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View Full Version : Not much sap on Saturday and Sunday



efoyt
04-06-2014, 07:47 PM
Got tons of sap up until Saturday and Sunday. Is the run over in my area? monmouth?

Chicopee Sap Shack
04-06-2014, 07:52 PM
Me too Saturday was ok but nothin Sunday and next week looks like buds.

Scott


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abbott
04-06-2014, 09:24 PM
No freeze = no sap (usually). My trusty vacuum pump has kept it coming, though. Last night stayed cloudy and breezy. Tonight is clear and calm. Assuming the forecasters get the low temp right this time, look for a big run tomorrow.

Buds? I haven't even looked at them yet. I'm not even considering the possibility of buddy sap for another week. Then I'll assess whether to pull the red maple taps.

Ridge777
04-06-2014, 09:52 PM
I collected 145 gallons from Thursday to Saturday on 220 taps. Only 32 and cloudy last night and no run at all today. Most of my buds are still tight except for my silver maples. Might have couple of good runs left if the weather cooperates.

abbott
04-07-2014, 06:01 AM
Ok, I'm getting frustrated now. Big difference between the 25* forecast and the 35* low we've got here!

Graciesdad
04-07-2014, 06:45 AM
It got to 23 degrees here in Canton last night. Hoping for a decent run today as the weekend was a dissapointment.

Just say no to buds.

BRL
04-07-2014, 07:54 AM
Ok, I'm getting frustrated now. Big difference between the 25* forecast and the 35* low we've got here!

Weird we had 25* this morning here in Minot.

maineboiler
04-07-2014, 08:10 AM
The weekend was slow. I hope the taps are not sealing off, some have been in for awhile. 27 degrees in Oxford this AM so I am looking for a good run today. We'll see.
Had a good boil on Saturday and bottled 4 1/2 gallons of medium amber. Tough year but at least we are making syrup now

Smrdc1974
04-07-2014, 08:23 AM
I had a great week and then as of Saturday everything stopped..... A neighbor already pulled his taps from his trees. Boiled 60 over the weekend to produce 1.5 gallons (amber). Is it over? I will give it one more week....

Ridge777
04-07-2014, 09:04 AM
27 here last night. Let's hope the tree's respond. It does not look favorable for the rest of the week. Looks like my goal of 25 gallons is in the crapper.

Aaron Roy
04-07-2014, 12:11 PM
It's going to be sad to pull out all of my taps. At least I only have between 30 and 40 to do and not 300

Revi
04-07-2014, 01:15 PM
We'll boil today and maybe next Saturday and then I think it's over. It has been fun, but not a very productive year. C'est la vie!

gmcooper
04-07-2014, 05:25 PM
Looking at some of the trees over weekend. I still think we have a couple weeks still to go unless it gets crazy warm. Even some of the other early budding trees and shrubs actually look a ways off from budding out. Weather has not been especially conductive for good sap flows with the exception of a couple days this season. Planning on making syrup till April 20th. Latest to date had been April 17th about 15 years ago.

abbott
04-07-2014, 08:17 PM
Looking at some of the trees over weekend. I still think we have a couple weeks still to go unless it gets crazy warm. Even some of the other early budding trees and shrubs actually look a ways off from budding out. Weather has not been especially conductive for good sap flows with the exception of a couple days this season. Planning on making syrup till April 20th. Latest to date had been April 17th about 15 years ago.

I agree - the buds are still likely a couple weeks off. The bigger concern is whether we get enough cold nights. I live on a hillside that doesn't get nearly as cold as the valley below. Good for farming, not for sugaring. But with vacuum, it only takes a good frost once every few days to keep 'em flowing. Lets hope for Wednesday night!

Revi
04-07-2014, 08:48 PM
I thought that last night was cold enough, and it was 27 degrees down here in the valley. Where our sugarhouse is, 300 feet higher than here was a different story. oh well, we're going to catch Thursday's run and then pack it in on the weekend.

davrhods
04-07-2014, 10:18 PM
buds are still tight here, sap is very cloudy was making dark amber till last Friday went to b one run now commercial. going to give a good wash and see what happens does not look good . What grade are my neighbors getting ? still 2-3 feet of snow in woods

bees1st
04-08-2014, 06:04 AM
Mine went to extra dark on Sunday as well . As gmcooper said it ain't over yet . a little cold weather could turn this around . Everything is behind. On an average year the bees usually have gathered pollen from poplar trees by the 1st of April . Yesterday A. M. it was 60 , the bees had good flight , and there was still no pollen. Snow in the woods and frost under that . Might get some more runs yet . To be a farmer it helps to be a totally optimistic .

abbott
04-08-2014, 06:07 AM
I was making a dark medium all last week. didn't boil Sunday. yesterday the syrup was darkening all day long - ended with a fairly light grade B (Extra Dark here in Maine.)

