Late start for 2014

[bowhunter]

Central Ohio is looking more like a bust for February. We get a warm up late in the month, but the night time temperatures are going to be above freezing. I'm afraid we're only going to get 7-8 days with any appreciable sap flow.

[bowhunter]

I'm going to tap this Friday while my grandsons are out of school. Not sure how much help they'll be but it will be a fun thing to do together. They're both interested in it. The youngest one (10 years old) wanted to tap some last night so we put out 7 buckets before his feet got cold in the snow.

[RC Maple]

I don't know that this will be that late of a start. When I was just starting I was told not to tap til after Valentines Day. My first two years it was the end of January (27th) so all this extra waiting for the season to start seams like an eternity but I think there are calendar tappers out there just nodding and waiting for the right day - its coming. I don't know yet which day I'll tap but it will be within the next week. As for the forecast - they've been known to miss it by a degree or two:cool: I do believe that the following weekend I am going to be lighting a fire and watching the steam rise.

[Stupatterson]

Curious about your homemade ro setup. I live in marysville and tap some trees over near Richwood. Would like to see your setup sometime when you have a chance. Maybe on a weekend.

[bowhunter]

Stu,

You're welcome to come by and see it. I'm going to run it in tomorrow on water, but should be processing sap next week. You might want to wait a week or so to get the bugs out. Just send me a private message and let me know when you want to stop by. I'll send you my address.

Dave

[bowhunter]

I did have about 20% of my 107 taps running a little bit this afternoon although the temperature was only 24 F.

[Marcus]

I tapped yesterday and have very little sap. Hope today does better.

[bowhunter]

I collected 38 gallons of sap from 105 taps this afternoon. Not really enough to start, but plan to run in my new RO on sap for a couple of hours tomorrow. Will probably fire up the evaporator to sweeten the pan as well. This run is pretty weak so far. I'm not sure we'll get anymore until Saturday and after that it looks like another week or more before anymore sap.....so slow to start.

[mjjoutdoor]

I collected about 90 gal over the last 2 days here just east of Columbus off 70 buckets. I'll collect again tomorrow and then fire up the evap. Hope to have 100+ to boil.

[bowhunter]

I think the season's going to be a bust here in Marysville. This past run didn't yield 1/2 gallon of sap per tap and we're not going to have any more good days until March 5th or 6th. The calendar's working against us here.

[bowhunter]

We're still looking like a bust. It may go below 0 one night this week. Next week looks good, but time is definitely running out here.

[mapleguy]

yea doesn't look good rite now but it still looks like it's gonna be a late start to the season. Just looked at accuweather and they are still forecasting snow and cold into April. Be patient, the runs are going to come,probably all at once for 2 weeks straight.

[bowhunter]

Got to 42 F here today, but the sap flow is pathetic. Only about 1/3 of the trees are flowing as of 30 minutes ago...can't believe it's not flowing any better. I may get a quart per tree, but I doubt it. If it doesn't get warm enough to thaw the ground in a day or two I think this year is about gone. The end of the month is looking like a lot of above freezing nights.

[Marcus]

My trees are not running very good either.

[jmayerl]

9045According to your forecast it looks like awesome sap weather..

[bowhunter]

I thought it would be a good day but I only got 11 gallons on 70 trees this evening after a sunny, calm day with a high of 42F...unbelievable.

[SevenCreeksSap]

Mine started running late this afternoon, and hopefully get a good bit before it locks up tonight, then the next week looks good. I'm getting a bit worried too but dont lose hope. may salvage something yet.

[jeffeich]

Here in NE Iowa might have a chance to start putting out taps this weekend 3/8. Still have about 30 inches of snow on the ground and temps in the single digits at night and upper teens in the day. Getting restless and want to get going but can't get to a lot of the trees because of the snow. Hope
it warms up soon.

2014 - 450 taps on buckets (still in the storage shed)
2 JD Gators
2 x8 evaporator

[bowhunter]

Little better run yesterday....33 gallons on 108 taps. The sugar content is really high (4.5%) because of all the ice in the buckets. Put about 36 gallons through the ro and 1/2 pint. Pulled of about 3 gallons of syrup. Looked a little heavy on the hydrometer at 135F. Will finish next week.

[bowhunter]

Pretty good run over the week-end. I haven't collected sap yet, but some of my 2 gallon buckets are full. The rest of the week looks like a bust. Too warm at night then too cold during the day for almost another week....

[johnallin]

I've had lots of good sap runs on warm nights. It's the cycle between warm and below 32 that matters, whether day or night.
I think we're going to see some real nice runs and then some 2 day "rest' periods...kind of like last year.

[bowhunter]

We've only got 6-8 days with potential for sap flow and then it's over. We'll be into April and no lows below 32. I've only made about 6 gallons on 108 taps....so not very good this year.

[bowhunter]

Another beautiful day....wasted. The temperature cycle looks ideal, but the sap flow is not very strong. Most trees are probably going to do 1/2 gallon with a few doing maybe a gallon. It's hard for me to believe that a day where 60 F is the high following a low of 27 F overnight is not flowing more. The sugar content was 3+% on a few trees I checked this morning so maybe quality will trump volume.

P.S. Just collected 34 gallons from about 70 taps. I hoped for more but at 5:00 pm it was really flowing so may get another 1/2 gallon overnight. Don't think it's going below freezing tonight.

[bowhunter]

Good run in last 24 hours. Averaged a little over 1 gallon per tap which is about the best I've seen the past two years. I think it's pretty unusual to average 1.5 gallons per day on buckets.

[bowhunter]

Small run today. Almost every tree was dripping although the temperature never got above 33. Hope for one more good run this next week and I think it's over after that. I haven't seen any sign of budding, but it can't be far away. It's supposed to be 15 F tonight.