a unit on maple. This is straight from the tree - NOT concentrate. He's called me in the past to talk about the sweet trees there. You don't find them like this real often.

19793

I'd have to see it, and how it was collected etc, in person to believe it.... something just doesn't seem right to me!! Most sugar content are between 2-5 and this ones at ten???? Not saying I don't believe it however......... Perhaps the old wise tale is correct pure straight syrup used to come out of the tree not watered down sap!!

[bj's sugaring]

Brett, right?
I'm glad it's working good for you and it sounds like you would have had 0 hours of sleep without it. I hope this snow doesn't f up your trees. I'm worried about mine.
Ken

Yes, Brett. I just went out and cleared a bunch of stuff off my lines this morning. Its not great out there! Hope it warms up fast tomorrow and we get something after this.

[Vtmaple2]

Long range forcast not looking good. No freezing. Hopefully it changes!

[spud]

The flood gates have opened. Running 400 GPH and climbing on my 4050 tap woods. I assume my other 4000 taps is doing the same. Lot of foam and testing at 2.2%.

Spud

[VTfarmboy]

just under 1gpt and still running testing 3.7% highest ever for us in 15 years!

[GeneralStark]

Running hard here as well. Already about 1 gpt just since it thawed earlier today. It has been a busy few days. Had one of the best sap runs ever for my woods wednesday -> thursday with over 2.5 gpt in 24 hours. Had to run the ro at 1:30 am to make room in tank. Boiled over 2200 gallons thursday and made 55 gal of AR. SC over 2%. Most syrup I have ever made in one boil from these woods. It took about 6 boils last year to make as much syrup as I have in two this year. I think it's going to be a fast and furious season...

It snowed hard all day friday and the sap ran a bit. I was sweating it when the snow really picked up in the evening and started sticking to the trees. Power went out at 2 am and fortunately came back on by 5. Awoke to almost 2 feet of heavy snow saturday am for open house weekend. The driveway wasn't passable til 10:30 as my regular plow guy couldn't plow it with his truck. A neighbor was fortunately able to get it open with his tractor... Anyway open house was pretty slow, but made some good sales. Didn't boil as we barely had enough sap and attendance was so light.

Spent today clearing limbs off lines and digging out. A bunch of spouts got pulled out and drops disconnected due to falling limbs and heavy snow loading. Also had to re set a bunch of cv2 spouts. Got vac back up to 27. Back to boiling tomorrow. Looks like it could be a big run later this week...

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Only a half gallon per tap here but Coming in at 2.5. The highest I've seen from my woods. :D

[DrTimPerkins]

We had our first boil of the season on Friday. Had run the RO and stored (at 25 deg F) the high-Brix concentrate for several days, so had about 920 gal of 35 Brix concentrate to start, then ran the RO all day Friday as we boiled. About a 7 hr boil (first hr was sweetening the pans). Ended up with 14 barrels of syrup -- about 22% of our minimum target season crop (0.5 gal/tap) in one day. We're shooting to only boil when we max out our bulk tank storage, and hoping to boil only 5-7 times all season.

Vacuum still holding well (27" Hg or better) in spite of the wind we had over the weekend. Had to add a CDL Vacuum Protection Valve to the releaser to prevent sap from tripping the moisture trap during rapid flow periods. Seems to work most of the time, but still evaluating.

Decent run Sunday afternoon. Don't have totals yet, but will post later. Concentrating today. Looks like a couple of days off, then we may have good sap runs from Wednesday through Monday (as far out as our reasonably reliable forecast goes).

Afternoon update...total of 5,293 gal of sap from yesterday's brief run...just a little over a gal of sap/tap. 2.6 Brix from both sections of the bush. 390 gal of concentrate @ 35 Brix (about 155 gal syrup equivalent) now sitting in the refrigerated bulk tank for processing. Will probably collect/process sap until Friday, then boil what we've collected til then.

Air temperature is 31-32 deg F, but it started running a wee bit this afternoon.

[tcross]

we had a good run here yesterday afternoon as well. didn't test the sugar content, but it sure tasted sweet. will be firing up the evaporator late this afternoon. hard to imagine we boiled 17 times to this time of the year last year! tonight will be our 3rd boil!

[blissville maples]

Yesterday was certainly a great day for sap, nearly 2 gal per tap from 10 am to 12 pm last night!! 1150 taps running at about 130-40 gals per hr on 27.5"..... So far sugar holding around 2%. We made 105 gallons other day and 80 yesterday on our 3*10 vortex- 105 is a record in one day! So far we're at 497 gallons, sitting on 4300 gals sap now and will be running soon so it should be another hundred gallon day!

[Mead Maple]

Been reading a bunch on here ever since I got bit by the maple bug! Trees haven't quite opened up here in Middlesex in my location but things are starting to move. Made our first gallon of syrup ever and our second boil ever! Was pretty happy to see a very light grade. Sap had tested just over 3%, all sugar maples. Have a great neighbor up the road that's been helping making it such a fun first season. Love reading all about the pros on here!

[hogisland42]

It didnt run as good as I thought it would have for me yesterday. Not sure why, I Know it took awhile for the lines to thaw.

[VTfarmboy]

.5 gpt today back down to 2.6%, trickled through the night and froze briefly early am. a few moths in one tank today.

[Mead Maple]

Ran better than I thought yesterday after a 9° reading yesterday morning. Ran a little today but the wind kept the temps down. Looks like things will be slow for tomorrow but end of the week we’ll be in the sap.


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[bj's sugaring]

1.3 gpt last run, ro to 8%ish and boiled it today to make 6.5 gal. Heres to hoping the season holds on for me, the forecast looks like a big run mid week and then no freeze for 4 days

[woodfordmark]

i just got done draining and cleaning my syrup pan, but noticed that the pan was showing signs of buildup. What is the best to use on getting the stainless clean? In the past I have used an extra fine steel wool pad. Your input is appreciated! And for the record, having a hard time keeping up with "mom nature"!!!

[DrTimPerkins]

i just got done draining and cleaning my syrup pan, but noticed that the pan was showing signs of buildup. What is the best to use on getting the stainless clean? In the past I have used an extra fine steel wool pad. Your input is appreciated! And for the record, having a hard time keeping up with "mom nature"!!!

Soaking the pans with permeate tends to work pretty well. If that won't move it, then a little pan acid (or white vinegar) in water should do it. Do NOT use steel wool unless it is stainless steel wool, otherwise you'll have spots that rust.

