Post when you tap/Flow Report.

[DonMcJr]

I think we did this last year if not it's a good Idea to help everyone in Michigan...

They way this Winter has been I am not tapped yet and not sure when I am gonna tap.

So if you're tapped please reply with when you tapped and any flow reports.

If not post when ya tap and when ya get flow!

[Pweideman]

30 taps in my roadside trees today. Full sun and a couple started dripping before I hung the bags. Not expecting much this week but I have to try, right?

[Pweideman]

Heading to the woods now with snowshoes in tow and I am only 60 miles north of Detroit. Ha!

[toquin]

Dryer then a popcorn fart

[Pweideman]

The trees in the woods are dripping as well. We'll see if anything significant happens by end of day Saturday.

[Tweegs]

Brief warm up but a fast return to arctic air next week. Not pulling the trigger yet.
Still have a few things to do and by the looks of it, two weeks to get it done.

Don’t have enough wood yet, but should have everything else ready to go, if not this weekend the next for sure.

[DonMcJr]

I'm sure some might have flowed the past 3 days but it's getting cold again for a week or 2. I'll probably tap at the end of this week and get the wood split while waiting. Might just be 15 taps on tube line this year...my quad cannot get through the snow for my bucket trees in the woods...

[hfitch]

I've been himming and hawing myself about tapping. Just doesn't seen right that it hasn't been done yet!!

[Lethalbowman]

It's going to be a few weeks here in Northern Michigan at best. I went for a snow shoe walk on my 20 acres to cut some wood and tripped on an unseen log and fell to the ground. I fell flat on my chest but my hands did not touch the ground even though I tried to brace my fall. Good thing no one was watching me as I struggled to regain my footing and stand upright. LOL! **** it's deep out there!

[mzstein]

I tapped on Mon the 17 th . More out of necessity than thinking
it would really be that early . Got about 30 gal on about 100 taps
last week . Most are not running though , but a few trees had
a couple gallons . The snow sure makes it tough to get around .
The Freeze / thaws have all these ankle breaking holes all over
the woods. These cold temps sure make it hard to get anything
done - now that I got the sap , I gotta get everything else done .

[Spolcik]

Accuwheather is showing a warm up next week again. Anyone plan on tapping this weekend? I think I might tap 3/1 if their forecast stays the same. Any other takers?

[worecki]

Tapped last Wednesday 2/19/14 Collected 3/4 gallon per tap over then next 3 days on gravity with check valves, Sap flow shut down this week with the cold weather.

[hfitch]

Signature test....1..2...3....

[steel tap syrup]

I have never tapped when it's this cold out. I was seeing some comments about people starting to tap this weekend. I was wondering, does the bitter cold temps. hurt the taps? also does the thawing and refreezing of the trees push the tap out of the holes?

[DonMcJr]

I tapped in the cold in February last year... just dont do more than a light tap with the hammer or it will split the tap hole and leak when it flows...

[The Sweet Spot]

Last year we tapped about 80 on gravity lines. We were watching the sap freeze in the lines. The next day when walking the lines we found that the sap had froze all the way up the line into the tap and hole and pushed almost all taps out. You could see ice around the outside of the taps. My buddy had thought that we did not put them in well and proceed to hit them harder, and caused some splitting of the trees. I would not tap in these conditions again.

[party152]

Newbie here. Looking at the warmup this friday and possibly into next week im thinking of tapping Thursday evening?

[Spolcik]

tapped a few last night 3/5 put about 30 in. would have done more but the wife and kids got cold.putting another 30 or so out tonight. hoping to get a little run on friday (probably wishful thimking). having knee surgery on the 20th so had to get them in before then anyway. Going to have to count on the family to pick up a little slack for a week or so. weather looks like it may break open at the end og next week! keep our fingers crossed.

[DonMcJr]

Well we tapped our 15 Tap Tube line today although I still feel it's a bit early. Should get some flow this weekend to flush out the lines then the forecast says it's getting cold again. But the taps are in and last year I had them in a month before the flow was good.

Probably won't do any more taps this year. I have bad luck broke my little toe and even though my Stepson was doing all the work just walking in the deep snow was more than my toe could take so no buckets in the woods this year...for now but if I know me that will change lol!

[party152]

43 taps in yesterday. Few direct sunlight trees had some drips starting. Hoping for a good run today.

[Lethalbowman]

I tapped my lucky "13" trees last night after dinner. My wife was thinking I was going to spend the night in the woods I was gone so long. The trail that I had been using to gather wood was packed down good but anywhere I stepped off of it I sunk in well over a foot in the powdery snow. It's 37 degrees here in the TC area with some sunshine so I may just be getting some sap today. I just hung water jugs to get started, I plan to finish up with a few more of those and then use the 3 1/2 & 5 gallon pails I have gotten from the local grocery stores for the rest. here's hoping!9053

[Ausable]

Well - It is a beautiful day here - So I have started tapping the easy trees. A bit of a challenge with the deeper snow with drop tubes to 5 gallon pails. I discovered the "easy trees" are not so easy this year. I hope I'm allowing enough extra tubing as the snow melts under the pails. In some easy areas it runs from knee deep to waist deep. LOL I know many of You do this in deeper snow every year. For me it is a learning experience. Well - Lunch is over - time to get a snow thrower going and widen a couple of trails - before it gets -- LOL -- Toooo Warm -- See Ya. --Mike--

[Ittiz]

Last year when I tapped in deep snow I dug down through the snow to set my buckets on the ground. I didn't want the snow to melt unevenly and cause the buckets to spill over.

[Don(MI)]

Sure is nice out!

Anybody have a flow report? How did it run today?

After seeing next week, with 3 days of decent temperatures, we are considering tapping half to all trees tomorrow.

[Yellowdog64]

First timer here and first time sugarin'. Tapped 10 trees today and within 4 hours 4 of my milk jugs are already 1/4 the way full. Good thing I have the weekend off! Getting excited.

