Central Wisconsin 2015

[ScottP]

Anyone started tapping yet? I am thinking next weekend we will be getting our vacuum taps in as accuweather is calling for upper 40's by the end of the following week (March 12 and 13). We were out getting the shack cleaned up and in order on Sunday. Good Luck everyone.




2015
450 or so on vacuum
300 taps on 5 gallon buckets
250 CDL Hobby RO
4 x 8 flat pan
2 x 4 finish pan
Yes I do this on Flat pans after work and weekends

[kraemerp]

Looking to start tapping this weekend and build a cinder block arch..

[Ridgeville]

We tapped 200 yesterday, all dry. Temps heading towards mid 50's this week, sap should really get going here soon.

[bison1973]

I've tapped about 400 so far thru Sunday. Only 3-4 had any moisture in the hole.

I'm not getting too worked up yet BUT the forecast makes me a little uneasy. It's warming up a little quicker and more than I'd think I'd typically like to see.

[ScottP]

We ended up tapping the vacuum line this weekend. 462 taps in. Not much happening yet only a few damp holes. I would think by Wednesday we can turn the pump on but we will see.

[Skyraptor]

Did a few test taps in Portage Co. and all were dry. But tapping tomorrow as with this weather all things will pop but could be a short season if it warms too fast.

[Ridgeville]

As of 12:00pm today, not much happening. Some bags have very little sap in them, 95% are dry. I can't check tomorrow or Thursday, back Friday early morning to cook...maybe...

[goldenmaple1]

Here in Sheboygan County,we've had two straight days in the 50's and two days before that in the high 30's and 40's; we still don't have enough RO'd sap to fill our evaporator. The scary thing is that our raw sap is 1%. One. Persent. Raw.

Weird

[Ridgeville]

Monroe County - nothing running again today. Yesterday nothing flowing as well. To be sure it has to break soon. Doesn't it?

[lpakiz]

Apparently I am the exception here. I pulled in 600 gallons off of 200 taps. I have a new releaser this year and a SP11 and am getting 26-27 HG . Gas engine turning approx 750-800 RPM. But I boiled 400 today and didn't even get close to a draw. I guess my sugar content isn't very high.

[Mrbluegill]

First time on my own this year after learning from some friends up in colas county. Have 48 taps in a dense woods and along a marsh. So far since Monday I have only about 5 gallons of sap total. However there is still a lot of frost in the ground in the woods and he marsh is thawing each day. Most sap has come from the area along the marsh where the sun beats all day. Do I wait it out or tap new trees? I'm located in eureka wi just west of Oshkosh.

Thanks!

[Ridgeville]

90% of my trees are dry as a bone..the others are dripping very little. I thought today was the day, it's not!

[treemonkey]

Its been pretty slow. Will sweeten pans next day or so. We had very little snow this year. I think there are a lot of frozen roots.

[Sunny Knoll Farm]

Tapped Out - 450 taps on bags finished Friday. Averaging about 20 gal/day right now. Boiling tomorrow because we can! Ready for a tidal wave!!

[PloverTown]

Tapped 25 just outside Rosholt on 3/10. Only have about 20 gallons of sap so far. 5 of the trees are bone dry, the rest just dripping slow. Looks like the weather will be a bit more favorable this week.

[ermine.trapper]

After a dry week, my box elders are finally running today. Frost this morning surely helped. Hope the week holds more of the same.

[tpallen]

Tapped on 3-7-15 and have about 7 gallons of sap so far from the same three trees that are leaking. The other nine are either dry or have a cup full at best each day. Pretty slow going this year. Hoping for a big run soon, maybe this week. Weather forecast looks good.

[ScottP]

Well after only getting 800 gallons of sap from Saturday 3-7 through Friday 3-13 another 200 gallon day on Saturday 3-14 and then Sunday 3-15 was good with 800 gallons. That's all on 450 taps on vacuum. we did put 89 buckets up on Sunday afternoon and collected them just before dark and got about 60 gallons. Sap test was just shy of 1.0 all week and it came up on Sunday to 2.0 hopefully that comes up a little more as the week goes on with the cooler temps.

