sap% low????

[sirhart1]

Just checking to see what others have for sap% I am below 2. Doesn't seem correct. Let me know.

[Daves Maple Farm]

Looks like we are below 2% too!:(

[lafite]

2.3 in cheshire

[cpmaple]

Here in Northeastern New York I checked it yesterday running from 2.3-2.5% I checked 5 different trees and the reading were all at that. higher than normal for me I normally run 2%

[RC Maple]

In NW Ohio I tapped on the 16th. I had runs on the 18th, 19th, and 20th that all tested below the usual 2% . I had to use my imagination to write down 1.5% in my record book. The last two times I gathered I do think the hydrometer measured closer to 2%. I just boiled down 84 gal of sap from what I gathered last week and it's all in a pot but I won't know how much is in there for sure until I bottle it. Around 1.25 gal is my guess.

[sr73087]

I had 2.5% overall when I check on Thursday.

[Xvermontx]

I had only 1% on my last collection yesterday ..

[Russell Lampron]

Didn't check what I gathered Saturday but yesterday's run was 1.8% which is pretty much what I get from my reds here in NH.

[Outdoorsman0490]

2.5 on my sugar maples, about 1.5 on my reds

[wkies]

2.3% from today's sap. Collect 120 gallons.

[seacoastCT]

Are you guys measuring sugar content directly from the raw sap, or making a calculation after boiling down to finished syrup from a known volume of raw sap?

[Russell Lampron]

Are you guys measuring sugar content directly from the raw sap, or making a calculation after boiling down to finished syrup from a known volume of raw sap?

I'm measuring raw sap.

[SeanD]

2.5% from one bush and 2.25% from everything else. That's on raw with the refractometer.

Sean

[adk1]

I only checked the sap content from a small gravity line next to the houses has 6 taps on it and 2 of them are reds. I had just shy of 2 percent

[boneheadben]

when i tapped in early jan my sap was 1 1/2 % this run was 1% wensday and thursday, .08 % on friday and sat. with no ro i hope this is not for the reminder of the season.

[40to1]

Some are at 3%, others at 2.25 or 2%.
With the cold snap coming, I'll be sweetening the sap in my storage barrels with regular removals of ice. Should bring it up a few points.

I still shudder to remember 2 seasons ago: I was getting .75% Ugh!

[adk1]

I am under the impression that the first run can be low content. The trees know when the buds need the most sugar to grow. I would expect you will see a change to increasing sugar content at some point

[alcontrast]

I'm brand new to all this and boiled down around 21-22 gallons of sap this past Sunday and finished it yesterday evening.. I ended up with about .4 gallons of syrup. I was thinking that was surprisingly low considering it's all from sugar maples but I didn't realize sugar content varied that much.. Is it the cold weather or the time of the year (they don't necessarily go hand in hand here in CT!) that determines sugar content early in the season? Probably a bit of both and just the nature of the tree(s) but I'm just guessing...

[Randy Brutkoski]

Actually that sounds about right. On the average it takes 40 to 50 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup.

[JoeJ]

This is the eleventh year at my woods and the first time that the first of the season sap was below 2%. All 4 sections of my 29 acre woods tested 1.5%. I hope that this start with such low sugar
content is not the norm for the season. In 2013,the sap tested .8% the last 2 days. I looked up my last 5 years seasonal sugar content, and the sugar content of the largest number of gallons was 1.6%

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

gravity first two haul was right at 2, 3 and 4th hauls 1.8/1.9 on 27" vac. first time these trees have been tapped in yeeeeeaaarrrrssss. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Actually that sounds about right. On the average it takes 40 to 50 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup.
87/x (sugar content)= gal of sap to syrup ratio.

[Randy Brutkoski]

When the ground unlocks i believe instead of 1.8% to 2.0% from thi weekend should be more like 2.2 to 2.4%. The sap was just coming from the tree and not the ground because of the frost. There is all kinds of moisture in the ground this year. When the sap starts coming its going to be a tidal wave.

[RC Maple]

In NW Ohio I tapped on the 16th. I had runs on the 18th, 19th, and 20th that all tested below the usual 2% . I had to use my imagination to write down 1.5% in my record book. The last two times I gathered I do think the hydrometer measured closer to 2%. I just boiled down 84 gal of sap from what I gathered last week and it's all in a pot but I won't know how much is in there for sure until I bottle it. Around 1.25 gal is my guess.

Just an update - I bottled all this up last night and figured out that the 84 gal made 1.625 gal of syrup - for an average sugar of 1.58. Not as bad as I thought.