[Jonnyp390]

Tapped 15 last night in the yard and another 24 this afternoon in the woods (would have been 25, but one of my four year olds decided to hide a drop line in the snow somewhere along the way:) I was all excited by the anticipation of full jugs when I got home from work, but there was only 1/4'' in the bottom of each. The woods trees I tapped this afternoon were all dripping slowly by the time I left at dusk.

[wishlist]

Tapped yesterday and this morning. I was able to get 240 in and another 28 walnuts. Some of the tubing was full of sap but nothing to get excited over. Hope to get another 50 or so in tomorrow morning .

[huntingken111]

Ran my first gravity lines yesterday trees where further apart than I thought. Not as easy as I thought but got 28 taps in most started dripping before I got tap in. snow was deep my 10 year old who helped got too tired in deep snow and we had to quit hopefully put rest in today. Moved new arch to back yard and had some very bad luck and bent angle iron under flues now have to do some swag engineering to fix. bent rear leg real bad too. probably have too cut and reweld. Oh well without bad luck what luck would I have. Good luck everybody.

[DonMcJr]

Had to goto a conference for Beekeeping so ill be home tonight and give a flow report for my area...

[H'Artwind]

We put 20 taps in the 'sure-bet' Maples and were hoping to find overflowing buckets on Friday. No such luck...what gives!? Some intermittent dripping...maybe this weekend?! One birch and some Box Elders tapped.....and the tapping goes on :-). Good luck everyone!

[MIMapler]

Went out on Thursday to tap a few of my trees and see what's what. I was very surprised given the cool temps (low 30's) that many trees were flowing-sap coming out even as I was taking the drill out of the hole. I think those of you in SW Michigan who have been patiently waiting should get started if you haven't already. It's time.

[Greenthumb]

Got my 36 taps in today. A few wet hole but defiantly won't need to empty any sap tomorrow

[Spolcik]

Put 40 taps out Wednesday and Thursday. Went to collect Friday after work and only ended up with 2 gallons sap. Pretty disappointing but they are deeper in the woods. Didn't bother to check today never got above freezing here. Spent the day finishing my new natural gas evaporator. Ran gas line to garage and finished putting the burner together. I hope it save me some work this year. Used the burner on block arch outside last year worked good but I added 3 air mixers for the 3 pipe burners and made a steel frame with insulated fire box and moved it inside for this year.


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[austin357]

well the last 2 days i have collected about 2 gal. from 3 taps im in st clair i know its not much but this is my first year so im excited

[Run Forest Run!]

well the last 2 days i have collected about 2 gal. from 3 taps im in st clair i know its not much but this is my first year so im excited

Austin357, you are in for some of the best fun you've ever had. Enjoy every drop! :)

[Lethalbowman]

90709071
Tapped another dozen or so trees today using jugs and had several start dripping seconds after I removed the drill bit from the tree even though it was only 22 degrees. The glorious sunshine we had today here in Northern Michigan made it feel warmer than it was. Hope to finish up with up by hanging buckets tomorrow and perhaps collect some sap.

[Sam Caruth]

Got about 20 taps out today, it was cold, (at or below freezing) And was dripping quite well. Since about noon, I have collected about 2.5 gallons. we'll see what tomorrow holds.

[user338]

I put my first 25 taps out yesterday afternoon hope to put another 150 in today. had a few holes dripping but it was late will update more.

[Sue @ Battel's Sugar Bush]

We got all 600 taps in the tubed trees yesterday (with the exception of a few trees whose lines were knocked down by winter). Still need to do 100 5/16th metal taps for buckets and bags.

My husband wore snowshoes to tap, which was definitely a first for us!

[KitchiGumee]

Anybody getting itchy up here in the UP? I am near Chatham and we are a LOOOOOONG way from tapping, we've only had about a couple days over 10-15 degrees in the last month, let alone anything pushing towards the high 30s. It's gonna be a late year for everything.

[DonMcJr]

Well it looks like it flowed a wee lil bit Friday and nothing since...still too cold...

Austin357 I'm not far from you...good luck in your 1st year and if ya have any questions let me know!

[Lethalbowman]

9078 The last of my buckets will be hung today, just need to see the temp's to increase just a little bit more during the day to really get the sap flowing big time.

[bakerrunner]

Put two test taps in the big maple by our house. No flow yet. It only got into the lower 40's today, windy, and not much sun. I will keep you posted.

[Don(MI)]

We got all 600 taps in the tubed trees yesterday (with the exception of a few trees whose lines were knocked down by winter). Still need to do 100 5/16th metal taps for buckets and bags.

My husband wore snowshoes to tap, which was definitely a first for us!

Hey Sue! We stopped by and seen your father-in-law yesterday! Later afternoon. You were already tapped. Hope to see all of you Saturday! The Hemans boys!

We tapped today....ended up putting them all in. Its easier on a weekend than weeknights. And tomorrow is looking decent through tuesday. Didnt really think we would tap until next weekend but anyways!!!

[Ed R]

I tapped my trees on Sunday. Still have not tapped in mid Michigan bush. Its going to be a different kind of year.

[Forrest hunters]

All 101 in yesterday. A good portion of them were dripping by the time the tap went in. It's going to be around 50 here today, but not holding my breath for too much until next week. I could be wrong, but I think we need a few days of warmth to really get them going and for some of the snow pack to decrease.

[Too Tall]

Tapped mine last night. Half of them were dripping.

[hfitch]

I put 6 taps in about an hour ago in 3 trees in my yard along the road. 2 taps in 1 tree were really wet and I think they are probably flowing by now. The other 4 taps holes were damp but I wouldn't say flowing. When I talked to my mom this morning she said she seen on the weather that we may get 6 to 12 inches of snow here Tuesday into Wednesday!!!!! Yikes :( I checked AccuWeather and it was only saying 1.32 inches for us here in the Thumb, I sure hope they're right, I'm so over winter this year!!!!

[Tweegs]

Put in about a third of my taps yesterday (of those that will be on vacuum).

The snow was too much for me.

Plan on getting more in tonight and should finish up by Thursday, the buckets will start going in this weekend.

