Ontario- Anyone start ?

[Maplesapper]

Parry Sound-

Seems we are still on standby.
Minus Minus Minus all the way until March 10th....
I know things will change, but, man, we need it to warm up soon just to thaw enough to start tapping.

Tonight and -20 is not helping

[govner4]

Yes this winter has been brutal same temps fpr down around here but I may start hanging my buckets this weekend
and hopefully the -2 and -3 days will creep a bit higher.

[Jerome]

Here in the lee of Georgian Bay we have white out conditions I can't even see my trees to tap. It is starting to look good about half way through next week though, keeping my fingers crossed.

[Bruce L]

Too cold to even go to the bush to wipe the dust out of the pans, plumb the pans back together, sweep the sugarhouse or do anything at all, even cutting wood.

[Galena]

At the rate the temp's goin, I should start tapping oh around end of APRIL...*sigh*

[Graham Agri Enterprises]

The only good thing about this late start is for once we are going to have enough wood ready before we start

[Ren]

No, looks like another couple of weeks before I get the drill out. I have a 10 cord load of white ash slab wood just waiting to get burned:)

[ennismaple]

Sapper - We got 2300 taps in last weekend. With this cold snap I've taken the weekend off to spend some family time and re-charge the batteries. We'll get the balance in next weekend and be ready when the weather cooperates.

Crazy thing is I know a bunch of producers who had already made syrup this date last year. We were almost ready but made our first on March 8th.

[Run Forest Run!]

The sap was running here March 8th of last year and I was boiling it down by the 10th. This year, things are completely frozen solid.

Even if the weather takes a turn for the warmer, I've honestly no idea how long it's going to take to pack the snow down so that I can actually be able to walk to the trees. The snow is way too deep for a casual stroll and dodging all of the broken tree limbs from the December ice storm is going to add to the effort. The one lone tap that I put in a couple of weeks ago is going to be all by itself for at least a week, maybe two.

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[Bruce L]

It was supposed to warm up slightly yesterday, didn't happen. I wanted to get several hundred drilled yesterday before my wife heads off on her cruise with her family. Maybe sugarin weather will hold off until she is back and I could have gone after all? I do not like tapping frozen trees, and the few milder days we have had have been used for cutting wood for the outdoor furnace as we got behind this winter with me not being able to handle a chainsaw from mid Sept. to mid Jan.

[Quabbin Hill Farms]

Have 250 Taps in located near Brockville trying to get some sap to boil I am hosting the Lanark and District Tapping out Party March 8th it would be nice to have some sap to boil

[Chainsaw Baby]

Up near Singhampton, it is not expected to go above freezing until after March 15... Never heard of such a late start. Of course I only started tapping in 1974...

[TerryEspo]

Northern Ontario here and not looking good for another 12 days at least. 12 days if weather predictions are going to be accurate. Sad because my son loves to help dad on March break and its not going to happen this year, too cold.
Like others have said, great time to grab extra wood, I have been cutting dead standing and bringing it into the garage to season a bit better.
If the weather predictions are right, man it looks like great sap weather, nice day temps and feezing nights,,,bring it on !!

[theguywiththename]

kinkardine area-
looking 1.5 weeks. glad im going woth tubing as there is 3.5 feet of snow where i drive my fourweeler to collect my buckets!
nothing like seeing 10 foot snowbanks everywhere!

[theguywiththename]

might be warming up. news was just happy its -16 here��or��

[Bruce L]

-15 Fahrenheit here this morning,school bus froze up taking my wife and family to airport, they all quickly carpooled to get away, I told them it would probably still be cold when they get back Mar 15 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Run Forest Run!]

Bruce, that was karma for abandoning you when you need help in the sugarbush. :cool:

[ridgerunner394]

Hope you don't mind my adding my two cents (which is getting harder to do since we no longer use pennies....)
It went from -15 C to a scorching -6 C here today (Kawartha's) ! Last year I tapped March 5th and the pails were overflowing on the 9th! Well tapped a few just because it seemed like the thing to do yesterday and saw lots of sun today but no heat today :{(
I have been snowshoeing to the bush the last two months packing my trail and will be pulling my sled behind me when we do see some BTU's !!