Are you switching sides occasionally during boiling to avoid/reduce niter build-up?

[DrTimPerkins]

Barely made it to 32 deg F yesterday afternoon after a very cold night, but the sap trickled in a little for a couple of hours starting about 4pm. Only about 450 gal of sap total. Today will probably be about the same. Should open up late-Wednesday afternoon and run into early next week, with a few freezes tossed in every couple of days.

Still planning to boil on Friday. Bulk tank and overflow should be close to full of concentrate by then.

[Mead Maple]

Barely made it to 32 deg F yesterday afternoon after a very cold night, but the sap trickled in a little for a couple of hours starting about 4pm. Only about 450 gal of sap total. Today will probably be about the same. Should open up late-Wednesday afternoon and run into early next week, with a few freezes tossed in every couple of days.

Still planning to boil on Friday. Bulk tank and overflow should be close to full of concentrate by then.

Dr. Tim, how is your north face woods running up there? I was up there last week picking up a truck from Clark's and noticed less snow than Middlesex. We've still got cold spots with almost 3' of snow and those trees have barely produced any because the bases are still frozen. Of course this is with buckets so those running vacs might be having better luck. Everyone who's sugared for many years have told me it's the latest they've ever got started.


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[GeneralStark]

What is the best to use on getting the stainless clean?

I soak syrup pans with vinegar or permeate at least over night and then use a scraper made with a copper pipe to remove any lingering niter deposits. I learned this trick here on the trader...

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?30319-Scraping-syrup-pans&highlight=copper+pipe+scraper

Pulled in about 1 gpt yesterday despite the cold wind. That March sun sure is powerful! Had another big boil and made over 45 gal of AR.

The ice block in my bulk tank from february finally melted and I was able to clean the tank for the first time since we started collecting sap. Maybe that will lighten up the grade a little bit...

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Tim, how is your north face woods running up there?

Not very well today. :lol: Still in the mid-20s up here.

We still have 1.5-2' of dense snow in the woods. Tree bases had mostly thawed out, but this last snow filled those in a bit. Trees ran fine last week, but certainly took a bit to thaw them out. Sun (with no wind) makes a bit difference this time of year, and the vacuum gets things moving at a lower temperature than you'd think.

Shouldn't matter much in a few days. Temps will be well into the range to thaw things out well, and the sap will be flying into the releaser soon enough.

[woodfordmark]

I do switch sides frequently and have used stainless steel wool....looking for a quick fix and thank you!!

[steve J]

My sap drop to 2% yesterday it had been 3%. And niter has been a big issue so far. I am going to have to empty pan and filter as well as reverse it before boiling today.

[spud]

Sap is starting to roll today. About 300gph and climbing. Still testing at 2.1%. Monday I only got 450 gallons and yesterday I got about 100 gallons. I'm at 25% of what i hope to get for the season. Lots of great sugaring weather to come. Running 28.5hg at the releaser and 27.5 in the furthest section of the woods.

Spud

[VT_K9]

Found a couple of squirrel chews in one line which resulted in icing in the mainline. This was plaguing us for the last week or so and finally had a chance to walk some of the lines last night. Our vacuum was staying just shy of 26" so it was a smaller leak, but enough to freeze. I hope to find some time later tonight to walk more lines. We found three taps to add which we left out of the sap lines when I replaced them quickly for a repair.

Sap is finally flowing decent around here. Still quite a bit of snow in the woods. We are at 15 gallons (last three years were were around 80 gallons now) of syrup so far and hopefully will still get close to 100 gallons of syrup.

Mike

[DrTimPerkins]

Found a couple of squirrel chews in one line which resulted in icing in the mainline.

Hey Mike...or anyone else. Should you happen to see this again, get a few good photos of the squirrel damage, but especially get a few shots of the mainline freezing. We've seen this a couple of times over the years, but haven't recently. We're working on a series of videos on different factors important to high production, and this would be a good shot to include.

First one who sends me a good photo of these (squirrel chew and/or mainline freezing due to a nearby leak) that we end up using in the video will receive photo credit in the video and a Snickers bar! :D

[GiddingsHill]

Sap is starting to roll today. About 300gph and climbing. Still testing at 2.1%. Monday I only got 450 gallons and yesterday I got about 100 gallons. I'm at 25% of what i hope to get for the season. Lots of great sugaring weather to come. Running 28.5hg at the releaser and 27.5 in the furthest section of the woods.

Spud

Spud, we seem to usually have similar weather and runs. Curious where you are at lbs/tap? Im certainly not that close to 25% of a crop here, although I do often lag behind other producers until later in the season in years past, seems like it's just not thawing out here.

[spud]

I am at .13 gpt so far. Sap in now running 500 GPH. I was just told that my friends in Bakersfield are not running great yet. My woods faces South/East so I get early sun .

Spud

[Mead Maple]

We saw 6° this morning here in Middlesex. There was no skimming the ice off the top of the bucket, just a giant icicle. But was running well this afternoon. Best running trees are roadside where the back slope of a ditch is south facing. Hoping it will continue to run well for us bucket boilers! Neighbor had me jealous with his Surflo just moving bubbles like an assembly line! Got over 50 gallons in the IBC tote so another gallon of syrup ready to boil. Taking the day off Friday to boil in the driveway.


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[VTfarmboy]

.5 gpt tonight testing 2.5, frost coming out fast now in our sandy soil, at about 65% crop now

[DrTimPerkins]

It barely froze up and stopped around 6am, but started back up again an 90 min later. Should be a decent day today. Vacuum dropped a little in one section of the bush. That'll be corrected by this afternoon.

About 7,500+ gal of sap came in yesterday afternoon and overnight (~1.5 gal/tap) at 2.5-2.6 Brix. RO has been running since 6am. We'll collect and concentrate all day (into the refrigerated bulk tank...on top of the 380 gal of 35 Brix concentrate already there), then start concentrating again starting tomorrow morning and boil what is in the bulk tank. Should be another 550 gal syrup production day. Assuming that is the case, we'll be at about 42-44% of our minimum crop (0.5 gal/tap) by the end of the day tomorrow.

[MJPJ Sugars]

Best 24 hours here since last year, 1.4 gallons of sap per tap in the buckets. Still testing at just over 2%, which is a welcomed, pleasant surprise in my little woods.

