Tapping 2007

[PA mapler]

Chris- that's the kind of smell I got too from my syrup pan. The closest thing I could think of was "cardboard". And the liquid is very light colored so far.

The sap started running a little bit this afternoon. Must be warmer on the hill because my thermometer at the house still reads 30, and there is still snow on the ground.

[andyp]

Pulled all the taps about a week and a half ago except 6.I just wanted to experiment a little. I reamed the 6 holes and put jugs on them.The water started running wed. the 11th and has ran right up till today.I collected about 20 gallon of sap it is crystal clear.I am boiling it down on the stove.The boiling sap seems to have a different odor to me,but my wife says it smells just like maple syrup.So far it is very light in color and the taste seems okay.I will be able to tell more when it is finished. This may have been the biggest run of the season and I missed it.

[Dave Y]

Andy ,I think you are right , This may be the bigest run of the year. I brought in 700 gal this evening and probably have an other 300 in the woods. There is a producer in tioga county that I heard today had 80,000 gal of sap in the woods.thats off of 60,000 taps. The sap I collected tonite was of 450.
I was collecting at the watson farm tonite and I had sap running off the end of an Icecicle. That what a north west wind will do for you.

[tapper]

I usually get one big run every season and I feel it will happen yet. Everything so far has just been teasers.

[Sugarmaker]

We are done! finished another 5.5 gallons of off flavored med grade (color)syrup. So a total of 10 gallons of this nasty stuff. May try to take it to Firths tomorrow to see if we can get anything for it????

So approx total for the two seasons 112 gallons.
- 102 gallons from 425 taps from March 1 to March 24th
- and 10 gallons from 117 taps in April 9 to 13th.

Almost scorched the syrup pan when we took off the first batch tonight. Hopefully we caught it in time. Had some smokin syrup for a few seconds. It couldn't make the flavor any worse. Luckily I had 10 gallons of sap close by.

Jon, Good luck if you do get a run. Hope the quality is OK for you.
Dave Y,
Is your syrup good flavor?
I don't think I want to try to make any thing from this syrup. except cash.

Beth, Are you going to continue to boil cardboard?


Regards,
Chris

[tapper]

Thanks Chris. I sampled some of the concentrate in the pan after the boil yesterday and there seems to be no off flavor yet. One or two more boils will tell the truth.

[PA mapler]

Chris- I'll boil today, hopefully the sap will run, but it got very cold here last night, so it might take too long to thaw out. I did get about a 10-gallon run of sap yesterday, and it was very cloudy stuff for some reason. I don't know why, it shouldn't have been spoiled, since the temps barely got above freezing.

[Jim Brown]

We pulled all our taps today. Sap was running like crazy but had a very bad taste and was cloudy. Don't think it would have made anything worth eating.
Ended up with between 60-75 gallons.
Got a vac pump for our other bush yesterday will be getting it ready to put in next year. For those of you who don't run vac. you may want to thing about it. It is a lot cheaper that more taps and the return is GREAT.300 on natural flow 150 gallon in 24 hours.335 on vac in the same 24 hours 700 gallons. Need more vac not more taps!

Hope every one has a great summer and looking forward to seeing some of you through out the year!
Getting ready for '08 season
Keep praising the LORD!
Jim

[andyp]

Well we are done.I finished about 20 gallon on the stove today.The color was medium to dark but the taste was very strong.It is a kind of a bitter sweet taste.I'am glad now that I didn't have all the taps in I don't know what I would have done with it.
Davey good luck to you I hope you can sell all you make.

Looking forward to next year.
Andyp

[PA mapler]

I started boiling too early this morning! Although the sap is running better today than it has all year, I finally got the evaporator tuned in (better late than never!) and was boiling off faster than it's coming in. Had to shut down.

I'll fire up again tomorrow, and that will have to be it for this year. I'll be out of wood and out of nerves. The foam in the syrup pan was unbelievable. I used more defoamer in three hours today than I have used in five years and still boiled over twice. I got scared and ended up setting the float for a full two inches.