Of the trees tapped, only about 10% were weeping.

Still have to set the pans on the evaporator and plumb in the preheater, otherwise the shack is ready to go. Vacuum system is in (27” at the releaser), shack is wired up for power, tanks are set, everything clean, everything is in good order, just need to get the taps in and flip the switch.

[tberryer]

I could see rivers of water coming down our street from today's thaw on this 57 degree day so I thought I better get those taps in. All four of them!

[DonMcJr]

Pretty Good Flow coming through my 15 tap Gravity line today!!!:cool:

[acerrubrum]

I put in 17 yesterday, about half were dripping. Another 40 today and less than half dripping, snow up to me knees at times in the woods. Seems like some of the trees are still frozen!

[Maplehobbyist]

Put in 34 taps yesterday, most were dripping by the time I got done. Collected about 17 gal today and boiled, but not long enough to get syrup. I'll finish it up tomorrow, maybe on the stove. Here we go!

[Sam Caruth]

Boy did it run today! Planning on tapping the rest, and making my first batch of wednesday. Had great flow today.

[DonMcJr]

Let the fun begin...lol until we get 6 inches of snow Wednesday and 0 degrees again Wednesday night...:o

[Tweegs]

Put in another 50 last night, still only a little weeping here and there. But my trees are like teenagers, always a little slow to get moving. (I wish the cattle prod would work as well on trees as it does teenagers).

The snow was more manageable, not near as hard to get around as the day before. Hoping today’s heat will tamp it down even further.

I’ll get more taps in tonight though I don’t expect to finish. Tomorrow’s weather will have me tying up loose ends in the shack, methinks. Too much wind to be frogging around in the woods, or so that lying weatherman would have us believe.

[U.P. Sapsucker]

58 degrees in the UP. Put one hole in a Maple for a test. Bone dry, I think we still have a few more weeks looking at the 10 day forecast.

[Lethalbowman]

Walked my Sugarbush after work yesterday evening expecting to get a fair amount of sap but only ended up with a couple of gallons from 32 taps. I plan to check again today as temps were above freezing @ 6:00 a.m. If It hasn't picked up by now it's a lost cause for the rest of the week as temps are supposed to drop well below freezing and not recover much until Friday.

[steel tap syrup]

Got 80 taps in and only about 5 gals. of sap. It's a little discouraging. I also have 13 taps in walnut trees and they are giving more sap than anything right now.

[jblaker]

We tapped on Sat the 8th. 217 taps. Brutal installation given there was thigh deep snow in the bush. The bright side is the sap should be flowing. Will post tomorrow how much I am able to collect toinght. The season finally begins. As my friend says God in in control.

[toquin]

425 gal yesterday. almost done boiling as of 2:00, slow running today.

[Jonnyp390]

Emptied buckets yesterday on the 39 taps I put in on Friday (3 days ago). Gathered about 25 gallons. I think almost all the sap came with yesterdays warmth and sun. Some of the trees flowed real heavy and others were barely dripping. It never got below freezing here last night so I am not expecting much when I get home. I have a little barrel evaporator that does 5-6 gallons an hour, so I will probably have to do a mid-week boil tomorrow.

[DonMcJr]

I'm not really keeping track of my sap totals this year but it's running today and if I had to guess 5 gallons from 15 tap gravity line...

[party152]

45 Trees tapped last Thursday, 1 gallon collected (almost all of that 1 gallon from 1 tree). Not sure whats going on..... Slow start I hope..

[Tweegs]

Nearly finished with the tubed section last night, sunset drove me out of the woods with about 30 taps left to go. Was finally able to get around without the snow shoes.

Some of the smaller trees were weeping but the big bruisers were bone dry.

Storm hitting us pretty hard at the moment. Think I’ll tinker indoors tonight and finish up the tubing tomorrow.

[CWebster]

35 gallons from 50 Taps. Foot and a half of snow around the base of the trees...soon to be 2 feet of snow after this storm..

[Sengelaub Farms]

We have about 600 tapped just a few to go and the 25 buckets We hang around the shack for effect. Maybe have 40 gals so far in the tank.

[Greenthumb]

Plowed the trail again to the buckets in the woods today after another 8-9 inches of snow. It's about 12 out might now. ,tapped 35 last weekend a few have some frozen liquid not sure if it's rain from last night or some sap. I have a few that are still dry. At this point I'm thinking we may be doing syrup on Memorial Day

[Jonnyp390]

My 39 taps have been in now for a week and the only day they ran a little was Monday, March 10th. Had a snow day yesterday (teacher) so we fired up "Mr. Syrup" the evaporator and boiled the 28 gallons we had in the tank. I didn't want to finish & filter 1/2 gallon, so I boiled it to 216 deg. and put the near syrup in the fridge until we boil again in a couple of days. Is that an acceptable practice? or should I have finished it all the way, filtered and canned a small batch?

[MIMapler]

I tapped 40 trees and collected 25 gal around South Haven. Boiled to 66 Brix and filtered and filled four beautiful bottles. Still waiting for the spring thaw, but I'm worried that it may be a pretty short season in MI this year.


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[party152]

-Checked all my taps last night to make sure they were ok after the snowstorm and found most of them weeping and gravity lines to buckets frozen. In some cases the tap pushed out some. -2 in the AM yesterday.

Im also afraid I made a mistake when I tapped and possible hammerd to hard or tapped when to cold and a small crack on the tree formed near the top of the spile. Next year I will have to wait till warmer when I tap or go a little easier when i put the tap in. Anybody have any direction on this? I hate make the same mistakes twice and would never want to damage a tree.

I am hoping i still get some sap from these "bad taps".

45 Taps
20 Buckets
2x4 SS pan with block arch.

[The Sweet Spot]

We are up in Petoskey and it has been an interesting winter. Plagued with breakdowns from extreme cold and personal injury, and oh yeah SNOW, we are a little behind. Hoped to have doubled our bush this year but not going to happen. We are still pulling lines out of the snow to tap this weekend. The last storm we got dumped 32" in our hills, and i wasn't able to go out and pull them up. BIG MISTAKE Trees that we had to use a ladder on last year can be easily reached from the snow. I am happy for the hard snow to walk on but now were digging the snow with a shovel to get to lines. At least were not sinking to our waist (with snow shoes on):o We will have at least 380 tapped this weekend. Go sugar bush friends. Good luck everyone.