[spud]

Yesterday I got 1.25 gpt and I had a little freeze earlier this morning. Sap ran all day today at 325 GPH. Still running tonight at 200 GPH and should run all night. My vacuum dropped an inch today but now it's back up. Sap still testing 2.1%. So far it's been a great season. I hope to go to the 20th of April like most years. Time will tell.

Spud

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Walked all the woods getting vacuum up. Still not running more than .5 gal/tap but the snow is still tight around my trees from the last storm. Rain should help that tonight. Sap is holding at 2.5-2.6%. Happy sapping.

[VTfarmboy]

.66gpt today still testing a strong 2.5, sinking in 6-8inches on the woods road, should be at 75% crop after i boil tomorrow. .25gpt is full crop for me cleaning syrup pan after every boil now.

[spud]

Sap ran all night and I have 3000 gallons in the tank. It is slowing down a lot but should run all the way to midnight tonight before freezing up. I am at 33% of my season goal. Sap still testing 2.1% . Tomorrow could turn out to be real good after the freeze.

Spud

[tcross]

i got a 1.5 gpt yesterday. bout 2.5%. still trickling in this a.m. Hopefully it picks back up a bit today. finally got a good run without any nitre! i'd been battling really bad nitre the first 3-4 boils this year!

[spud]

Sap is running 165 GPH. Testing at 2.2%. Should freeze tonight and then run good tomorrow. I'm at 33% of my goal as of right now.

Spud

[Ultimatetreehugger]

927 gallons off yesterday run. .56 gallons per tap. Holding strong at 2.5%

[DrTimPerkins]

Second boil yielded 720 gal today. Started AR, ended up GD. Hit .25 gal/tap season total, so half way to our minimum goal, but hoping to go beyond that. Sap sugar holding at 2.6 Brix so far.

[Mead Maple]

Did a 12 hour boil today. Definitely broke myself in. Long day but boy that sweet flavor coming off the pan is irreplaceable!
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Ended up with more than 3 gallons added to last weekends boil. Looking forward to bottling!


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[spud]

My woods froze up last night at 8:00pm. Today the sap should roll. we have great weather in the 10 day forecast.

Spud

[spud]

Wind is blowing hard but the sap is still running 500 GPH. Going to run all day and night . Should run tomorrow till evening.

Spud

[VT_K9]

Still looking for that great run this year. Sap flow started to increase around noon today. I am hoping the next few days it will pick up. The woods still have a fair amount of snow and there are many areas where the ground is frozen.

We cleaned the evaporator today. We have made about 25 gallons and are about a 1/4 of the way to our season goal.

Mike

[spud]

Woke up to another 2250 gallons in the tank. Running 175 GPH this morning. Should keep running till 10:00 pm or so and then a full day of freeze up. Tuesday it should roll again.still testing 2.1%. Vacuum is down an inch so I will check lines today. It's been very windy here for a few days.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Been busy here. Haven't had a solid freeze here since Tuesday night. Sap ran very well Wednesday ->Thursday and since then it has been a little over 1 gpt every 24 hours. Boiled Wednesday and Friday and will be at it again today. Grade lightened way up to GD for last boil. Great syrup for confections so I was glad to make almost 50 gal of that. Since sweetening the pans I haven't made less than 35 gal in one boil which is pretty impressive for my little operation. SC has been holding at over 2%. Niter has really shown up the last couple boils...

Production is currently at over .25gpt so more than halfway to my goal. I'm not sure i'll hit .65 like last year but will keep at it until the trees bud. Should be another good week with hard freezes tonight and tomorrow night to recharge the trees. Going on 24 hours at close to 60F here and most of our snow is gone. Thankfully the ice in the driveway finally melted. Good luck everyone!

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Nearly a gallon per/tap overnight. Almost out of tank space.

[spud]

Froze up earlier then I thought it would today. I did get .25 gpt today. I good freeze up is just what we need.

Spud

[Mead Maple]

I'm with Spud. Things slowed down so hoping to get a good freeze tonight to recharge everything. Definitely exciting! Even for us driveway boilers haha


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[blissville maples]

Sap is running 500gph on 3500 taps, jumped up to 6.5% sugar overnight- unbelievable!

[GeneralStark]

Looks like we got April fooled.... lol.

Good boil yesterday with another 25 gal. of AR. Sugar content dropped a bit below 2 for this last run, but several days without a freeze will do that. I thought the grade would drop with the warmer weather but still on the light side of AR. Got the tanks cleaned and am ready for some BIGSAP this week.

[Mead Maple]

Had a great night to recharge everything here. Got down to 17 at my location. Sap is flowing hard today!


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[spud]

Sap has been running 550 GPH all afternoon. Testing 1.9%.

Dpud

[Mead Maple]

Most of my 2 gallon buckets were overflowing. Only the cold spots with ice build up had a gallon and change. What a run today


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[VTfarmboy]

.33 gpt today testing 2%, frost is out in open places and starting to dry out, probably will start field work next week.

[GiddingsHill]

Finally opening up! one of the hardest runs I've seen here with over 2gal/tap in the last 16hrs. bouncing off freezing right now but still coming in steady. test down to 1.7

[MDR Maple]

Big run for us yesterday. Collected about 65 gallons since last Friday. Surprised it is still at 3% sugar.

[spud]

2 gallons a tap in the last 20 hours. Sap is testing at 1.7%. Right now sap is running at 225 GPH. Only went down to 34 on the hill. Should run ok all day and then big freeze up.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Big run here too. Might hit 3gpt in 24 hours but already over 2.5 since things thawed yesterday. Sc at 1.7 and no freeze overnight. Going to start boiling soon after running the ro all night...

[DrTimPerkins]

Sap has been running 550 GPH all afternoon. Testing 1.9%.

Dpud

Must be you're tuckered out Spud -- or is this your new nickname! Good thing you didn't forget either the "p" or the "d". :lol:

A good bit over 2 gal sap/tap over the past 24 hrs. Sugar at 2.2 Brix. RO is running now. We'll boil tomorrow, or maybe wait until Friday (only our third boil of the season, but we stockpile concentrate in the refrigerated bulk tank). Between syrup in the drums, concentrate in the bulk tank, and sap in the tanks, we're at about 72% of a minimum crop (0.5 gal syrup/tap). It's going to freeze tonight and Thurs night, so should be decent runs for a few days. After that, looks like no freezes for 5+ days, but fortunately no really hot weather either. End of next week we "might" get low enough temps for a freeze if we're lucky.