The sap ran so hard today that I couldn't believe the crud it loosened up from the pipelines. So anyhow I got all the spaghetti flushed out of the tank, and already have 50 gallons of fresh sap, and it's still rolling in. It's clear and about 1.8%.

I'm almost ready to draw off the first batch of syrup, and it's definitely off-flavor some. It's hard to tell with a head-cold, though. And unless it gets any darker tomorrow, it'll be my first batch of light amber after three years with the new 2x6. How bizarre is that.

[andyp]

Beth I keep telling my partner that we need to up date to a 2x6 or larger but he keeps saying it may change the quality of syrup.After hearing all the trouble your having with yours maybe he is right.Maybe now you have it tuned just right and you'll make lots of light syrup.
good luck.

Andyp

[Sugarmaker]

Beth,
I agree that it is not normal to be making light colored syrup this late. Sounds like you had a good season and will be ready for 2008 having "tuned that evaporator this season.

Jim,
Sounds like the vac is working great. I just need to buy a south facing 1000 tap hard maple sugar bush, sloped to the road with electric service! I will keep looking.:)

Jon,
Hope that last syrup came out better than mine?

I was able to check the front pan and found about 20% near the draw off scorched black. and even some solder melted out of the joint. I wasn't very pleased but its my own fault. In hind site I should have dumped 5 gallons of sap in there not 10 gallons on the other side of the syrup pan! So I have some cleaning and repair work to do for next year.

I called Wiggers in N. Clymer NY and they do not have a date set for buying syrup. I will try to take this 10 gallon of "second run stuff" and sell for bulk.

2007 is in the books. WOW That will be one to tell the grand kids about.

Regards,
Chris

[Dave Y]

I just came in from unloading the sap truck .Saps still running crazy. Reaming tap is the best thing to keep the season going. Boiled 1100 gal . today in 11hrs, thats including start up and shut down. Made approx 25 gal. all commercial. the first 16-17 gal had a good flavor, just black in color. about 2pm the syrup went to the lightest stuff I ever saw. But it has kind of a carmel taste. this stuff doesn't even smell to bad. Had a ton of people in and out of the sugarhouse today and they would come in and say "that smells good" . I have my first barrel of commercial full working on my second. will collect at first light as i will be by myself. would like to start boiling by noon.As I said before if the saps running i'm boiling.

[Sugarmaker]

Dave Y,
Sounds great! 100+ GPH is a good pace. Hope the caramel flavor lasts!

Sugarmaker

[tapper]

Chris,
Finally getting that run I mentioned a few posts back. It's not going to freeze up tight till maybe morning so I am letting them go till then but, I had to empty the bucket on 2 different trees twice today because they were getting full. I will find out tomorrow for sure if the syrup will be off flavor or not.

[Sugarmaker]

Jon,
Good luck!

looked at your pics again. Is that a sugarhouse with a barn attached?;)
Nice set up. You have a great sugarhouse.

Chris

[tapper]

Chris,
Thanks again. It looks like a barn but it's mainly just for storage. That pic of setting trusses was in the 1st week of January this year. Hard to beleive its April with all the cold and snow.

[HanginAround]

Great pics... everything looks awful shiny and new!

[PA mapler]

Hi Andy- I really don't think the 2x6 is the problem with my syrup quality. Although I can't really explain WHY I haven't had lighter stuff. The contraption I ran before the 2x6 was about as slather-arsed as you can get, and I still had gotten lighter syrup. I do know years 2005 and 2006, the first two years with my 2x6, were very bad here, the season very late and very short. If you can, I'd get the 2x6! It's been a blast.

I have over 200 gallons of sap in the tank this morning, and it's still running. I'll have to scrounge enough wood to boil it from somewhere. The sap is clear and 1.6%. If I'd reamed the holes, who knows what I'd have gotten! It's still the best run by far all year.