[Too Tall]

Tapped 20 the other day and they started running today. Looks like I might get to boil on Sunday. Finally.

P.S. - Whoever said tubing is easier than buckets is crazy. I've already trekked up and down my hill 30+ times to (fix, straighten, tighten, tap, tighten, re-tighten).

[Sanford MI Mapler]

Tapped 16 trees with 24 spiles on Sunday the 9th, checked buckets yesterday very little to no sap.

[huntingken111]

JUst finished up taping with first year tubing. Was too tired to count how many on tubing and how many on bags. Will count them tomorrow but it was running good in bags and tubing.

[DonMcJr]

Today my 15 tap tube line gave up about 10 gallons! Woo Hoo!

[austin357]

got about 5 gallons from my 7 taps today

[DonMcJr]

Correction just went and checked and 15 Gallons and still flowing at 9:30pm...

Here's a Video from 20 minutes ago... 15 tap Tube Line...


http://youtu.be/ZmNXupeOE3A

[Spolcik]

Kids and I checked the buckets around 7:00 pm and had the best run yet at 23 gallons on 50 taps. They are starting to run better this time I had at least 1/4 gallon on all but one. 4 1/2 five gallon buckets made me tired though after my daughters ice fishing tournament for school. I guess just a long day! I know soon it will be 8 to 10 five gallon buckets so I better get in shape soon my 12 and 9 year old daughters are great help for filling them but not so much for getting out of the woods in calve deep snow. Always happy to have their help though its what's makes this all enjoyable!

[Lethalbowman]

I walked my Sugar Bush today during a wonderful sunny day here in Northern Michigan adding another 8 taps to bring my total to 40! I was able to get another couple of gallons of sap (even though the temp was only 21 today) adding to the 5 gallons I was able to collect yesterday. I think I will do a micro batch boil tomorrow just so I can get my 1st syrup of the year. looks like it is going to cool off again until later next week so probably won't see anymore sap until then.

[whalems]

Put in 800 this week. 200 left to do. looks to be a few days before much of a run. Might be able to boil next weekend!

[huntingken111]

counted my taps today while collecting. 221 taps 83 of them on my first ever gravity tubing and collected 145 gallons of sap. Time to try out evaporator. Some of my bags where filled to the top others had none.

[BoarsNest]

Put in 160 taps today. Probably some more next weekend. Many of them were running this afternoon. Hopefully we can start the evaporator next weekend. Saw two bald eagles feeding on winter kill deer in the bean field. Looking forward to a good season.

[DonMcJr]

Ran pretty good yesterday and today...15 taps and I have about 30 gallons! Cold now for a few days then I think Tuesday it's ON!

[GratiotCoMiMaple]

Put in 260 taps on Friday and Saturday. A few more to go. Running great Friday afternoon and a bit yesterday. Should be boiling next weekend. Sounds like it has been running very well in the southern part of the state...

First time we have used snowshoes to tap trees. Wish I had another pair. Over a foot of snow left in the woods. Can get the Ranger around slowly and did get it stuck a few times and had to shovel. I hope it melts some more this weekend to make collecting a bit easier.

[ehausinfrats]

Put out 208 taps on buckets. The snow is going to be an issue this year. Everything is frozen this am. A lot of work to do yet as far as getting the evaporator running and the sap hauler around. Game on. I also wonder starting this late how long the season will last? We will see

Eric

[Greenthumb]

Collected about 40 gallons yesterday. Started running through the homemade ro yesterday. Layer of ice on it today and didn't get any boiled yet. Should on Monday

[MartinP]

Got the rest of the bush tapped this weekend. Nothing running. Still cold and snow in the bush, looks like this week should get things started.

[Lethalbowman]

9230 collected enough sap to boil down a micro batch on my old fish fryer and made enough finished product to make this Micro Brew 6 pack. was surprised to see the dark amber color from the 1st batch. **** it sure tasted good though. Hoping with the warmer temps they are forecasting for later this week to gather enough from my 40 taps to do my 1st boil on the new block arch. I visited Hide-Away Sugar Bush in Mesick on Saturday and picked up a few supplies. How nice it is to have a supplier so close to home.

[Jonnyp390]

Boiled down the 70 gallons of sap we have collected so far from 40ish taps. In the off season I rebricked my Barrel evaporator and added a new preheater and I was averaging 6+ gallons per hour on natural draft. Finished it all off last night for the first 1 3/8 gallons of the season. Hope that things really get flowing by the end of the week.

[cpaq88]

Boiled down the 70 gallons of sap we have collected so far from 40ish taps. In the off season I rebricked my Barrel evaporator and added a new preheater and I was averaging 6+ gallons per hour on natural draft. Finished it all off last night for the first 1 3/8 gallons of the season. Hope that things really get flowing by the end of the week.


I just built my first barrel evaporator. Could you post a pic or two of your setup? I haven't added bricks yet. Did you block off the back end of the barrel to reduce your "firebox" size? Thanks!


I collected about 9 gallons out of 11 taps Friday/Saturday.

[Tweegs]

Finally got all of the taps on tubing in (200) Friday eve. Had 27” vacuum on the releaser, turned the valve to turn on the woods and had 25”. Was all set to come here and gloat, but figured I’d hold my tongue until the lines were full of sap.

Fired everything up after the thaw Sat morn, 25” at the releaser for a few seconds, big slug of ice came through the line…2” of vacuum.

3 laps around the woods fixing leaky saddles, leaky fittings and about 2 dozen squirrel chews (how I missed them while tapping is beyond me) and by 1:30 I was back to 24”. Content and pooped, we let her run like that for the day, pulled in a little over 100 gallons of sap.

Tomorrow might be a good day.

Going to fire up the evap Wednesday for the first boil.