[Bruce L]

Ridgerunner, where exactly is Baltimore? Can't say I have ever heard of it other than Maryland. Karen she called me tonight soon as she got to the hotel in Puerto Rico to tell me she misses me, but I know right well that if I had gone you all would be flooded in sap here and I would be missing it!!!!!!!!!!

[Jerome]

Hey Bruce please do us all a favour and catch a flight to be with your family ;) we could use the warm weather

[ridgerunner394]

Hey Bruce ~ You will find Baltimore just above Cobourg and below Rice Lake in the Northumberland Hills !9046

[Run Forest Run!]

Gorgeous photo. We certainly live in a pretty province. Have a great sugaring season ridgerunner394.

[BrutemanAl]

Baltimore is a lovely place , not far from me , in the rolling hills of Northumberland :) .

I am going to make the trek back into the forest tomorrow and see what is like back there,I will have to walk back first to see what it is like, not sure if my atv will be much good due to the amount of snow and ice , I have not been back to my tree's since late summer last year, hopefully they didn't get much damage from the ice storm in Dec. If all is good I will probably put in a few tap's tomorrow , by the looks of accuweather this horrid winter we have had looks like it may break .... finally.... hopefully.

It has been a hard winter for me, I work outdoors everyday and it has taken its toll on my fellow co-workers and I , but the end is near.... it just has to be lol.

[Yellzee]

I am going to start tapping this afternoon if it gets up to zero! I see next week now there is a night that doesn't go below zero on the environment Canada site.

[Yellzee]

reading through these posts we have quite a few of us in the Belleville through Cobourg corridor... all we need is someone with ambition and time to get us together for a gathering!

[ennismaple]

We'll fire up the drills again tomorrow morning and we hope to get the rest of the taps in by Monday. We had sap in the tanks this time last year with our first boil on March 8th. In fact, March 8 was our first boil each of the last 3 seasons.

[Yellzee]

It's above zero but 20 taps in I have only seen sap ooze out of 2 or 3, and you had to really look to see it

[daverobitaille]

Well I decided yesterday Friday it was time to tap. Went out and put in 80 taps. To my big surprise it ran a bit. In 4 hours I collected 5 gallons of sap. Not even enough to get boiling. I need at least 40 gallons to have a good 4 hours burn. Today does not look good so I think I will freeze the sap to keep it fresh.
However it was encouraging to see the spills dripping! The snow is so deep it is not funny. lucky enough the turkeys made a trail that helped quite a bit but snow shoes are a must. Any body else got some sap yesterday?

[naturenitwit]

Well off to Atkinson Maple Syrup Supplies this morning. Need some tubing and final supplies. I plan to tap half of my planned 50 taps because I am a weekend warrior and was banking on march break for a couple of runs. Looks like a lot of sick days at the end of March and early April. Well it is a sickness isn't it? Well an addiction anyway!

[ridgerunner394]

HI Karen, yes we are truly fortunate - I really feel sorry for those who never get out to bush before sunup and watch nature "wake up". I only tapped 12 trees last year and ended up with just over 4 gal. = 20 this year but looks like I may need the extras just to keep me busy :{)

[ridgerunner394]

BrutemanAl ~ good advise clearly spoken from the heart.

If you have not been in the bush, park the quad likely spend most of the day digging it out..... maybe you have by now :{)
Off to Warkworth maple festival at Sandy Flat Sugar Bush today with 3yr old granddaughter (well also let her mom and dad tag along) so I will heed your advise, thanks

john

ps just back from the taps, nothing but maple tears in the pails so far.... but they are trying :{)

[Madsen Family]

I got out yesterday and got about 100 taps in. I hope to finish up today and get 300-350 taps in. Sap was running a little yesterday in Haldimand area.