[tapper]

I gathered 350 gallons of 2% sap off of 280 buckets today. By far the largest single run of the season.

[Dave Y]

Well I ain't over till its over. And it ain't over I brought in 1200 gal of the clearest sap of the season,and it was still running will boil tomorrow. I expect it to be over by friday.

[PA mapler]

I boiled off 450 gallons yesterday and the day before, will probably make about 8-9 gallons of this run once the evaporator is drained. Didn't quite make light amber, but got medium. But, it's pretty buddy, and being so light it's missing something. I'm done for the season.

[Dave Y]

Chris,
That 100+ is what you get with good wood air tight arch pre heater and hoods. And some good help!

[tapper]

Nice! 7" of snow since this morning and still coming down. It rained all day just 7 miles from here.

[PA mapler]

Jon- you need to get off that hill! There's been wet snow here all day, but it never seems to get deeper than an inch. It's just cold, wet, and annoying.

Finished off all my syrup from this last run, got 9.5 gallons of medium, but it definitely has an unpleasant off-taste. Boiled and scrubbed with 4 gallons of vinegar with water thru the 2x6 and will take it all apart some sunny, warm day and get it all shiny again.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jon,

That will be great for the syrup. Hope you get a week or so of good runs.

[tapper]

ohhh mannn that 7" is now 10" and still snowing. I just came from town and it is 40 and raining there. I tried to go into the woods earlier and the trees are hanging into the trails so much it is miserable to get through. I didnt even attempt to go into the hemlocks. The prowler doesnt have a windsheild wiper bump 1 tree and you cant see a thing. I have to work in town tomorrow maybe wed. there will be lots of sap and way less snow.

[Dave Y]

Jon,
I sure am glad we didnt get the snow you got, It snowed all day here, but never got more than 2" on the ground.
I boiled again last nite. I cut my sap in half. Im up to 140gal. And if I dont collect any more sap I should end up with over 150. But, I know there is more sap in the woods and the wood pile is getting awful small. May need a pick up load to finish. we will see.

[tapper]

There is still at least 6" of snow on the ground here and buckets running over just since this morning. What a wet sloppy mess. I dont dare plow it because of the mud and my driveway is almost impassable. Dave you were here you know what it can be like because it was beautiful in Scandia that day.
Looks like tomorrow might be the last big day. No more freezing nights in the forcast. I had 2 nice runs for the new rig they both came here at the very end and I have never boiled this late before. Already looking forward to next year.

[danno]

Crazy late storm for central NY and PA - for a change, we got more than N. NY and New England. 14" here just outside of Syracuse and 2' or so just 20 minutes south in the higher elevations. Sap started running today for one last hoorah! I'm going pallet hunting to get these last couple boils in as the wood is all gone.

[Dave Y]

I got rid of some more sap tonite. It has that cardboard smell. Barely any taste. Jon How is you sap? And yea I know how hard it cnan be to get in your driveway. The day I was up I could hardly get in with four wheel drive.

[Dave Y]

Sugarmaker,
I just looked at your updated web site. Very nice! Tell your son to keep up the good work!

[tapper]

Dave,

The sap from the latest runs has been the clearest of the entire season. I have always found the clearest sap with the big cold gushing runs. On Sunday it was right at 2% and with a taste test of yesterdays I am sure it is way down. I have to work for a few hours today then back to gathering and boiling.

[tapper]

Brought in 365 gal. sap today . Started to boil at 3:15 this afternoon and was all done at 6:45. Took off about 8 gallons of medium with dark syrup flavor. Today may have been the last sap for this season. Weather looks to be too warm here on in.

[Sugarmaker]

Dave Y,
Thanks I will tell Adam about the positive comments on the web site. He put a lot of work into it. He was taking pictures of product tonight to add to the BUY page. You must be about wore out form gathering and making syrup?

