Time to start

[newman_maple]

Weather watching is frustrating! My youngest son and I tapped the home trees today. 71 taps in and some were running a bit. I doubt I will have much this week, but the forecast gives 40+ degrees a few days so I think I will get to boil by the weekend. My home trees are sun exposed on flat ground and run early and are always well ahead of the far bush trees (100 taps) I will tap when the next warmup happens in a week or two. The far trees are are mostly on a north facing hill and warm up much later.

Us southern producers have to take advantage of January and early February warmups. In the last 7 years, I have had some of my biggest days before February. My best weeks have ranged between the 2nd week of February to the 2nd week of March, but I have had big days in January and have had to pull taps by March 1st.

I hope to have a better year than last year. Last year was my worst year in the 7 years we have been producing to sell. Time will tell.

[buckeye gold]

I hear you Newman_ Maple, I'm just up the road in western Ross County. I have a real fear this may be a three week season. I had some taps out already, but I went ahead and put the rest of mine out yesterday hoping that a few of those warmer days will get me a few extra boils, but I suspect they will be small. I had some fall taps out through early January and there was only one good run with a lot of little runs. However I Made half the syrup in that early season of all that I made in that disaster last year. If we have a good year late Februrary will have to be a gusher. The problem I see in the coming days is only a day or two of warm then a plunge into the deep freeze. Looks like a lot of frozen sap and small runs to me. It takes a day or two for mine to thaw and run a lot of times. Still, I thought it over and felt it was best to have all the taps out and be ready.

[newman_maple]

I did collect 50 gallons this evening and they will run overnight, then freeze up tomorrow. I do not like frozen sap in bags, but it happens at times every year. Tuesday and Wednesday look OK. At least I will get to do some boiling this weekend.

[newman_maple]

Freezing up again for awhile..... I have boiled 255 gallons giving us 6 1/2 gallons finished light to medium syrup. Great ratio for us, but it will likely change later on. I didn't bother to collect this evening with them running slow. 1+ hours to collect a few gallons didn't seem worth the time. I am not a fan of frozen sap in bags, but I will deal with it next week or whenever the weather decides to cooperate again. I have 25 gallons in one of my tanks that will keep frozen until then.

[buckeye gold]

Sunday was my best run in two years and monday and tuesday were good then nothing. I finished a little short of 3 gallons and have about ten gallons of super sweet setting in buckets waiting for enough sap to run the evaporator again. Looks like a week of cold. I'm a little over 9 gallons for the year.

[SWohio]

This year I have been busy and the weather has been cold so I tapped late. The past couple years the weekend around Jan. 21 has been my tapping weekend. one week in Jan, all of Feb and a couple weeks into March have been the norm. This year I did not get out to tap till last Sun. Feb 8th. A solid two weeks late. It was running while I tapped and ran yesterday. I only have 10 taps out this year. Currently 5 gal of sap, 10 gal. of ice and I will be setting up to boil on my turkey fryer again tonight. My annual goal is 1-2 gallons for my personal use off my backyard trees. Freezing up again now but next week looks promising. (we are like Cub fans, next year and next week lol.)

[SWohio]

Everything frozen solid this morning

[bobsklarz]

Minus 4 degrees this morning in Medina County, Litchfield. Supposed to be colder tonight with nothing above freezing this coming week! Still waiting. Will be for awhile yet.

[buckeye gold]

Up here in Ross county is an iceberg too. I had drained my pan and left the sweet in buckets so I went down to the sugar shack to check on things and brought a bucket of sweet to the house. It was froze except for a 4-6 inch circle in the middle. Of course the rest is a soft ice, so we have been scraping off maple slushies, not too bad. I'm gonna start putting some of the sweet on the wood stove in a pot and reducing it, then I'll finish it on the propane. wouldn't noormally do this but it looks like at least a week until any kind of temperature break. I'll see how this experiement works.

[flhr10]

7 below here in Wakeman this morning. No sign of useful temps till the last weekend of Feb. Hope that is correct, getting the itch bad. We've got 500 bags all ready to go with the spiles in them. Got the power tapper out and it fired right up, it's waiting patiently. Gonna work on clearing one more trail in the woods tomorrow.