[spud]

Got to love it. :lol:

Spud

[WestfordSugarworks]

Yesterday was biggest run of the year for us I think. We have a new releaser in our 3k tap bush so it's hard to tell, but seemed like the hardest i've ever seen it run here. We've been pulling just about max vacuum in both of our woods but this morning it dropped about 0.2. Have others seen that? I am going to walk in a bit to see if there are actually leaks.

Dr. Tim, how long will you hold concentrate in your tank? Is there risk of spoilage even at that low temperature? We've only boiled 4 times I think, though have been tapped in since January 29.We have a very oversized rig and just hold sap and even hold concentrate a few days before boiling. Our boils only are 3 hours long at the most. We held concentrate from those early february runs all the way until mid March and still made table grade syrup from it (somehow).

[DrTimPerkins]

Yesterday was biggest run of the year for us I think. We have a new releaser in our 3k tap bush so it's hard to tell, but seemed like the hardest i've ever seen it run here. We've been pulling just about max vacuum in both of our woods but this morning it dropped about 0.2. Have others seen that? I am going to walk in a bit to see if there are actually leaks.

Yes, it was an excellent run...probably the best of the season so far. Vacuum will drop a little when it gets warm due to higher production of gases by the trees.


Dr. Tim, how long will you hold concentrate in your tank? Is there risk of spoilage even at that low temperature? We've only boiled 4 times I think, though have been tapped in since January 29.We have a very oversized rig and just hold sap and even hold concentrate a few days before boiling. Our boils only are 3 hours long at the most. We held concentrate from those early february runs all the way until mid March and still made table grade syrup from it (somehow).

We tapped starting mid-January as well. We will hold concentrate for a week or so at around 25 deg F (we can do that because we are concentrating to 35 Brix...freeze temp will vary with concentration level). There is almost no microbial activity at that temperature, so no apparent change in syrup quality. I wouldn't try to hold it for long (more than a day) without refrigerating it. Although we've had about 10-12 moderate-good sap runs and concentrated about that many times, we've only boiled 3 times (counting this Thurs or Friday). It is really nice to have the flexibility of when to boil....Friday seem to be our "boiling day" thus far. Those boils are 5-7 hrs long, but we sure make a lot of syrup on those days. I much prefer that than boiling for 30-60 min every day....saves a huge amount of time on cleaning up.

[tcross]

i've gotten well over 2 gallons per tap in the past 24 hours. certainly my best run of the year. i had a temp of 30 at my house this a.m at 5:15 with frozen over puddles... but the sap was still coming out well! still testing over 2%. i've never had this high of an average sugar content before!

[WestfordSugarworks]

Yes, it was an excellent run...probably the best of the season so far. Vacuum will drop a little when it gets warm due to higher production of gases by the trees.



We tapped starting mid-January as well. We will hold concentrate for a week or so at around 25 deg F (we can do that because we are concentrating to 35 Brix...freeze temp will vary with concentration level). There is almost no microbial activity at that temperature, so no apparent change in syrup quality. I wouldn't try to hold it for long (more than a day) without refrigerating it. Although we've had about 10-12 moderate-good sap runs and concentrated about that many times, we've only boiled 3 times (counting this Thurs or Friday). It is really nice to have the flexibility of when to boil....Friday seem to be our "boiling day" thus far. Those boils are 5-7 hrs long, but we sure make a lot of syrup on those days. I much prefer that than boiling for 30-60 min every day....saves a huge amount of time on cleaning up.

Thanks for the info. Yes, I really like the idea of having fewer boils that are longer. We spend almost as much time getting ready for and cleaning up from our boils as we actually do boiling.

[steve J]

Well my sap is at 1.7 but still coming in hard on the section that has shurflo pump. I scorch pan near draw off again today so had to shut it down early. I will catch up over next two days and than call it a season as I suspect trees will bud by end of next warm spell.

[DrTimPerkins]

Sap ran in really well Tues through Wed afternoon -- still around 2.2 Brix. RO ran for 17 hrs yesterday (we were squeezing it really hard). Cleaned the pans, did a few odd-ball things around the lab/sugarhouse, checked my research chambers. Vacuum still running 27.5" Hg or better. Sitting on a HUGE pile of refrigerated concentrate to boil tomorrow. Wind is blowing hard and it turned a good bit colder. Sap isn't going to run much (if any) today. Good day to sleep in and put the feet up a little, because it'll be a long day tomorrow and probably continue like that through the weekend. With some luck, we'll be at a full crop by the middle of next week...but pushing for more.

[BAP]

Sap ran in really well Tues through Wed afternoon -- still around 2.2 Brix. RO ran for 17 hrs yesterday (we were squeezing it really hard). Cleaned the pans, did a few odd-ball things around the lab/sugarhouse, checked my research chambers. Vacuum still running 27.5" Hg or better. Sitting on a HUGE pile of refrigerated concentrate to boil tomorrow. Wind is blowing hard and it turned a good bit colder. Sap isn't going to run much (if any) today. Good day to sleep in and put the feet up a little, because it'll be a long day tomorrow and probably continue like that through the weekend. With some luck, we'll be at a full crop by the middle of next week...but pushing for more.
Going so long between boiling, how do you keep the sap in the evaporator from turning on you?

[DrTimPerkins]

Going so long between boiling, how do you keep the sap in the evaporator from turning on you?

If we're going to clean pans (most of the time), we'll draw it off into a drawoff tank while hot, then keep it covered. With our pans (4' x 8' front-pan), most everything in the front-pan is very close to syrup, so doesn't spoil very fast.

If we're NOT cleaning pans, we'll fire up every 2-3 days and boil for 5 min to kill everything that might get a toe-hold.

[spud]

I was surprised to get 1000 gallons this afternoon. Mainly just the south east side of the woods ran. Tomorrow sap should roll again. Lots of real good weather to come.

Spud

[Mead Maple]

I was surprised to get 1000 gallons this afternoon. Mainly just the south east side of the woods ran. Tomorrow sap should roll again. Lots of real good weather to come.

Spud

Wow that is great Spud. It got a few degrees above freezing today but the wind blew pretty hard all day. Was not all that productive here at least not for buckets. Tonights freeze and tomorrows textbook weather should make for excellent running!


