Who is still making syrup?

[mrnorthshore]

We are still getting about 300 gallons of sap a day up here on the North Shore. The sap has not turned yet, We still have over 1 foot of snow in the woods. We just need some cold nights. Who else is still making syrup?

[maple flats]

I'll bet most of Quebec is still boiling.

[sugarsand]

We're in NNY, haven't boiled in 2 weeks when we wrapped it up. I noticed that 2 lines of 3/16 tubing are still running, drawing 22 and 19 in. Of vacuum. I guess no one told them that season is over.

[markcasper]

I am still going....only on a north slope though and today is the last for that. Most everyone around here has their last boil on Easter or shortly after. Many people don't monkey around with commercial, but if you had vacuum and the right location, alot could have been made over the past 10 days. We have been cloudy and rainy/cold the last 6 days and that has kept things going. I discontinued my south faced woods about 1 week ago however, even though I was getting much sap from them also yet. Tomorrow is the start of cleanup. Never gathered sap in May before until this year.

[North!]

We are still bringing sap in at a rate of 8 to 9 thousand gallons daily. We too have not had a decent freeze for nearly a week, but the cool, moist, and overcast conditions have been nearly perfect for creating an extended sap season. Other producers near me that are closer to Lake Superior have concerns that their tap holes may be drying up. We are producing dark amber syrup presently from 2.7 percent sap. The snow pack here ranges from ankle to knee deep.

[Mark]

We are still bringing sap in at a rate of 8 to 9 thousand gallons daily. We too have not had a decent freeze for nearly a week, but the cool, moist, and overcast conditions have been nearly perfect for creating an extended sap season. Other producers near me that are closer to Lake Superior have concerns that their tap holes may be drying up. We are producing dark amber syrup presently from 2.7 percent sap. The snow pack here ranges from ankle to knee deep.
Same over here, making a little dark syrup. It should freeze the next couple nights but it seems like forever waiting for it. Usually my vacuum drops off when the taps dry up, but my vacuum is still up and sap is moving in the lines. Hope we get another couple good runs.

[slybird353]

Same over here, making a little dark syrup. It should freeze the next couple nights but it seems like forever waiting for it. Usually my vacuum drops off when the taps dry up, but my vacuum is still up and sap is moving in the lines. Hope we get another couple good runs.

Had an enjoyable visit with Mark yesterday. Awesome sugar house and even more amazing sugarbush. I think he is going to need real long spout pullers soon. I guess if you want to know how his season is going ask him in June.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e85xDWu8NPk

[jeepv8pwr]

I have stockpiled about 60 gallons to boil down, nice clear stuff yet. I pulled all my taps because I honestly cant afford to boil anymore with a propane cooker. Definitely going to make a wood fired evaporator for next season. Awesome experience and quite easy accept for the time it takes to boil down 50-60- gallons in a 5 gallon pot over propane. Best tasting syrup I have ever had, got many compliments from those lucky enough to get a jar of it.

Have a nice summer all

[regor0]

Still have one more boil tonight. Sap is running great, looks like it's finally over.

[Mark]

I pulled the plug yesterday. The new tubing was still running great but the older tubing with check valves died about a week ago. I could not separate the new tubing from some of the check valve lines that were burping some fermented sap so I called it quits.

[regor0]

Mine is all new tubing. Your opinion on the checks is they aren't worth it? How old we're the drops on the checks? I bought checks but didn't use them because my tubing was new. Wish I would have tried a few on bags.

[Mark]

Mine is all new tubing. Your opinion on the checks is they aren't worth it? How old we're the drops on the checks? I bought checks but didn't use them because my tubing was new. Wish I would have tried a few on bags.
They advertise that with the check valves it should perform close to new tubing. You only have to change the tubing out until the fittings start to fail. The tubing is 10 years old. Had 2000 of the CV2's on one line, 2000 non checks on another and 2000 non checks on another. All tubing is the same age and all three usually run the same. Watched all season looking for the checks to do better but could not see a difference. We had the power go out and also had a few times when the vacuum pump went out because of pump problems on the extractor. That should have given the checks an advantage. We had a new section of tubing that went at least a week longer. The reason we are watching the performance is we are going to start changing out a bunch of tubing and want to figure out what we are going to go with. I really wanted to see that they worked but it was an unscientific experiment. But I do know is there is no way they are close to new tubing. We even tapped the checks 3 weeks after the new tubing. We tapped the new first since we figured the extra time would not hurt the new stuff as much. Are they worth it? I don't know but it would be nice to see a difference to feel better about spending the money. Our goal now is to get up as much new tubing as we can for next year.

[North!]

Sap still flowing up here in Northern Minnesota. Collected in excess of 3000 gallons overnight. Sap cleared up after the frost of two nights ago. Making dark amber/grade b syrup. Snow has disappeared in the lower portion of the bush, but in the upper portions there is a minimum of ankle deep snow. All portions of the collection areas are still producing sap, with the newly installed areas running the best. We started tapping on January 17, and finished about the 20th of February. I use 3 different types of taps, 17/64 CDL smart spouts on CDL drop line tubing, 5/16 CDL smart spouts on CDL drop line tubing, and CDL 5/16 stubby with black adapter on leader 30P drop lines. The majority of the woods is on the 17/64 taps (14,000). I like to diversify because one type of tap may not fit all types of conditions. I have used the 17/64 smart spout for three years now and feel it works the best for me. I change out a quarter of the drop lines each year so I am assured of maximum return on 25% of the taps. Our trees are slow drippers, rarely producing a gallon of sap per tap in 24 hrs. Only once has that happened in nearly 20 years at this location. So we need a long season to produce even a quart of syrup per tap. When Leader introduced the check valve spigot I thought it was the answer, and installed 20 percent of our taps in cv's, mostly on used drops. First year they quit a week before all the other types of taps. I blamed it on a warm season. 2nd season same results, blamed it on a cool season. 3rd year I installed a bunch on newer tubing in an area with less exposure. Same results. Very disappointing. In areas such as mine, where sap flows wind down and generally are not running hard at freeze up they do not perform as advertised, and actually seem to hasten hole closure. I have a neighbor who installed cv1's 3 years ago on all new tubing. The first year he did well. Last year we ran even yield wise even though his quit 2 weeks before mine(even though his conditions were better suited for sap flow than mine), and this year they dried up over a week ago and I expect to produce 10-20 percent more syrup than him. He tapped a full month after me, the temperature rarely exceeded 50f. and never reached 60f. He is finding similar results that cv's do not work well up here. I have seen plenty of happy cv users on this site to believe they work as advertised, in areas where sap flow runs good and hard so there is little doubt they work in those regions. Just not here.

[Mark]

Next year I will have to make some vacuum chambers and do some testing on my own to see it with my own eyes to be convinced. Does anyone know where I can get the clear tubing in 3 or 4 inch?

[Machinist67]

Next year I will have to make some vacuum chambers and do some testing on my own to see it with my own eyes to be convinced. Does anyone know where I can get the clear tubing in 3 or 4 inch?

http://www.clearpvcpipe.com/clearpvcpipe-schedule40.aspx

[Mark]

http://www.clearpvcpipe.com/clearpvcpipe-schedule40.aspx

Thanks for the link!