Jon,
Man what a difference a few miles makes sounds Like you are still pounding out good tasting syrup in Warren. Great! I really like the way you have your rig and sugar house set up. Have looked at your pictures many times.

I made some maple coated peanuts tonight using a quart of B syrup and a 3 lb can of dry roasted nuts. These are for our oldest daughters wedding shower this Saturday.

Cheryl goes to the doctor tomorrow to see if she can get the cast off her leg. Its been four weeks. She may have to wear a support boot for several more weeks?

I did buy a small portable air compressor for the sugar house to use to blow out the sap lines. With a good filter system I think this will get most of the water from the lines after washing.

I just sent a letter to Atlee D. Miller in Ulysses Pa to get a price on a 3 x 5 steam away. Always a chance this could come together and reduce boiling time a little in 2008.

We will start gathering wood (pallets) for the wood shed. Hope to have the wood shed full again by July 1. As I get older the idea of burning with oil sounds better all the time.;)

Hope everyone had a great season and I really enjoyed getting out to other sugar houses and for local sugar makers to stop in and visit!

Regards,
Sugarmaker

[tapper]

Chris,

Awsome website! One of these years I am going to hit the road for 2 weeks and just visit sugar houses. Yours will surely be on the list. I am sure I could fill the entire 2 weeks just visiting people on the trader. Looks like you have lots of elbow room in your sugar house. Mine is a little tight around the evapotator but, not as tight as the old susar house.
Sounds like exciting times for you and your family from Cheryl getting rid of the cast to having a wedding. Wow good for you guys!

[Dave Y]

I am going to start taking down buckets tonite. Finished boiling what sap I had on hand. from the looks of it there may be somewhere between 500 and 1000 gal still in the woods. That will give me a good start on the 3rd barrel of commercial as i finished the second one last nite . that put me at 150 gal. with 60 being commercial. wish I would have had more higher quality syrup, but i will take what I can get. I hear Sprauge's is paying 1.60 for comm.

[PA mapler]

I called Sprague's yesterday to find out when they are buying, the girl thought the 28th of this month. I have almost a full barrel of C.

Too bad I ran out of wood, the sap ran here the last several days pretty well. I might have gotten another 5-10 gallons. Today it might run again, we had a light frost this morning.

The saw went to Sisson's for an overhaul, getting ready for starting on next year's wood. Will take the taps out this weekend and clean the lines. I bought some calcium hypochloride that I'll try this year instead of bleach.

[Sugarmaker]

Jon, and any other sugar makers passing thru our are , you are more than welcome to stop in and chat.

Trying to get the sugarhouse back in somewhat of of a orderly condition.
Still have a jungle of tubing hanging in the woodshed.

Sounds like everyone is winding down and thinking about 2008 already. I know I am. Several improvements in the plans for tubing.

Regards,
Chris

[Jim Brown]

Chris; glad to hear you are looking into a steamaway. you will not be sorry you did. It will cut you boiling time. We are very happy with ours.
Gald to hear your wife is on the mends and hope the cast comes off soon!
Looking forward to next year
Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
I would like to cut down on the amount of wood used per gallon of syrup. I know a R.O is the way to go but the budget will not allow it at this time.

Cheryl has another two weeks in the cast but the leg is healing well.

Regards,
Chris

[tapper]

Collected another 140 gallons of sap this afternoon and took down most of the buckets while gathering. The syrup turned light last night and was even lighter tonight. This was a very strange season.

[Jim Brown]

Chris; we are looking for a Used Ro for next season.We have Brian looking also. We don't want to break the bank same as you so we have to be careful and not over spend. the steamaway was a big help and due to money constraints this year we may have to wait another year. Only time will tell
Glad to hear Cheryl is healing up .
Thanks
Jim

[PA mapler]

Jon- how was your last syrup? Was it getting buddy? I think I quit at the right time. I still have the mainline dumping into a 5-gallon bucket, and the sap the last few days has been really yellow and cloudy, even fresh stuff after I dump the bucket.