[newman_maple]

We are froze up for sure. Quite a bit of snow here today. A couple forecasts give it above freezing Saturday and Sunday - others keep us frozen for awhile longer.

[woodburner]

Hello to those in the sunny south, here in NE , Madison, we had -20.9F last night and over 2ft of snow in the woods. It is going to be a while. Hard crust down about 6inches , going to make tapping tough up here.

[Grand Square Acres]

Here in Central Ohio there are a few that tapped and are froze up solid. Even through I am ready with all new tubing and vac. for my 400 taps I have yet to drill the first hole, can't wait to see how this new setup will work. The forcast does not look to good for the next week or so, then it looks like maybe 2 1/2 to 3 weeks of great sap weather with highs in the mid 30 to low 40s and lows in the 20s.Hope its right or it might be a short season.

[RC Maple]

Been watching accuweather everyday for a while. Their forecasts can sometimes be unrecognizable from one day to the next but it looks like the last of the month into the start of March the temps are finally looking like sap weather. Everything is sitting there waiting to go - especially me! These days of 20-30 degrees below average seems like a long stretch. We are getting closer. Bring on the sap weather!

[SWohio]

Ok, Let's try March. Usually March 1st I am looking ahead on accuweather estimating when I will be pulling taps. This year looking at March to see when the season will begin.

[newman_maple]

March it is! March is rough for me with more going on. have not been to the far trees since it started snowing last weekend. It was too slushy today to make some tracks. It will be frozen all week so I will try to check things out this week.

[newman_maple]

I managed to get 40 gallons last night yesterday and 50 today. That gives me 115 in one of my tanks (25 has been frozen solid for 3 weeks). The warmup is melting the snow fast and it is a mess out there. The sap is going to run hard overnight then the freeze returns. I hope my school is cancelled so I can get an early enough start on it to safely get it out before the heavy snow hits. The National Weather Service is calling for 7-12 inches of snow starting tomorrow afternoon. YUCK! The forecast gives 14 tomorrow night and -4 Thursday night so I will be running a heater for awhile to be able to start boiling Thursday or Friday depending on work. It is supposed to be in the 40's again by Sunday so I will need to get everything boiled down before the new week begins. At least I have some sap to boil again - I just hope I can get the 100+ gallons I will have tomorrow back to the shack.

[SWohio]

My small time operation here. I collected 12 gallons off 9 taps. (I had a bucket down on the ground.) Doing my second boil of the year. The first was small and sandy, not worth mentioning. I will not hit my 2 gallons this year, lucky to get a gallon. I should get by, but friends may be disappointed, doesn't look like I will be sharing much this year. But good to be boiling for a change.

[newman_maple]

It is good to be boiling again! I only managed to get another 105 gallons. That gives me 220 to boil before we get more sap late in the weekend. With very cold temps the next couple days, I started boiling this evening. I expect school to be cancelled, but will head in late if I have not got the call. I hope we do not get deep snow that will make collecting Saturday or Sunday impossible. The first of the week could be our last run. It should be a big one, but some forecasts show warm nights by Tuesday. Maybe we will get lucky and stretch it out another week. I hope the Brown County sap runs fast for you!

[buckeye gold]

Up here in Ross county I did not get a run until last night. I had 50 gallons off 80 taps, so not too great. I had some hold over sweet and cooked down the 50 from today. A short 3+ hour boil. I finished a 1/2 gallon and could have made another draw but didn't have enough sap to replace what I would draw. They were runing today but slowed as the day went on. All my taps are aging out now. I may have 30-40 gallons in the woods tomorrow morning, but 1.) it will probably all be frozen and 2.) If we have a foot of snow with mud underneath I'll never get to it.

If I can't get this sap I'll drain the pan and finish that sweet. If that is the case I'm calling it a bad year and shutting down. My season is over Monday no matter what happens as my surgery is scheduled Wednesday.

[newman_maple]

Good luck with the surgery next week buckeye. I have had several surgeries over the past few years, but I have managed to work them around syruping. I wish you could stick it out through next week, but I understand. I know I have asked before, but where in Ross Co. are you? I am not up that way often, but occasionally.