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[GiddingsHill]

Also had a freak run here, primarily just from lower elevations, totally unexpected. Heeding Dr. Tim's advice I'd "put my feet up" and gone to Burlington to track down some parts for work and, of course, the obligatory Al's burger. Very early this morning I had disconnected the float switch to our booster pump which lifts sap from a pump station about 2000' to the main tankshed. I had been concerned that with the ice in the line i might blow up the pump, or a connection in the line if the float tripped the pump. A few miles from home I remembered this and talked myself into turning around and reconnecting it despite the cold and wind "just in case". Glad I did, when we got back from town we had gotten over 3000 gallons and it was coming in hot. With all the screw-ups i manage to create in a season, it feels good to get something right!

[GeneralStark]

A great run here today until freeze up about an hour ago. Over 1 gpt in about 8 hours. This on top of the 1 gpt that came in between 6:30 am Wednesday til it froze up overnight. I boiled yesterday am for 4 hours and made another 45 gal AR. More on the dark side. Will see how it runs tomorrow with the forecast. No more freezes for about a week after tonight if the forecast is correct.

I was in Middlebury today and saw several silver maples that were starting to bud. Still have time here on the mountain but not sure how much....

[220 maple]

Thank you for posting your info, I check the Vermont page daily, the gallons per tap makes me think of the big operators I met in Franklin County Spring 2010, if someone like Branon Family Maple Orchard is getting 2 gallon per for their 72000 taps(that is how many taps they had in 2010) in a twenty four hour period. 144000 gallons of sap! And with all the others that size or bigger doing the same, the US Govt. live eyes in the sky probably only seeing a white spot where Franklin County is located! Even at 2.20 a pound bulk still a big pay day!

Mark 220 Maple

[spud]

Also had a freak run here, primarily just from lower elevations, totally unexpected. Heeding Dr. Tim's advice I'd "put my feet up" and gone to Burlington to track down some parts for work and, of course, the obligatory Al's burger. Very early this morning I had disconnected the float switch to our booster pump which lifts sap from a pump station about 2000' to the main tankshed. I had been concerned that with the ice in the line i might blow up the pump, or a connection in the line if the float tripped the pump. A few miles from home I remembered this and talked myself into turning around and reconnecting it despite the cold and wind "just in case". Glad I did, when we got back from town we had gotten over 3000 gallons and it was coming in hot. With all the screw-ups i manage to create in a season, it feels good to get something right!

It's a good thing you turned back. Every drop counts.

Mead Maple- looks like your catching the bug. Good luck to you.

Spud

[Ultimatetreehugger]

808 gallons of 2.6 brix from my freak run yesterday. Eye opener for sure.

[DrTimPerkins]

Interesting little burst run yesterday. Just a few hrs, but over 1 gal per tap. Sugar at 2.1 Brix. Sap started running well this afternoon around 3pm since it was so cold overnight.

Boiled 9 hrs today. 3rd boil of season. 785 gal. Season Total is 2,055 gal, 0.4 gal/tap or 80% of a min crop.

[regor0]

If we're going to clean pans (most of the time), we'll draw it off into a drawoff tank while hot, then keep it covered. With our pans (4' x 8' front-pan), most everything in the front-pan is very close to syrup, so doesn't spoil very fast.

If we're NOT cleaning pans, we'll fire up every 2-3 days and boil for 5 min to kill everything that might get a toe-hold.

Just curious what the temp of the “very close syrup” is for the 2-3 days is, or the sugar house temp is? I have 3 days coming up with the high of 50 and low of 38. Will it keep that long?


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[WestfordSugarworks]

We've made 900 gallons at our small bush where we boil. We have about 2900 taps here, so roughly 2/3rds of the way to 0.5 gal per tap. That's not our average, I think we average somewhere more like 0.45 gpt here despite our best work to get higher. Both bushes at pretty much max vac today and the sap hammering in. We also got about 1 gpt of sap yesterday. Vacuum has climbed back up 0.2 inches or more in both woods despite not having walked lines recently. Sap finally dropped from the 2% it had been at for a lot of the season down to 1.3% in our big woods.

Forecast looks like we won't get a freeze here for several nights, but nothing too cold during the days so i'm not worried about the season ending. Tho I would like it to cool off so we can get a few more good hard runs in. Excited for the spring ephermerals to come up. Seen a little bit of greeing up here and there and some sprouts coming up in the woods. Spring beauties, I think, not sure though. Just a 2" tall light green/whiteish shoot coming up under the leaves.

[spud]

Sap started running hard late afternoon yesterday. Sap ran all night on the back side of my woods but froze on the S/E side. The S/E side is just starting to trickle in now. Should be a very good day. I'm seeing 4-5 freezing nights in the next ten days for me. I think we have 2+ weeks to go.

Spud

[blissville maples]

Also had a freak run here, primarily just from lower elevations, totally unexpected. Heeding Dr. Tim's advice I'd "put my feet up" and gone to Burlington to track down some parts for work and, of course, the obligatory Al's burger. Very early this morning I had disconnected the float switch to our booster pump which lifts sap from a pump station about 2000' to the main tankshed. I had been concerned that with the ice in the line i might blow up the pump, or a connection in the line if the float tripped the pump. A few miles from home I remembered this and talked myself into turning around and reconnecting it despite the cold and wind "just in case". Glad I did, when we got back from town we had gotten over 3000 gallons and it was coming in hot. With all the screw-ups i manage to create in a season, it feels good to get something right!


Lol....never a time during sugaring to 'put the feet up' unless you have others running the show!!! I always stick close to home bc you never know what mother nature will do, that's why she's a woman!!!

I've been fixing everything in last 24 hrs...my airtech electric motor starter circuit has issues after replacement of startup capacitor that was leaking oil didnt fix it. Had to reconnect old faithful- delaval 74....not 29" but 18" better than gravity. Had a lapierrie releaser plunger break as it must have been frozen in place due to condensation and the 28" snapped the plastic upon trying to swap sides in the night. Happened last year once also glad I have spare parts.....up to 1305 gallons and 2800 gallons sap in tank now to boil today, should run good for couple days. The next 60's and sun will surely kill the sap!! Sugaring is 1.4-1.5.......

[MJPJ Sugars]

Sugar content dropped a bit this week, but still higher than most years. Color still light too, not yet the good April dark gooey stuff.