[Bruce L]

Freezing rain and sleet here this morning. Got the oil flood reclaimer tank all washed out yesterday with diesel fuel, will fill it with vacuum pump oil today so the vacuum is ready to run. Watching the weather channel last night looked like Collingwood was the "hotspot" for Ontario yesterday, got me thinking about Peter Stransky, is he still around?

[Jerome]

I will be tapping today.
I had to dig out the underground fencing to keep my dogs from escaping over the snow I had over 5 feet of snow.
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And that was not even the deepest part.

[BrutemanAl]

I made my way into the forest across the road yesterday late morning, what a workout lol, I used the atv to get back there, got stuck once and had to winch myself out,when i got off the atv a sunk in the snow about 3 ft and that was me standing on the layer of freezing rain we had in Dec, under that is another foot of snow, took me 30 mins to get where i needed to be,which normally takes me about 1 min lol. I went back to just see if there was any damage to the tree's from the ice storm... no damage at all !!! I walked around to a few tree's and figured i would head back and grab some stuff to put some taps in,but by the time i got back to my garage i was beat lol.

I may walk over this morning and tap a few tree's , but i don't know yet, my problem is if I do have any sap running , it is allot of work to get in there to collect it.




BrutemanAl ~ good advise clearly spoken from the heart.

If you have not been in the bush, park the quad likely spend most of the day digging it out..... maybe you have by now :{)
Off to Warkworth maple festival at Sandy Flat Sugar Bush today with 3yr old granddaughter (well also let her mom and dad tag along) so I will heed your advise, thanks

john

ps just back from the taps, nothing but maple tears in the pails so far.... but they are trying :{)

[Jerome]

I did manage to get my taps in yesterday morning buy the afternoon I did have a trickle on the south side taps, but it is sure nice to have the season started.

[Yellzee]

I am tapping on the lower part of a north facing slope and working my way upwards on the mainline. I found the younger trees oozed a bit on the south side, but nothing out of the thicker barked really old trees. Back at it this afternoon to get ready for the next two days that look decent

[ridgerunner394]

Hey who needs a gym when we have this to work through! I have been snowshoeing in since early Feb. when I realized the powder was too deep for my sled to make it up the hill.... paid off really well I now have a sidewalk all the way in and out! if you have a pair try those - a couple of trips and a good freeze will make a lot of difference.
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Does anyone else take a camera into the bush with them? Here is a picture of my resident 'ladies' - 13 hens that watch over my taps for me each night :{)

[Twindadx2]

Sap starting to flow in Norwood! I thought that I better get a start on things as the weather has been mild and the forecast looks pretty good for sap flow. Good thing that I have been back with the snowmobile and homemade groomer. There is a ton of snow in the bush still. Of course I had everything to tap except the snowshoes that were back at the house. Made for a good work out though! Spent almost 4 hours drilling/tapping/marking sugar maples. The other bit tomorrow when the kids are home. The sound of sap dripping into the buckets is pretty sweet!

[Galena]

Sap sloowwwlly starting to flow out of my 5 sugars and 1 red that are on tap this year. Collected all of 1 1/8th of a cup at 3pm today, think I need to get a little more before I start boiling! ;-)

[BrutemanAl]

I put in another bunch of taps lastnight after work,all of them were running,snow is slowly starting to go down but with the milder temps it is hard getting back there with the atv,it is what it is and I cant change it lol.
Not very excited for the weather the next 2 days though, looks like we are in for another storm :(

[Brookmaple]

Tapping our 100 taps today--

[drpud]

Hi all
75 buckets up late yesterday afternoon and collected 55 gallons of sap by 2 pm today. Sap was 3 %. About 2/3 of the taps were flowing well but some were as dry as a bone. Plan to boil at end of the week and hope that weather will warm up enough to get the sap flowing again. Good luck to all.
Paul

[Jerome]

calling for -20 tomorrow night here.

[ennismaple]

calling for -20 tomorrow night here.

That's why we didn't bother saving today's run.