[Beth Parker]

I got 12 taps in and then my cordless drill died. I'll do the other 6 as soon as the battery is charged up again. 6 of the 12 are running. I was so excited when I drilled that first hole and the sap started coming out right away! I thought it would be too cold.

[David in MI]

Happy to report I am now able to get 1/8 - 1/4 of the way through the woods! WhooHoooo!

I think the only positive in this, for me at least, is that my trees seem to break loose a bit later than most as the majority of our slopes are Northern facing. Hopefully that buys me some additional time. I run my gravity lines into those cage tanks which are still frozen to the ground. Tonight I am planning to put some water into a tank, load the pressure washer in the loader and head into the woods. Hopefully I can get to two of my five tanks.

[chuckinduck]

Just got half of my taps in. Very small scale. Do 25 taps or so and maybe 3 to 4 gals. I was shocked to see all my trees began dripping as soon as I popped them today. Going to be a lot of work collecting this year due to all the snow and too deep for the quad.


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[Shirlsaw63]

Got my first taps in March 9 & 10, added a few more on the 14th. No real flow until the 14th. Between the 14th and 15th got about 7 gallons off 21 active taps. I tap box elder. Was cold on the 15th but the sun helped all but one of my north side taps flow. Very little flow the last 2 days with the temps. Expect more tomorrow. Had to use snowshoes the first few trips out there and haul my gear and sap collector on a sled.:lol:

[bakerrunner]

Started a test tap on a tree near the house last week, not much. About 8 oz. Warm weather is coming. Tapped 8 tonight. We'll see how things go. A huge maple in a clearing on our property, south facing hole, produced a pretty good stream. The trees in the woods...not so much. It might still be early yet. I was looking at photos from 2012 and 2013. We had finished syrup on Feb 26th in 2012 and March 16 in 2013.

[DonMcJr]

Nothing Since I got the 30 Gallons from 15 tap gravity tube line Friday and Saturday. The next few days look promising!

[sugarmangraham]

I finally got around to putting in 21 taps on Sunday and hope to get in 50-60 more during the week.
Nothing was flowing, just to cold yet.

[tcad]

NADA Hope they start running soon!!! Very frustrating...

[huntingken111]

Went to woods at about to hopefully collect but not much tubing was flowing and bags had about 1/2 in them hopefully tommorrow

[toquin]

Running good in southern MI. Will have to gather late tonight, looks like 40 deg. all night, some of my 50 gal barrels are 1/2 full. High sugar% got some 3.5s and a couple of 4s.

[Thumb Bum]

I'm new to this. Put 10 in Sunday 7 more tonight will put last 3 in tomorrow. 5 of Sundays bags have a little in them.

[Maple 1]

New to this also. We put in 50 this afternoon and all were very steadily dripping. We are in the Lansing area.

[sugar daddy 1]

Put in another 200 today , no hurry no big run for another 10 days .
In 1963 our last boil was April 18 th.

[cpaq88]

Got four more taps out yesterday for a total of 15. Collected about 2.5 gallons from the previous 11 taps. The forecast is somewhat depressing...

[Lethalbowman]

Walked my sugar bush last night after dinner and collected 5 gallons from 40 taps. By the limited amount of ice in the buckets since Saturday the sap must have just started flowing in the afternoon. Went out for a quick check this morning (Wednesday) and picked up another 3.5 gallons from the easy to reach containers. It was starting to rain as I was in the woods and the forecast is for snow and freezing rain later today. I don't think I will check again until tomorrow.

[Jonnyp390]

Pulled 10 Gallons off my 18 yard taps last night. Most were still dripping at 9pm.


I just built my first barrel evaporator. Could you post a pic or two of your setup? I haven't added bricks yet. Did you block off the back end of the barrel to reduce your "firebox" size? Thanks!

cpaq88 - I will post some pictures of my rig in the homemade maple forum in the next day or two.

[Too Tall]

From yesterday afternoon through 4pm today I got about 10-12 gallons off of 20 taps. I think the run has officially started for me. Finally. Looks like a good weekend to boil.

[amberleahsweets]

We put our taps in last Thursday March 13th had little sap next day but then everything froze up today much better. 16 trees 27 taps.

[Loon Lake Louie]

Set my taps on 11 Mar here in Central Nova Scotia. Been well below zero ever since so no runs yet. Hoping for tomorrow as the temps are suppose to up to about 4 or 5.

[Ausable]

Keep the Faith - Loon Lake Louie. I went for a walk and slid around in my last foot of snow left on the ground and discovered ------ Ta Dahhh!---Approx. 15 gallons of maple sap. Not enough to gather or boil - but - it is maple sap and a start.

[huntingken111]

Only 90 gallons today from 221 taps.

[David in MI]

I made it a bit further into the woods.... then the tractor broke down. LOL, Murphy seems to be following me around lately.

[Sengelaub Farms]

Started tapping on March 7th. Pretty much finished tapping the lines on March 11th. Had about 200 Gal in the tank by the 16th. boiled that down and got Our sweet in the evaporator. We have about 200 in the tank right now. Boil that tonite. Still building new runs as time permits. Figure We're at about 650 at this point. Plus 25 old metal buckets in Our Vintage Sugarbush.

[Lethalbowman]

Winter has returned to the Traverse City Area with approx. 2" of fresh snow on the ground. The sun is now trying to come out and it's supposed to get above freezing today. Maybe just maybe this will trigger a good run so I will have enough to boil this weekend on the block arch. I noticed while walking the dog this morning that the neighbors 40 acre sugar bush now has several buckets hanging from the trees at the front of the property. They had 40+ buckets last year so maybe they know it's about to begin in earnest.

[tcad]

Finally have enough sap to cook but the wind is blowing sooo hard taking a long time to cook.... Well I am making syrup I think that thats what its all about!!!!

[DonMcJr]

I got another 30 some gallons yesterday... I'm at about 60 gallons from my 15 tap gravity tube line.

Broke my toe and that and the deep snow has kept me from adding my 30 buckets and I'm glad I didn't tap the buckets cause I can't get to that area!