We're at 64% of last year's syrup haul with only 48% of last year's sap total; .32 gallons of syrup per tap.

More syrup with less bucket-lugging. I'll vote for that again.. :)

[spud]

Tempature only got to 36 today. Sap has slowed way down, but still doing 150 GPH. Should run all night and tomorrow. I'm at 65% of where I want to be.

Spud

[DrTimPerkins]

About 6,000 gal of sap came in between 7pm yesterday and 7am today (about 1.1 gal sap/tap). Starting to pick up again this afternoon -- temps in the low 40s in the woods here. Sugar still about 2.2 Brix. Ran the RO and produced 375 gal of 35 Brix concentrate (150 gal syrup equivalent) in the bulk tank. Once we boil that'll put us at 0.43 gal/tap. Forecast looking a lot more positive for a good freeze Wed night. Vacuum has been great (27-29" Hg) all season despite the wind we've had.

[DrTimPerkins]

Just curious what the temp of the “very close syrup” is for the 2-3 days is, or the sugar house temp is? I have 3 days coming up with the high of 50 and low of 38. Will it keep that long?

The sugarhouse is not heated, so air temps...buffered a bit. We use oil heat, so it doesn't really get very warm inside.

The front pan contents go into the drawoff tank HOT, and is covered immediately afterward. Should keep for several days unless the weather gets real hot.

[VTfarmboy]

Pulled the plug yesterday down here in the valley and boiled out, we met are syrup goal of .25gpt, almost out of wood and flue pan needs cleaning, sap droped to 1.5 and 1.3 the last 2 runs, no ro. Had a great year ave 34:1 compared to last year 48:1, good luck to all those still going!

[spud]

Sounds like it was a good season for you vtfarmboy. My sap is running at 165 GPH this morning. Woke up to 3000 gallons in the tank. Going to run another 36-40 hours straight before freezing tomorrow night. The gallons per hour does not seem great but at the end of each day I get my 1 gpt. I should have at least two more weeks and maybe more. My vacuum is at 27 in the woods and no signs of tree gas due to the lack of sun and cooler temps. I have 5 freezing nights in the next ten days. Gotta love it.

Spud

[blissville maples]

Still trickling in, sugar certainly dropping off. No hard freezes coming so the end is near......the ten day forecast isn't reliable so I don't get to excited about their prediction!! They have been off quite a bit lately, like the other night they said 36 low and was 31. Last night they did 38-40 and I see frost on ground!! Still getting good sap flows of over 1gpt per day. Once again glad I didn't tap in January or early February. My neighbor did, we both have 1100 taps coming into tank, usually he is neck and neck. This year he tapped feb3 I waited til Feb 23. In last week his tank level hardly changes as I'm still getting 1gpt. Very clear to me he tapped to early. Tap holes don't last forever and on a year like this what good is January tapping?? There was no sap until end of February, let me correct myself, there wasn't enough sap to worry about- some guys made a barrel Early February on 4000 taps woo hoo leaps and bounds there, I bet they aren't getting full production now!!!

[steve J]

Well it took the entire season to figure out how to make this Leader Supreme pan separate the syrup properly but yesterday I finally figured it out just in time to end season. I still have sap flowing but my sugar drop to 1.1 and I have no ro. I will total up numbers later after bottling but given the slow start it looks lime it will be a good year. The shurflo pump saved my bacon. I will expand it to cover my whole hill next year.

[GiddingsHill]

We had a decent freeze here in the lower sections, another surprise.
Sugar content seems steady and sap is crystal clear. Not looking too red when i look out over the hills, though the rains will likely change that... Im still behind where I'd like to be but all said I'm starting to share some of Spud's optimism for the remainder of the season!

[sapmaple]

Made it to a full crop with last nights boil. It boiled beautifully and made a nice amber but the smell and taste was metabolism, looked at roadside trees this morning and a definite bud swelling The hand writings on the tree!!!

[DrTimPerkins]

... made a nice amber but the smell and taste was metabolism, looked at roadside trees this morning and a definite bud swelling...

Congrats on getting to a full crop. We're hoping for at least another week here.

It is possible, even likely the off-flavor is pre-bud or a light-buddy flavor. Metabolism is typical in early season syrup.

[DrTimPerkins]

Another 6,600 gal of sap this morning (~24 hrs), so 1.3 gal sap per tap. Sugar at 2.0 Brix. Vacuum dropping a little (27.5" Hg) as it warms up today. RO is running now, so about another 150 gal of syrup equivalent headed into the bulk tank, which puts us at 0.46 gal syrup/tap once we boil. Will probably boil mid-week. It'll be a little cooler Monday/Tuesday, and a good freeze coming Wed night, so we should be alright for a bit longer...thru the end of the week probably. Still a little snow on the ground in the woods.

[spud]

Sap ran all night. I got .75 gpt in the last 18 hours. It's slowing down a lot now but should run all day. Supposed to freeze late tonight for 4-5 hours. I hope that's enough to recharge the trees.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Been chugging along here.. Boiling every other day and cleaning on the off day. Was even able to take most of a day off Saturday to spend with the family and friends. Had some very strong sap runs wednesday -> friday with with over 1 gpt wednesday between thaw and freeze-up and then well over 2 gpt thursday am to friday am. Made over 40 gal. Friday and then another 35 Sunday. Either dark amber or DR. Sap has slowed but still running well. Sc down to 1.5 or lower. I'm hoping to get to the next freeze and see what happens...

[DrTimPerkins]

4,800 gal of sap (0.93 gal sap/tap) here in the last 24 hrs (Sun 10am-Mon 10am). Sap sugar holding at 2.0 Brix (barely). Moderate flow today -- cool, wet, windy. Running thru the RO into the bulk tank. Will probably boil on Wednesday...maybe Thurs. Calculated total so far (until we boil) puts us at 0.48 gal syrup/tap. Everything has been GD or AR so far. Niter has been increasing, but still manageable.

Chance of a light freeze Mon and Tues nights, and a good freeze (26 deg F) Wed nights. Assuming we make it that far, it should set us up for another good run. Actually, the whole week looks like pretty decent sugaring weather here...a little bit warm on Fri night (55 deg F), but rain too, so that'll keep things a bit cooled off.

[wiam]

Forecast says low of 34° tonight. 31° at my releaser right now. Sap slowing down, but ran all last night.