[tapper]

Beth,

I made around 8 gallons Wednesday afternoon. The syrup kept getting lighter with each draw. I made another 4 gallons yesterday and that too was really light and it all had a slight off flavor more like dark syrup. I ran a few hundred gallons of water thru the evaporator this morning and took off another 4 gallons. This was darker with better flavor. Never any buddy flavor in any of it. I think most of the off flavor was from dirty buckets from the warm spell we had and I left the dark syrup in the evaporator during that cold snap and started out with that stuff on these last few runs. I just got lazy.

[tapper]

Another syrup season done. And a very different season it was. I guess that is what keeps it interesting.

[PA mapler]

It was a fun year, and a learning year for me. The sugar shack is spotless and the evaporator shiny, and the taps come out tomorrow. Lots of plans for next year, already. . .

[tapper]

Beth,

Your sugar shack is spotless? How about coming over to finish canning my syrup and making my sugar shack spotless too?

[Sugarmaker]

Wow a spotless sugar house! Nice!

I just took down four hives on Sunday and started extracting honey left from last fall that was on the hives. Have 5 gallons of med colored honey extracted. So we will have some honey for customers this year. Now I need to find some bees. At $100 per package it is getting a little steep. We only had one colony survive this year out of 15. I do have to go look on Mooney's there may be some activity on that one hive at his place?

I still blame it on the extreme cold winter weather after mid Jan.

Our sugar house now is a honey house so it wont be spotless for a while.

Gathering wood for syrup next year too!

Chris

[Dave Y]

My sugar house is far from spotless. My stainless still needs shining. I just finished boiling at midnight last nite. now i have to get the and of the sweet of the rig and get it finished. I want to sell this crap on Saturday.
This stuff really stunk. I still have about 100 taps to pull the buckets are sitting on the ground. My dump station needs taken down. my sap hauler needs inspected. And to top it off this wind we been having blew half the roofing off one side of my barn. once that is all done I think I will start cutting wood as I burned all of it. That is after I go to maine and two college Graduations and a wedding of which all three are at least 3.5 hours away. Im tired just thinking about it. No rest for the wicked.

[PA mapler]

Jon- I'm not talking Better Homes and Gardens spotless, but sugar shack/snowmobile storage-shed spotless. At least everything is picked up, and the sticky syrup spots on the floor hosed off!

Taps are coming out today, looks like I'm lugging the the 5-gallon bucket of cleaner to each tap again this year. Then the firewooding starts if I ever get my saw back.

Chris- if I hear of a swarm of bees anywhere, is that something you'd be interested in? Every now and then I hear one mentioned. Can you take bees from a wild bee tree, or is that too much of a pain to bother?

[Sugarmaker]

Beth,
Sugar house: OK storage clean is acceptable. Wouldn't want you making us guys look bad.;)
Bees: Yes, I will be looking for swarms this spring. Distance may be a factor but if I am not interested, any local bee keepers near to you may be. A bee tree is a little more than I want to handle. It is also very hard to get them out of buildings. I have hived several swarms ( maybe 30), most easy, but the hardest was a big swarm that was 25-30 feet in the top of a tree. I used a 16foot ladder and a 20 foot pole with a swarm catching bucket on the end and made 8 trips up and down to capture all of them. It is discouraging dismantling the hives. I took down 4 more tonight. Finding only hand fulls of dead bees remaining.

Regards,
Chris

[PA mapler]

Chris- thanks for letting me off the hook about the "spotless" comment! :rolleyes:
I'll keep my ears open about swarms. There's a guy a few miles away who has a self-serve honey stand, but I don't know if he has his own bees or not, I don't see hives anywhere. There's bees somewhere near, or was, and I always feel bad when I hit them with the mower when the clover is blooming. Did you lose your bees the same mysterious way as I've read in the news?

[Sugarmaker]

Can't really tell why the bees died. Some of the hives just don't have a lot of dead bees, Could be what they used to call "Fall Dwindling". I would blame most of it on the sever winter cold from mid Jan to March 1.