[SWohio]

Sunday morning and the sap is starting to run. my 10 buckets did about 3 gal. yesterday and 3 more when I collected this morning. Taps thawing and just starting to run at 9 am today, so I expect a decent collection today. If the weather is right this run could continue through most of the week. A bit colder at the end of the week would be nice. This may be the season here.

[newman_maple]

I brought in 30 gallons yesterday afternoon and 45 around noon. I will collect again in a few hours. I have enough sap to boil for a few hours. The forecasts look pretty bad with warm nights. All I can do is hope for the best. Some of my north facing taps down the hillside have barely thawed so far so they should do well over the next 2-3 days. It looks to be our worst year to date following last year's poor totals. I have only boiled 500 gallons or so and usually hit 1500-2000 gallons of sap. SW, I think you might be right about this being it. This is the time of year we usually wind down, but we usually have had several weeks of sap runs by now.

[RC Maple]

Put my last few taps in on Saturday. I had almost enough sap to do a small boil on Sunday so I gathered Saturday evening. The didn't run much yet but just enough to feel good about lighting a fire. Boiled for a few hours yesterday to sweeten the pan. Since I didn't gather yesterday, with the conditions today it should be more fun gathering this afternoon. Happy boiling!

[newman_maple]

Between yesterday and today, I collected 250 gallons. The home trees are running slower now, but the hillside trees are still going strong. It is a swamp out there too. The forecast looks bad for another run so I need as much as I can get this week.

[SWohio]

This rain and warm weather has put the brakes on the run I had going here. I was hoping to keep it up through Thurs. but very little today. 2 gal. This year just not making not good for me. Putting my hopes on the last two weeks of March seems to be stretching wishful thinking. I have bees are gardens to think of also.

[buckeye gold]

Saturday through Monday were big runs for me. I had some help come in and I got two boils done. we gathered 150 gallons off the 80 taps left. I had the help pull all my taps yesterday and called it a season. This was the plan because of my surgery tomorrow; however, I think it was done after today anyway. All my trees are on a SE Facing slope and warm early. I was happy to make the 2.5 gallons the last couple days to finish a couple orders. I left the sweet and my last 20 gallons in the pan to spoil for cleaning. I am so glad I fall/early season tapped. I am thinking next year I will do a fall tapping on the coldest slope trees and then shift over to my warm slope trees for regular season. I have enough trees to do a full 75 to 100 each season. That gives me some Holiday syrup and is a nice buffer. It saved my butt this year.

[newman_maple]

Had a tough time getting out there today in the rain and mud. I collected 50 gallons and I doubt I will get 10 gallons tomorrow. I may not collect at all if the home trees look dry. I am at 820 gallons of sap which is several hundred below our lowest previous year. Accuweather shows good sap weather a week from now, but we have never had good sap here after the 15th so I am not hopeful. I am usually starting garden plants and prepping the raised beds by the 20th. My customer base continues to grow and my production is down. Not sure if I should raise my price or just keep a low profile... I like to carry over some for bad years, but the 5 gallons or so I have won't last long. I think I will just not try to sell much and keep my regulars happy.

[newman_maple]

I collected a surprising 90 gallons today. I guess the ground is thawing deeper and forcing some more sap. My far hillside trees have not performed as well as the home flat ground trees. I hope this means they will kick in for a last run. The forecast calls for 33 tonight. I hope it dips lower than that. I am at 910 gallons which is well below our lowest previous year. I have 35 gallons in the tank I have to keep until Friday evening. I hate keeping it with the high temps. I can't collect tomorrow so I hope Friday evening is a good one.

[SWohio]

I had a bit of a run yesterday. I did not collect, just looked in a couple buckets expecting nothing but there was some in them. I am hoping for another run today and will collect tonight. I finished a batch from the weekend/Mon. runs last night. 2.5 qt of nice syrup. I spent the evening checking bees. I lost one hive. I moved some frames of honey from the lost hive over to the one that is still going. Saw the queen. So I hope they use the new honey to hold on and get a good start. Cleaned the dead hive up a bit and will order a package of bees to go into that hive. Tonight back on the syrup. Hope to have enough to make it worthwhile to boil. Chin up and let's keep it going. maybe not so bad after all.