This is supposed to be a SMALL Creek and the bucket trees are on the other side of this...

9283

[maple flats]

I finished tapping 1/21. First decent sap flow yesterday, first boil today. Sap flowed better yesterday, only got to 41 yesterday, but only down to 40 overnight, and then it slowly fell all day until 33 at 8:00 PM.

[The Sweet Spot]

Were done putting in 380 tap's in 3 days. There is so much snow were sinking up to our knees at times, with snowshoes. LOL really Loud I rolled down one hill , lost most of the fittings and tools , found them , then stood up and ran in to a branch in the eye. nothing major but a close bummer. I love this, even with all this snow and rolling down the hill, and all that stuff. When I saw the crystal clear sap coming out of our main line, PEACE

[Jonnyp390]

Emptied Buckets Wednesday Night (3-19). Picked up 48 Gallons from 44 taps on a 2 day soak. Yesterday, every tree made zero, except for one big Silver maple that made almost three gallons. My storage was maxed out at 50 gallons, so I boiled 20 or so gallons last night.

[Lethalbowman]

I collected another 10 gallons last night to add to the 10 I already had. It got below freezing last night and is expected to be about 40 today. I am hoping to collect 15-20 gallons tonight and then do my 1st boil on the new block arch Saturday.

[CampSNOcook]

Central UP still frozen. Tapped a few to just see and had a little moisture but no real run in 37 degree mostly cloudy weather. Lots and lots of snow in the woods, so snowshoes for sure. On packed trails the dog did okay, but then tried to take a shortcut and was buried. Getting so anxious for temps in the 40's and it looks like at least another week.

[cpaq88]

Collected about 9 gallons out of 15 taps last night. Nice surprise given the weather.



Pulled 10 Gallons off my 18 yard taps last night. Most were still dripping at 9pm.



cpaq88 - I will post some pictures of my rig in the homemade maple forum in the next day or two.

JonnyP- Looking forward to it, thanks!

[trvipertote]

Hi to all the Michiganders, I tapped 13 trees 2 days ago and have 30 gallons thus far. Just waiting on the weather to warm up so the taps will produce more. Good luck to you all and Happy Maple Syrup season.
Tom R. from Grand Ledge Michigan

[Bird2u]

This is my first year, I guess I don't know what it should look like but it seems to be flowing pretty good.

Take a look... http://youtu.be/AwGiYdTG5n0

[Greg Durdik]

My second year, tapped on Monday the 17th. 175 buckets on red maples, so far maybe 40 gallons out there. Hopefully it will be worth collecting tomorrow, if not it looks like it will sit in the buckets frozen for about a week based on the weather outlook.

[DonMcJr]

This is my first year, I guess I don't know what it should look like but it seems to be flowing pretty good.

Take a look... http://youtu.be/AwGiYdTG5n0

That's pretty good flow Bird2u! My 15 tap tube line sounding like someone was in the Sugar Shack peeing all day! LOL!

I'm at about 70 gallons and I will probably stoke the fire for the first time this season Saturday Evening...:lol:

Getting worried it's gonna be a short and quick season...one of my fellow beekeeping buddies from Indiana has a video on FB today of Bees with Maple Flower Pollen today...:o

[H'Artwind]

So far collected 81 gallons on 23 taps. One big Sugar was putting out 4.5 gallons per day for 3 days in a row (first time ever tapped and in a great location!). Anyone measuring sap sugar content? We're getting readings of 3.1 to 3.8 on the Brix....does that seem right?! Going out to boil!

[DonMcJr]

I knew it wouldn't take long... Just added 10 Bucket taps on this side of the flooded creek...

So I have 15 Gravity Tube and 10 Buckets for a total of 25 Taps.

All the holes I drilled today were dripping and my tube line musta froze last night cause it just started dripping an hour ago...

[bakerrunner]

FINALLY!!!!

I have 10 taps, a few on milk jugs the rest gravity tubes in to 5 gal. buckets. I started with 2 test taps on the big maple near the house, it was very slow for a week. Then last week, set 8 more, started to get good flow. As of last night, I had about 8 or 9 gallons in the tank, weighed in at 2.5% sugar. I assembled the cinder block evaporator, and started boiling this morning, I ended up with 2 pints about noon. So I boiled 8 or 9 gallons in under 4 hours. Not sure if that is good or not, but I'm happy. Collected about 6 to 7 more gallons tonight, boiling now as I type. Gotta check my boil, then I'll come back and post some photos.

[bakerrunner]

Okay, as promised, some photos!

9354

9355

9356

9357

[tberryer]

Lake Orion: I put in 4 taps 12 days ago and to date have received just over 7 gallons of sap. A dismal amount, but the sugar content is 4.25%!!! Last year the same trees were 3.25%.

[Thumb Bum]

23 gallons from 12 taps last night got a little bit more than 2.5 quarts.

[DonMcJr]

Gotta love Michigan...Haven't even had my 1st Boil yet and now it's going to be THURSDAY March 27th before it's going to get above 25 F again! Wow!

At this rate my 1st boil won't be til April!

[TerryEspo]

Hey DonMc,,How are you?

I feel your pain man. This year is unbelievable huh.

Hope we can have our first boil on the same day,lol,, sounds like next weekend is the earliest for me too.

Hope it floods you out when it does come.

Good luck.

[acerrubrum]

Gathered 100 gallons of sap last week, just finished up boiling and have a little over 2 gallons of syrup. The sugar concentration of the sap read 2.5% (red maples), I figured on 3 gallons of syrup. I must have read something wrong. Syrup filtered really easy, very little sugar sand.

[Jonnyp390]

Boiled for a few hours Thursday and Friday night after work, put in 10 hour day boiling on Saturday, and finished everything up in a few hours on Sunday. All told, we put 140 gallons through the barrel evaporator this weekend and finished off a shade over 3 gallons of beautiful light/medium syrup. Almost all of that flow came Wednesday through Friday night. 100 gallons of the sap were from my 44 taps, and the rest was brought down by my brother and his brother in law, the latter of which has caught maple fever hard. Tapped his first tree in his backyard last week and when you talk to him about it he has that amber twinkle in his eye. As you all know, that is how it all starts. He is Hooked!