Chris

[mountainvan]

There was an article in our local paper about cell phones/ towers messing up the bees natural direction finder so that they can't find their hive. An interesting theory.

[Dave Y]

I sold my commercial syrup today. I Had 962.5 lbs. At 1.60 a pound it was well worth making. As amatter of fact I would say it saved my season. I reamed my tap holes on good friday and made over 70 gal after that. For those of you who hung it up the first of the month, you could have made some equipment money.

[PA mapler]

I sold 275 pounds yesterday too, all "C" to Sprague's. Randy said it was very slow day, alot of guys who normally bring in syrup didn't have enough to bring in or had just a little. I was there after lunch, and as of then he hadn't even gotten one barrel of light amber yet.

[Dave Y]

Beth,
thats where I took mine. I was the next to last one there. He couldn't have had a100 barrels. We were looking to buy .but there was none. He bought mostly C.

[markcasper]

I talked with a guy Saturday who sold some commercial to a packer in northern Wis. and he was paid $2.00 /lb. In fact, he was paying that price for ALL the grades. He figured WI only had 1/2 of a normal crop to less than that.

[royalmaple]

Russ-

Looks like we are going to take a left hand turn when we get to bascoms. Tell the wife we'll be back a little later than planned.

[Russell Lampron]

Matt,

When we get to Bascoms or when we leave?

Russ

[tapper]

Royalmaple,

I liked all the short videos you posted on Youtube. Very informative keep up the nice work!

[royalmaple]

Were going to the 2.00/lb mersh outlet.

Tapper, thanks, I posted some more today. Got lenny's debut with Jerry and words of wisdom from the Gov.

Also got a couple new pics of 2007 posted. Justin got me fired up to upload some more.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Matt- As i said to you before Sit on it and it will grow by christmas time-Does every time...

[tapper]

Matt,

By his posts I gathered the Govener was somewhat of a character and your video just proved that LOL. The Maple Trade Characters welcome!

[802maple]

Matt- I think Russ has the right idea, because the direction you guys will be coming from I think you will end up in Maine again if you take a left when you get there. I think you need to get the old Captain to guide that vessel, pick me up on the way by.

[royalmaple]

We'll just keep driving in circles till we run out of gas or money.

We'll pick you up on the way, I think it is my turn to drive so you'll have to sit in the back of the van. At least there wont be any tanks in there, just jugs of mersh.

Kevin-

I don't think I can sit still that long but I'll try. Don't you have some packing to do? T minus 4 days. To that new research station.

Characters is one way of putting it, I have been trying to keep the videos PG-13 or it could be upsetting to some people. We have fun when we get together, anyone is welcome to attend the all day circus anytime you want to take a ride over.

[tapper]

HaHa I would be there in a heartbeat if it were just a ride over.

[Jim Brown]

Well we can't wait any longer we drilled 350 holes today.got the generator,vacuum pump and releaser hooked up. Looking to tap our main bush in the next week if the weather holds. Should have a run or two next week

Good luck ALL!

Jim

[Dave Y]

That weather forecast got to you didn't it Jim ! Good luck ! Let us know what we are missing.

[Jim Brown]

Can't wait to start to run sap through the new RO!

[Russell Lampron]

Anxious to try out that new RO Jim? Good luck it is still way too cold here.

Russ

[tapper]

Wow thats great Jim! Last week of January thru the 1st week of April is a possible 10 weeks of sugaring go for it!

[Jim Brown]

20 degrees and a lite snow this morning . We still have our main bush to tap(550 taps) and 40 buckets in my daughters yard. Will tap the buckets maybe this afternoon . If not today- tomorrow. Will wait a few day to tap the main bush. It is 12 miles from the sugarhouse(small bush is only 4 miles away) and I still need to finish the vacuum line to the releaser in that one.