Will drain and clean everything today, hopefully that and a potentially good freeze Wed. night will keep me out of commercial a bit longer. Though I do have orders waiting for 18 gallons of the stuff!

efoyt
04-08-2014, 08:33 AM
I got 33 gallons from my fifty taps yesterday...I'm hoping for close to that on Thursday. That would give me enough for one last boil. Not expecting much the other days this week. I think I'm going to pull everything this weekend. I'll need to get out at some point before Thursday night and dump my plastic 5 gallon buckets. The ones I have under big old maples turn yellow with lots of rain. I've come to believe it is the run off from the dead parts of the tops of the tree's dripping down to sit on top of my buckets.

Ridge777
04-08-2014, 08:59 AM
Checked my buckets yesterday and not much from Sunday on. Most were empty and I picked up only around 20 gallons. Finished off my boil from Sunday and got a little over 4 gallons of syrup. I hope there is more to come as I would like to boil again on Thursday. I still have hope for my trees in the woods as the snow is still around. Time will only tell.

RollinsOrchards
04-08-2014, 11:13 PM
We will gather in the morning. Might be enough to boil a couple hours from our 1100 taps. Only made 65 gallons of syrup so far, and I keep saying that is only halfway to a very poor result from 1100 taps.

Anybody have a good supply of edible commercial? I have orders for close to 50 gallons from a bakery and it doesn't look like I will have anything near that.

PerryW
04-08-2014, 11:39 PM
yep, after today's boil, I am currently at 53 gallons which is also halfway to a poor year with 800 gravity taps here in the northcountry on new hampshire,

Revi
04-09-2014, 08:32 AM
Tomorrow could be a good run, since tonight is going to freeze up hard. Temps in the teens and low twenties.

That's going to be last one for us, so we are untapping on Saturday.

sap seeker
04-09-2014, 10:50 AM
Tomorrow could be a good run, since tonight is going to freeze up hard. Temps in the teens and low twenties.

That's going to be last one for us, so we are untapping on Saturday.

It was actually 32 this morning here in the Belgrade Lakes, I was surprised and I'm curious if it is enough to do a little today. Tomorrow should be one last good run for everyone down state and mid state, then time to pick up and move onto to other things. I bet the northerners still have some syrup to be made this season.:cool:

Revi
04-09-2014, 10:55 AM
Tomorrow's run may be the last one for us. There is nothing in the next week or so, so this will have to be it!

Jal-Bear
04-09-2014, 11:30 AM
Done for me, time to start cleaning up. Ended up with about 7 1/2 gallons of all medium amber. I learned a ton this season, overall I'm very pleased how everything went for my first year. I'm already planning for next year, expanding and upgrading to a bigger evaporator. I didn't realize how addicting this would become!

Ryan August
04-09-2014, 01:06 PM
just like when I was 16, just got started and its over already

abbott
04-09-2014, 05:59 PM
It's possible that this is the last frost. On the other hand, no reason to pull the taps until the buds break. Unless you're just sick of it.

West Sumner Sugar
04-09-2014, 08:56 PM
Hoping for a decent frost tonight and a good run tomorrow. Temps look like they will support it. Put up 100 gallons of sap today, would like to have another 150 or so by the weekend. We'll see what mother nature gives us. We're not pulling out till its 100% over. Still have plenty of wood and tons of ambition!

Ridge777
04-10-2014, 08:20 PM
Just got home and checked a few of my buckets. Looks like a half way decent run today, I picked up 5 gallons from 8 taps. Some of the tree's were still running. Windy and feels cold here tonight, maybe they wil run some more. I'll get the rest tommorow and finish up my boil on Saturday and then time to pull taps and clean up.

Revi
04-10-2014, 08:29 PM
We got over 100 gallons today, so we'll have something to boil on Saturday! Whatever happens tomorrow is bonus. We are going to boil it off and then chase with water and call it a season. We are moving on to other things now. I have another business that starts up next week, so these toys have to be put away! It was short but sweet. The upside is that we still have lots of wood and lots of plastic for next year!

Smrdc1974
04-11-2014, 10:17 AM
Good run yesterday, probably the last one. It was 27 yesterday morning when I left for work and collected over 15 gallons off 22 taps.... So, have over 40 gallons to boil this weekend... Will be the final one for the year and time to collect and put supplies away for next year.... Short but sweet season. Need to reconfigure my evaporator. Only about to boil off at a rate of 2.5 gph. Combination of wet wood and not enough fire bricks in the oven. Live and learn....

Revi
04-11-2014, 10:40 AM
Looking at the forecast it doesn't look too good for next week. We are going to make our last batches and call it good. It didn't freeze last night and seemed to be slowing down when I checked last night at around 8pm, so we are all set for this weekend with around 150 gallons. We should be able to boil that in about 6 hours while we are taking shifts and pulling taps. That's the plan anyway...