[fishman]

The Tahquamenon Maple Company put in 65 taps yesterday, 10 to go and not a drip out of any. Maybe next weekend but I have to go on vacation with the wife who will be on spring break from school so my son and new daughter in law will be running the operation while I'm gone.

[mantispid]

Got my first boil in last Sunday with the new fuel oil tank rig and the reverse osmosis-concentrated sap. Got 3 gallons of syrup in 4 hours. That's a hell of a lot better than last year's 2 days of boiling for the same amount!

I also found a sugar maple on my property (I have nearly all red's). Interestingly, my reds are averaging 2.5-3% sugar, and my sugar maple averages 2%. I thought maybe the flavors would be a bit different in the finished syrup, but they taste pretty similar to one another. Must be more about my property's soil, etc. than the species of tree.

[Tweegs]

Boiled off 450 gallons this Sunday past, made something near 7 gallons of dark.
Had a work emergency and the sap sat about 4 days.

Not going to complain too loudly, dark is my best seller. Probably lost a little volume is all (and time spent cleaning the holding tank again).

Still don't have my buckets out, starting those tonight.

[firetech]

Yep it's a slow start. Boiled 1400gals Sat pm thru Sun am. I have 18 gals of finished syrup and the pans are sweet. That 1400 gals was some old sap almost a full week to get this much. Figure it was about a gal/tap for the week. This coming week we are on the game and will do better. Pump issues,first collection,sanitizing boil,RO cleaned all out of the way. The syrup is a lite med and very good flavor.

[DonMcJr]

Hey DonMc,,How are you?

I feel your pain man. This year is unbelievable huh.

Hope we can have our first boil on the same day,lol,, sounds like next weekend is the earliest for me too.

Hope it floods you out when it does come.

Good luck.

Howdy Terry! Still sitting on 60 gallons waiting for it to flow again...

Crazy year for sure! Good luck to you too!

I want it to warm up for my Honey Bees but I don't want it to warm up yet cause I've made ZERO Syrup so far...

Yikes!:o

[ehausinfrats]

Gathered 550 gal on Thursday and Saturday. Finished 13 gal. MA. I hope the trees don't bud out in this next warmup. Eric

[The Sweet Spot]

We gathered about 100 gals from 380 taps, last week, mostly on Friday. So by Saturday it was frozen solid and still there today. Looks like were going to bust open a decent run this week. Getting all the extra's buttoned up, and thankful for the extra time.

[FDA]

Howdy Terry! Still sitting on 60 gallons waiting for it to flow again...

Crazy year for sure! Good luck to you too!

I want it to warm up for my Honey Bees but I don't want it to warm up yet cause I've made ZERO Syrup so far...

Yikes!:o

Don't you have a half pint? 60 gallons is a 10 hour boil on a half pint right? You cant keep sap forever man.

[Lethalbowman]

9459 I utilized poor mans RO to concentrate my sap before attempting a boil over the weekend on the new block arch. I went from 33 gallons down to about 20 after pouring off the liquid from inside the partially frozen buckets. Didn't get it all boiled down as the block arch still needs some work. I figured I was getting only about 4-5 gph evaporation rate. I plan to finish off on the O'l fish fryer and hope to end up with 1/2-3/4 gallon of light amber.

[Plungerke]

Tapped today, 50 buckets. Hoping for good weather soon.

[Sengelaub Farms]

Pulled off 3 gal. last fri. Still have about 80 gal of sap in the holding tank. Sweet in the evap. Took a couple days off for some Canada snowmobiling and now We're ready to go this weekend.

[Lethalbowman]

I hope to finish off the batch I started a few days ago when I started with approx. 33 gallons of sap. The poor mans RO process (freezing) brought it down to 20 gallons and now I only have to raise the temp of the liquid in the pan another 6 degrees and I should have 1/2-3/4 gallon of finished light amber.

[mzstein]

Hey guys - I know a few of you are using half pints . I bought a
Full pint conversion kit for my half pint for this season. I had some
set up issues at first , but once I got it dialed in , I was easily
doing 10 GPH without much effort . I also added a float box and
can say that even if you don't need to do the full pint conversion,
I would highly recommend a float box .

I had trouble justifying the cost b/c I know I could pick up a
2 x 6 or or something similiar that would do even more but
my biggest issue is space . I am really sold on the pan .

got 200 gal in the tank to boil down this weekend plus
hoping for a big run - nice to know I can keep up
and hoping to make enough to sell about 10 gal and
help pay for the pan.

[Lethalbowman]

9485 Got up early today and finished up the batch I had been working on since last week. Just not enough free hours in a day for me to get it all done in 1 day. I would call this batch Med Amber. Sap is a flow'n so should be able to collect enough to max out my storage buckets and start another batch.

[DonMcJr]

Don't you have a half pint? 60 gallons is a 10 hour boil on a half pint right? You cant keep sap forever man.

It's Been Froze and below freezing since the 2 days I got the 60 gallons! Not gonna spoil if it's below freezing the whole time!

Boiling later tonight...

Flow is great today as the video shows...

http://youtu.be/Pldgq1vKJjA

[DonMcJr]

Hey guys - I know a few of you are using half pints . I bought a
Full pint conversion kit for my half pint for this season. I had some
set up issues at first , but once I got it dialed in , I was easily
doing 10 GPH without much effort . I also added a float box and
can say that even if you don't need to do the full pint conversion,
I would highly recommend a float box .

I had trouble justifying the cost b/c I know I could pick up a
2 x 6 or or something similiar that would do even more but
my biggest issue is space . I am really sold on the pan .

got 200 gal in the tank to boil down this weekend plus
hoping for a big run - nice to know I can keep up
and hoping to make enough to sell about 10 gal and
help pay for the pan.

Do you have some Pictures?