Jim

[tapper]

Jim,

You may not be far off. The 2 best years of me doing this was 10 yrs ago and I was tapped the 1st week of Feb. each year.

[Gary R]

Weather forecast got to me. I live a few miles from Jim. The next 2 weeks look good. Put my 40 taps in this afternoon. 9 reds, 31 sugars. Hoping to get the maple syrup I want by early March. I then need to tap my Birch for beer. Dave Y, I drove through town today on my way home from camp. Didn't see much activity or I would have stopped. Yesterday was the last day for grouse. It was still pretty cold and not much was out. Just a lot of coyote tracks. Good luck to all!

[Dave Y]

Gary R.
I was probably in the woods. I did some work around the house this am them went to visit the owner of my sugarbush. then took the dogs for a run. Dont get too excited about tapping yet. You are not that far south of me. You may get one or two days. But hey you never know. good luck stop any time you see my Ranger at the house.

[Sugarmaker]

Gary R,
Good luck with the 08 season sounds like you are right at it.

I did get the sugarhouse cleaned out a little so I can walk through it. Lawn mowers moved to the other garage and stuff organized here and there.

I did get out and put up tubing for 22 taps on Hultman's place. Mike their son (12) helped me stretch the lines and put in the drops. He liked the tubing tools and made several connections himself. ( only about 180 more to go, then setting the containers and tapping is just around the corner:))

We had a nice time at the Ohio maple meeting south of Burton yesterday. Jan Woods did demo on maple peanuts and I did demo on maple mustard.

Gary Graham did a presentation on the results of testing for lead in syrup and what producers can do to reduce lead levels. Also talks on Maple marketing and tree thinning. Great Amish lunch! Thanks to the Ohio produces for having us!

Chris

[PA mapler]

Hi Jim!

Good luck on the tapping! Hope you get some good runs this week, although you're going to make the rest of us really jealous. My trees are on a north-facing hill, and even in favorable-appearing weather they often refuse to thaw out.

But luckily I still have lots of work to do before I fire up, or I might not be able to help myself - I'd be up there tapping too!

[PATheron]

Fellow Pa's- Im thinking tap Feb 16th. What you guys think your going to do the way the weather is running. Its kind of warming some days but my bush seems to start a little later I think and im thinking these milder temps may kind of get the trees ready to run. It looks like its getting cold again in another week or so and im thinking when it warms up again that should be the time. What you guys thinking? Theron

[Dennis H.]

I have been ready to tap for several days now, Everyday I wait and see, only to see that the forcast was wrong and the temps never got high enough.:mad:

Is it better to tap in the morning to catch that days run or do you just tap when you get a chance when the day comes? With working nights I have a chance to tap in the morning before going to bed or when I get up in the evening around 4pm.

Will a day or two of low temps cause any problems with the taps drying up sooner. I keep looking at the forcast and there are several goods possibly coming but then there are a day or two with below freezing temps followed by warm temps again?

I am also assuming that sunny days are far better than cloudy days with the same temp, correct?

[PATheron]

Dennis H- Its been my experiance if you tap real early like this your holes are likely to dry up before the season ends. You run the risk of not having fresh holes when the real season comes. Its all a gamble. I think that mid Feb time is a good time to shoot for. You want days in the 40's if you can and nights below freexing and no south wind. Its hard to believe but you can have perfect temps and a little south wind comes along and its over. You cant control that kind of thing. My trees seem to take a little while to start the season some times. I think im in a cold spot. I have snow when its gone everywhere else. What Ive always done is watch the veterins in my area and tap when they do. Thats not a bad way to do it at all. If you tap and it gets freezing cold the holes wont dry up or age so to speak during that time. Best of luck Theron

[Dave Y]

theron,
I am tapping presidents day weekend. I have along weekend and I can get every thing in at once. I am going to start tapping the tubing on thursday evening and hope to finish up on monday with the buckets. Going to get my sap collecters limbered up, they are hanging the buckets :)

[PATheron]

DaveY- Thats the same weekend Im figuring on. Presidents day is monday the 18th so well be tapping same weekend. Ill probly tap saturday. Thats going to be fun. I should have everthing real good and ready by then. Theron

[Dennis H.]