[newman_maple]

After looking at the forecast, I decided to collect in the dark tonight before the 2" of rain starts in the morning. The hillside is a mess and I doubt I will go down there again for a few days. I have to do some work to my paths this summer. I did collect 70 gallons to go along with the 35 I had left over from yesterday. Some of the home trees were still dripping so I have some hope of adding a few more gallons to start boiling tomorrow night or Saturday. We have 15 1/2 finished gallons (all light to medium) in 5 gallon jugs and another 5 or so that will be dark and grade B. We wait to bottle so we can blend it to get as much dark as possible. Very little interest in light syrup here, but have seen an increased interest in grade B. I am well below last year's sap total, but we are approaching last year's syrup total (which was out worst in our 8 years).

[newman_maple]

I brought in 170 gallons since Thursday. It seems the ground was frozen deeper than usual since they still run without freezing nights. I have seen no signs of budding yet so perhaps I can boil later this year than any previous year. The forecast calls for a couple chances for nights in the 20's Tuesday and Wednesday night, but it might hit 70 Monday following a couple 60 degree days. At least i have had a good week. 550+ gallons this week so I am over 1,000 gallons finally. We should now be over our syrup total from last year.

[SWohio]

I finished off a good boil mid week. 2.5 qt. I had some running on Thurs. into Fri. but very busy so did not collect then the rain. Yesterday I just dumped buckets. not too much and rain, warm the sap was poor. With left over from last year and this year's small run I have a gallon+ on the shelf. So I will get through the year. I am hoping for another run into the end of the month, another good boil and pull taps during my Easter break. Not a great year but the last syrup was quite good, clear amber and tasty. Pad my supply with a good end of the month boil and I will be happy. Not much to share this year is the only down side. I scaled back this year also. I left a couple trees untapped and did not work as hard on sugaring, so not all of it is on mother nature.

[newman_maple]

After a freeze Tuesday night, I did get 100 gallons of good sap to boil. I hope I can get a few gallons tomorrow from my good trees to get me over 1300 gallons. I have never boiled this late in March, but it is still making good (dark to grade B) syrup. I plan to hold off pulling taps to see if the cold nights coming will yield any more. It is tough holding out since I am usually prepping raised beds at this time.

[SWohio]

Well I have called it a season. I have a gallon on the shelf (some from last year and this year's syrup) so I made my nut but none to share. I did not go at the season as hard this year. I only hung 10 buckets at home and 4 at school. We made a 1.5 pints at school. The students that worked on it will get a pancake or two and a taste. Still fun and they learned something. At the beginning they thought I was crazy and did not believe it would work so... We also worked a few lessons on solutions in with the project. A difficult season but, I do have my gallon. Will clean up, put up in storage and wait for next year. Meanwhile, I have bees to attend to this week and garden prepping plans. I also have to find some big branches/ mini logs to start mushrooms on this year. I know nothing about mushrooms so that is this year's new project. I hope you all did much better than me and got a good season in this year.

[newman_maple]

I never got around to pulling taps last week so I emptied the bags and decided to see what happened after the hard freeze. It was 15 degrees this morning. I have a few trees running like crazy, but I have doubts that the sap is good. It is clear to almost clear and is not cloudy. I figure I will boil off 50 gallons or so to see. Only costs me the time. I will pull all the taps this week. Let me know how the mushroom logs go. A friend went to a class and gave me a plugged 48 inch log. I am behind on garden work too.

[newman_maple]

As I expected, the sap was not good. Pulled most of the taps and will finish tomorrow. I ended up boiling just over 1300 gallons and have 32 finished gallons. I can live with that.

[flhr10]

Newman Maple....
We ended our season yesterday also with a total of 1375 gallons of sap and 32 gallons and a pint of finished syrup. We stopped collecting from the soft maples two weeks ago and moved a few taps to some hard maples that were a bit of a walk to collect but worth while.

[newman_maple]

Based on your totals, our sugar content was about the same. I should be thankful we did as well as we did. I think a lot of folks north of us had bad years.


Newman Maple....
We ended our season yesterday also with a total of 1375 gallons of sap and 32 gallons and a pint of finished syrup. We stopped collecting from the soft maples two weeks ago and moved a few taps to some hard maples that were a bit of a walk to collect but worth while.