[maple flats]

After finishing tapping 1250 taps on 1/21, first flow last week and best flow to date was 3/27-28. Even at that I only got 600 gal for the 2 day total. I did however need to fix an oil reclaimer on one of my Alamo pumps. It work hardened and came apart, dumping the oil. Had to remove it, take to the shop, where my brother repaired it while I drove school bus. Then I reinstalled it and restarted that pump at 6:00. I hope the vanes weren't ruined with no oil flowing for who knows how long. Before the fix it was still giving 15". After the fix it went back to 19". That is regulated there because it is on a vacuum tank.
On my second bush, I have to pump using a suction dip tube. To get that tube in I had to use an ice fishing auger. There were 4 layers of ice with sap between them. I am now down to the bottom. The cumulative ice thickness is about 18" That should help keep new sap colder for several days.

[DonMcJr]

http://youtu.be/eqNmQCnLnWY

1st Boil Started at 7pm!

[yooper]

Started tapping yesterday here on snowshoes. The holes were wet and starting to flow.

Still have better than three feet of snow in the woods here.

[racarr]

We started to tap yesterday afternoon. Using snowshoes and a shovel, it was slow-going. Average snow depth is still over 40 inches.

The smallest tree we tapped, a 12-inch sugar maple along the drive, started flowing right away. Otherwise, flow was limited. Temperatures were in the 50s, but will drop for the remainder of this week.

I plan to tap more today.

[Tweegs]

Couldn’t keep up yesterday.
We started the day with about 100 gallons in the holding tank and shut down around 10 PM last night with about 175 gallons in the tank (and that doesn’t include what’s in the buckets). Evap rate was 42~45 GPH all day. Releaser was cycling every 3 to 4 minutes and sap was still coming in pretty strong when we shut down. Looks to be around 250 in the tank this morning.

I had to come to work to rest, my wife should be stoking the fire right now.:lol:

Seriously short on wood, all that snow made it tough to go get. We’ve got enough for a couple of more boils, then it’s gather buckets, cut wood….gather buckets, cut wood…let the wife run the evap. Long as I can get the tractor back in to get the wood, that is. When the snow finally melts off everything but the driveway is going to be soup.

Loving that preheater. Sap coming in is 188*, even at a 42 GPH clip. Wonder what mama would think about AUF for next year? She’s giving second thought to the RO she poo-poo’d last year. :lol:

[Sanford MI Mapler]

Boiled this past weekend and ended up with 1 gallon and 3 pints of medium to dark amber. Seems dark this year, used same method as last year, didn't get the new Sunrise Hobby 2' X 4' set-up in time.

[DonMcJr]

Boy was she flowing today! 15 taps today gave me 40 gallons of sap! The 10 Buckets gave me another 10 gallons!

[mzstein]

Ran pretty good all weekend - tough to keep up. I boil 100 gal - I collect
another 100 gal . Slowed down a bit today though .

Heard my first srping peepers yesterday - I think that is supposed to
signal the end of the season.

Forecast for 60's and rain Tuesday . Probably bud sap soon .

got about 10 gal of syrup so far and still have about 150 gal to
boil - I'm wore out !!!

[hfitch]

Flowed pretty good here today too but I wish I had your trees, Don!! I got a bit over 30 gallons from 33 taps. My trees in our yard just don't produce in huge amounts. The neighbors trees on the other hand, Holy wow!!! I'm wondering if its because we're on a slight hill that is mostly gravel and he's down the hill with more water in his yard? Has to be something. Our trees are about the same age, 50 to 80 year old sugar maples.

[DonMcJr]

Well Tuesday I only got 20 gallons from the 15 tap line...it never went below freezing last night...supposed to go down to 30 F tonight so it should flow good Wednesday!

Doing my 2nd boil right now...sap from Monday and Tuesday is at 3 %.

New homemade steam hood is working great!

also toying it down to 1/2 inch in the pan...getting close to pull in off syrup but still gonna finish on the stove!

Steam from hood exhaust from silver pipe...

9528

[DonMcJr]

Just realized i never posted on the homemade hood...it's and old stainless steel stove vent and some real shabby sheet metal work lol

made the wings so it didn't drip into the pan...
95309531

[Jonnyp390]

I know it is a bit off topic, but if you are anything like me you don't have any sap to boil...so here is a family video of our 2014 season that I wanted to share with all the Michiganders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSYxwcLYzz0

[DonMcJr]

Great Video Johnny!

Wow 6 gallons this year already? When did it start running down there? Up here it didn't run til March 14th and I have only gotten 120 gallons of sap from 20 taps...

[Jonnyp390]

Don, I tapped Marched 6-9th, but didn't get any flow until March 14th. So far I have collected 272 gallons from my 44 taps, and boiled all but 25 or so gallons that I will finish tomorrow night.

You guys think this is the end? or do you think we might dip back below freezing and get a little bit more

[TerryEspo]

JonnyP,that is a great video. It put a huge smile on my face seeing the whole family involved, even the dog!!

Great memories there for sure.

[Run Forest Run!]

I know it is a bit off topic, but if you are anything like me you don't have any sap to boil...so here is a family video of our 2014 season that I wanted to share with all the Michiganders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSYxwcLYzz0

Jonny, I remember those two little cuties from the 2013 sugaring video that you posted last year. They are adorable. Thanks for posting the 2014 edition.

[austin357]

awsome video jonny its great to the kids enjoy it i also tap collect and boil with my oldest son hes 3 and its hard to say who has more fun me or him this is my first year but im sure making maple syurp is going to be a famly activity for many years to come and i love the tent i gotta do that next year this year im just set up outside the grage in the wide open

[michiganphil]

Up here it didn't run til March 14th and I have only gotten 120 gallons of sap from 20 taps...

Don, I'm over by Kzoo. I tapped on March 8th, 55 taps. I didn't really see any flow until the 14th either, but have since collected 630 gallons of sap from my 55 taps. I have bottled 18.5 gallons so far. Every year I am amazed how the sap flows in one area, but it doesn't a few miles away.

I hope it breaks loose for you.