[hogisland42]

Weird one here last night. It sort of froze but not completely. Some puddles froze over some not at all. I am sure it was colder out in the woods and must of froze. We will see when it warms up. Fingers crossed

[DrTimPerkins]

Sap slowed down running around midnite (we have a webcam that records each time the sap is pumped into the sap tank), then stopped completely around 2am, so must have frozen in our woods. Sap yield was fairly low also given the cool weather yesterday afternoon, only 4,132 gal (0.8 gpt) of sap averaging 1.95 Brix. In any case, once we boil, we will be just over the 0.5 gal syrup per tap mark. With the freeze (least partially) we should be set up for a decent, although short run if it warms up enough today. It'll freeze up again tonite and be on the cold side tomorrow, so probably not a lot of sap until Thurs-Friday. Concentrated and stored the sap until we boil, either Thurs or Friday.

[GeneralStark]

Yes here too. The lines froze but I'm not sure the trees did. Either way it hopefully helped slow the inevitable onset of bud break. It has fortunately been staying cool here with continued decent sap flow. Over 1 gpt in 24 hours without a freeze since Thursday night. Going to clean today and get ready to boil tomorrow am and see how the syrup tastes. I'm hoping to make some good dark syrup as I have only made some dark amber and very little real dark robust.

[Mead Maple]

34 when I left Middlesex this morning on my way to Newport for a course. Hit 29 and snowing on my way through Barton. Roads got a little hairy and there is definitely a lot more snow coming up through Greensboro. They will be sugar i g there until June!
We pulled the plug this past Sunday. Out of wood and ambition to continue boiling at 13gph. Blew our 3 gallon goal out of the water but won’t have a final tally until we bottle. Good luck to everyone!


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[DrTimPerkins]

34 when I left Middlesex this morning on my way to Newport for a course. Hit 29 and snowing on my way through Barton. Roads got a little hairy and there is definitely a lot more snow coming up through Greensboro. They will be sugaring there until June!

Welcome to the Northeast Kingdom! Yup...we got snow, and more snow, then even more snow. Grew up in Barton...now living in Newport. Seemed to snow at least a little every day all winter. Just a few inches a day doesn't seem like much until it happens every day for a few months. Snowbanks were up to the light on the lightpost in the driveway (6' up). Snowdrift out our back door over 6' high, then up over the hedge and nearly 8' high on the neighbors lawn. Melted back to only 4' high today. Yes...sugaring has just started up here and will probably continue a good bit longer. Drove down to NYC to do a presentation and to visit the daughter a week and a half back - by the time we got to White River Jctn it seemed almost tropical.

[tcross]

i'm in Derby and i still have a snow bank up to the eaves on my sugar house. i'm only at around 1200-1250 feet and there's still 2.5 feet of snow in the woods. better than the 4' we had 3 weeks ago. i've been having excellent sugar content and the runs now are starting to go very well! i'm at 1/2 my crop for the year, so it should be another good year up here. hopefully another 2 weeks left!

[spud]

i'm in Derby and i still have a snow bank up to the eaves on my sugar house. i'm only at around 1200-1250 feet and there's still 2.5 feet of snow in the woods. better than the 4' we had 3 weeks ago. i've been having excellent sugar content and the runs now are starting to go very well! i'm at 1/2 my crop for the year, so it should be another good year up here. hopefully another 2 weeks left!

Went down to 29 degrees at midnight and all my woods froze. Sap slowed down late yesterday to just 100 GPH. Sap is now running 375 GPH and should run till 10:00pm before we freeze hard again. Two more weeks easy.

Spud

[hogisland42]

Checked my woods when I went home at lunch. Lines and releaser are still frozen. Was snowing pretty hard but seems to be switching to rain now. Still only 32 degrees. Doesn't look like any sap today.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

1400 gallons of 2.4% sap today at 33 degrees, cold northern wind, and a snow storm. What a weird day for a good run.

[spud]

Got another 3000 gallons yesterday. Right now at 6:00 am it's 25 degrees and one inch of fresh snow on the ground. Going to be cold today so I not sure if the sap will run.

[tcross]

my 200 trees gave up 125 gallons yesterday with a high of 34 wind and snow... weird indeed!

[GiddingsHill]

Did a little better than 1gal/tap yesterday between 10am and 8pm when it stopped dead. I think it'll break loose today even if its marginal weather, these trees want to run!

[DrTimPerkins]

Two more weeks easy.

Ever the optimist....I like your way of thinking! :)

3,607 gal of sap from the brief run yesterday from about 2pm-8pm. Sugar content is 1.8-2.0 Brix. Total season yield is definitely above 0.5 gal syrup/tap at this point...will probably make it to 0.6 gal/tap or more. Woods now frozen up solid. Not likely to start running again until this afternoon -- and probably not much and not for long. Will freeze up again tonite. Tomorrow should be a good flow day, continuing through into Friday and beyond. No freezes (not even close) in our forecast through the middle of next week - so this last freeze tonite might signal the beginning of the end, but we'll still get a fair amount of sap between now and then. RO is running now. Hope to boil on Friday.

[spud]

No sap today for me. I cleaned my tanks today and hope to fill them tomorrow.

Spud

[to100]

So for those in NE Kinkdom with all this snow, how high are your sap lines above the ground?

[Ultimatetreehugger]

To100 my average tap height is 10ft.

[GeneralStark]

The sap flow did improve yesterday so I suspect we had a marginal freeze Monday night. A definite freeze last night which really picked up the flow today. Over 1 gpt since late morning and now it is freezing up again. I boiled the sap today that I had collected since last boil on Sunday and made over 25 gal. 15 of DR and the rest AR almost to GD. Surprising given the amount of slime in the tank but I guess the cold has been keeping the grade up. The flavor is still good so I'll boil again on Friday and then go from there. Sc approaching 1% and lots of yeast bubbles. The ice in the lines has been scrubbing the slime so the sap is pretty cloudy as well.

With today's boil I am currently at .48gpt. Should have no problem going over .5 but we'll see how far...

[DrTimPerkins]

A whopping total of 61.3 gal of sap yesterday. Never got much above freezing. The good news is that there was a good recharge, so when it does warm up (noonish today), sap should come pouring in. We will be boiling tomorrow. Have enough concentrate to make about 650+ gal of syrup + whatever sap comes in this afternoon and tonite. Will be our 4th boil of the season.