I too have a location that tends to stay cooler than else where, I think that is why the temps I am seeing are lower than forcasted.

So what you are saying is that the warm temps that are forecasted I should ignore? Should I wait until the end of the 1st week or the 2nd week in Feb to start tapping?

I hate to miss the first good run of the season but I also don't want to tap early only to have the holes dry up early. Since I will only have a few taps this year I want to get the most bang for the buck so to speak.

Man this whole maple thing is messing with my mind.:p

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

It is still Jan and you are several hours north of me and it is too cold here for the most part. This is normal to have a few days like this in Jan. Worst thing you can do is tap too early and miss some big runs in March.

As stated before, forecasters are overly optomistic this time of year and the days are still short and the high temps that we actually see don't last very long before it starts cooling again.

[PATheron]

Dennis H- I think its a bit early but youll have to do what you thiink is right. Heres a couple ideas. Put out a test bucket and watch it. Find some local producers that have been doing it a long time and watch and see when they do it. If they are larger producers, trying to make money at it, they are taking their tapping timing real serious becouse of the investment they have. Mid Feb is kind of a normal tapping time to shoot for. This is what seems to happen at my place. If there is still frost in the ground my trees dont seem to run till we get some warm temps for a little while. It seems like it takes some warm temps to kind of wake up my trees. Then once they start running then they run good. One other idea. If your not putting a lot of taps out and you have more trees than taps, put in your taps for the early run and make syrup. Then tap different trees for the main run. That would be ideal if you have taps enough to do it and you dont want to run a lot of taps anyway. Put out a test bucket.. Theron

[Dave Y]

Remember fellas, Spring comes but once a year, and we havent got to ground hog day yet.

[PA mapler]

The last two years, I didn't tap here until the beginning of March, and really didn't miss anything. THis year's weather pattern almost seems the same, too: mildish fall and early winter, then winter starts getting more serious in late January and February. My 15-day Accu-Weather calls for maybe a day or two over 32 degrees, but I need alot more than that to get my cold trees running! I'm looking at mid-Feb. at the earliest. My last run last year was April 15!

Yesterday looked nice and warm and sunny, but when I went up to sweep the leaves out of the sugar shack, MAN was it cold!

[tapper]

Yesssss Bradford has many times been the national cold spot.

[PA mapler]

Not something to be proud of! :rolleyes: I have cold trees on a cold north hill in the coldest spot in PA. No wonder I don't get much sap!

This year will be different, though. I broke down and ordered (at an outrageous shipping price) that Canadian bit that I've heard raved about, so my trees'll be just gushing sap soon!

[Maplewalnut]

I've been waiting for the PA chatter to start up. Our forecast (Scranton area)also has a couple of tickler days in it but at 2100' we are about 8 degrees on average colder than they predict so I'll put in another weekend or two of tinkering before I start drilling. I'm betting the bucket covers that Theron sold me this fall will make all the difference! Thanks again Theron.

Need more buckets and lids if anyone has a last minute fire sale, otherwise I guess I have to start educating myself on tubing!

[Dennis H.]

Thanks everyone for trying to help a rookie.
It is kind of tough to learn all the fine details of sugarin', I have yet to find anyone locally that makes maple syrup. It seems I am a lone wolf here in Perry County.

Again thanks for the help, I will plan on holding off another week or two, but if the weather looks promising watch out.

[Dennis H.]

I just took notice we are still posting in "Tapping 2007":o

[tapper]

Yaaaaaa I was waiting for someone to start a new thread but they started posting in last years ....ohhh welll the reading is all the same and just as interesting.

[jemsklein]

tapper why don't you start a new thread

[Russell Lampron]

Looks like Jim Brown did it this afternoon.

Russ