[Mead Maple]

A whopping total of 61.3 gal of sap yesterday. Never got much above freezing. The good news is that there was a good recharge, so when it does warm up (noonish today), sap should come pouring in. We will be boiling tomorrow. Have enough concentrate to make about 650+ gal of syrup + whatever sap comes in this afternoon and tonite. Will be our 4th boil of the season.

It is just nice to see hobbyists enjoying what they love. “Have enough concentrate to make 650+...”
Love reading about sugar making on a whole new level! Been a fun year to learn so much!


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[smokeyamber]

Looking like today and possibly tomorrow will be it for me. I am scrounging wood and have over 10 gallons so far which is my usual mark. Need to plan on twice the wood next near if I do more 3/16" ! Should hear some peepers when it hits 60 on Sat !

Amazing short season, didn't think I would make much , but the weather helped alot !

[Ultimatetreehugger]

With today's boil I am currently at .48gpt. Should have no problem going over .5 but we'll see how far... after this year I am sold on a high vacuum system. I hope to upgrade for next year. I made 378 gallons last year off of 966. So far this year, 268 with 1700. I still have 3 feet of snow in the woods!

[GeneralStark]

Sap has been running as hard as it ever does today since it thawed. Looks like this season will go out with a bang... Running the ro overnight to stay ahead of the flow as a freeze is unlikely. Boiling tomorrow and then making the call if it is worth continuing. The red maple buds are starting to swell and I found a few wild flowers starting to pop. Still lots of ice in the wetlands below so the peepers are delayed.... for now.

[spud]

Just missed a freeze last night. Sap ran very well starting about 1:00 pm yesterday. I got 1.25 gpt with this run so far. Should run well today and then slow down over the weekend with no freeze. Monday and Tuesday nights are showing freeze for me. Hoping it keep running till next weekend. My pond is froze and there is still snow in the back section of the woods. This is where the check valves kick in and out perform the other spouts.

Spud

[blissville maples]

Nice run yesterday, will be about it after today and tomorrow. Lol check valve- I used about 1500 of them this year, they close just like every other. I've been paying extremely close attention this year because I'm not yet convinced. I tap trees last week of February and I'm here to tell you that these check valves dry up just as fast as the others. I have 5 to 6 week old holes check valves that are closing tell me why dr. Tim??? I have noticed that is seems to be more of the tree itself some trees are running great some arer not- check valve or regular spout.. I have a couple trees that should have had a second tap so in a few instances I have done one of two things either pull the check valve out and ream the whole 1/4 inch deeper, or drill a new hole. In both cases regardless of what you do your sap flow will pick up 50%. If these check valves are working why is the flow reduced for the tap hole is my question? Some things on paper don't work in the field this is one of them the concept is there however there's something else besides the contamination that closes the tap hole and I think it's the tree itself.

I have noticed my regular CDL spelts are flowing just as hard as the check valves that are still flowing. And there is about the same percentage that aren't on both types of spouts..

Hey and what do we supposed to do about all the inserts on the tip and the ball stay in the tree after you pull them???

Here's one for all you early tappers, as last year was the last year I will ever tap before February 15th.... Family friend of ours never never ever taps before the last week of February he finished tapping that week this year they have 3300 taps the other day they were at 1920 gallons still boiling hard. He consistently makes .6 to.7 gallons per tap has never thought of using a check valve, and in the first couple weeks of February he's out ice fishing. He learned from his father Don't tap early and after this year I'm on his boat because I tapped late and I'm doing better than ever!!!

But everybody can do what they want that's fine!! Just be careful what you read and what you believe!!!

[spud]

Sap is rolling again today at 300 GPH. Still testing at 1.6%.

Spud

[Mead Maple]

SmokeyAmber that's great! I forfeited myself, didn't care to dip into next seasons home heating firewood so I'll consider it a great season. I'll look forward to hearing more about your 3/16" success!

[GiddingsHill]

Froze here last night, at least down low, wild start this morning with releasers unable to keep up when it let go. Looks like Ill hit 5lbs/tap or .45gal today.
I think we have some time left. Yesterday was the best run Ive had this season. Had my organic inspection today and the GPS sent the poor inspector to my sap house via 1.5 miles of skidoo trail (town rd comes in from other side i dont know why it routed that way) how that car made it I'll never know.

[Mead Maple]

Froze here last night, at least down low, wild start this morning with releasers unable to keep up when it let go. Looks like Ill hit 5lbs/tap or .45gal today.
I think we have some time left. Yesterday was the best run Ive had this season. Had my organic inspection today and the GPS sent the poor inspector to my sap house via 1.5 miles of skidoo trail (town rd comes in from other side i dont know why it routed that way) how that car made it I'll never know.

Hahahaha!
Have to love the GPS in Vermont. Nothing like seeing an 18 wheeler jackknifed in the middle of a Class 4 section of road. Happens quite often around here.


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[GeneralStark]

Boiled today and made another 30 gal of AR. Great light flavored syrup that is quite atypical for this late in the season here. I have enough wood (without scrounging) and motivation for one more good boil so going to boil again on sunday. I really could use some good strong dark syrup... As long as the sap doesn't spoil in the next couple days I'll boil it. Otherwise I'll just boil out the pans...

My tapholes are either just over or just under 2 months old and are still producing well with CV2s or a new drop and spout. Pulled in about 2 gpt in 24 hours yesterday to today. Even the 3/16 lines are still producing well. The vacuum pump has been on for a month but will likely turn it off on sunday after the last boil.

[VTfarmboy]

frogs are singing in castleton!

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Froze up last night and woke up to overflowing tanks. 2800 gallons today. Best run I've ever seen.

[spud]

Sap ran all night for me. It's still running this morning at 180GPH. I am not sure if it will increase during the day when the sun comes out. Sap this morning is testing at 1.7%. My pond is still froze over and there is no signs of peppers. Going down to 35 tonight is what the weather people are saying. I'm hoping it will be 4-5 degrees cooler then that like it sometimes is. It's going to freeze here on Monday and Tuesday nights. This should recharge the trees and allow sap to keep flowing till next weekend for sure. The lack of sun is what has been helping. I continue to run 27 inches of vacuum in all my woods. I am not seeing signs of tree gas that usually brings vacuum way down this time of season. For those who are done i hope things went well for you. For those who are still running lets keep this season alive for a while.

Spud