[Sappy Steve]

Delayed tapping until Sunday, 3/15 after reading posts on here and talking with local syrup producers about the lack of sap flow. Put in 62 taps by noon, collected 55+ gallons of sap by 6:00 pm, sap was running good. Collected an additional 35 gallons of sap on Monday even though it didn't freeze Sunday night.

[Diesel Pro]

Tapped Sunday near Merrill and all were dripping. A few had maybe a half gallon maybe more in the 4hrs or so I was there. Neighbor should be checking in mid week for progress report.

[PloverTown]

Was getting <5 gallons sap/day on 25 taps until today I got 12. Finally starting to pick up a little bit. Should be good the rest of this week until the cold stuff over the weekend.

[ScottP]

I've got 32 gallons of syrup made and another batch to finish tonight (should be 6 or 7 gallons). started the pump at 11 this morning and they were flowing good. Expecting to have 800 gallons of sap today.

[Diesel Pro]

Neighbor checked mine Wed pm. About half of my 5 gallon pails were full, running over, or near full. The rest were only 1/3 full. Most have 2 taps per tree and this is accumulation from Sun, Mon, Tues, and Wed.


I have my brother collecting this afternoon and planning to cook Saturday.

Next year I hope to rig a 3/16 system with a float type pump to send back up the hill to my Bush so I can have a mostly hands off operation during the week.

[Diesel Pro]

Just over 200 gallons Sunday mid day through Thursday eve. I have about 60 pails out and most all are double tapped. There are at least 4 non producers that I need to change to better trees.

My goal was 300 gallons to cook on Saturday. I don't quite think we'll make that, but may be close. Far cry past 2 yrs at this point in the season that's for sure.

[Ridgeville]

Monroe County - about 200 trees tapped, one sack per tree. Sunday through 12:00 noon, today...60 gallons of sap collected. Not really enough for me to cook but will tomorrow no matter what. Really slow here. When will this break?

[PloverTown]

Finished 7 qts of syrup last night - that was the total accumulation from our 25 trees 3/10 - 3/20. Everything slowed back down to a crawl the last two days. 13 gallons of sap total for Friday and Saturday.

[Diesel Pro]

Well my good run has all but stopped. Next to nothing ran Friday and Saturday. I'm sure not much on Sunday either. Right now looking at the weather I am banking on a weekend off, but we'll see what happens. I'd really rather have 3-400 gallons maybe more to make it worth setting up and running.

[Ridgeville]

I collected 25 gallons on Sunday, 2:00pm. The sap was really running as I was collecting - finally! I am heading back to cook on Tuesday and Wednesday morning if needed. I hope the barrier has been broke, whatever the barrier was.

The squirrels have really raised heck with my bags this year. Not sure why but it's really making things tougher than normal.

[Diesel Pro]

230 gallons collected Wednesday. That's 6 days worth on 60-ish pails. Most trees are double tapped with a couple triples. At least 4 non producers that I need to identify and relocate.

Watching weather for weekend to decide which day to collect and cook. Sunday looking better if the precip holds off. Looks like excellent conditions in next week forecast!

[ScottP]

I now have 151 gallons of syrup made and things are looking really good for next week. I have enough sap right now to make around 30 more gallons of syrup which we will get done between tonight and tomorrow. I am hoping that the weather holds out for another 2 weeks and we are able to finish 300 gallons this year.

[PloverTown]

Froze up and quit running. Pulling my taps this morning, as we've got enough sap to finish about 5 gallons of syrup. More than plenty for what we need! The last stuff that came off was much lighter than the first batch. Sugar content of my sap never varied more than a tenth all season - 2.0-2.1%

[ScottP]

Well we have been really busy trying to stay caught up with the warm weather we had, I ended up having to take a day and a half of vacation just to get our sap through before it spoiled. We have finished 259 gallons to date with another 18 gallons or so finishing today and all the sap is in. Looks like we will make it through the 10th before our trees bud out and that hopefully means we will finish more than 300 gallons this year. This is our second year on vacuum and wow what a difference does that make. We will be adding more taps to our lines next year and getting away from buckets all together. Our motto is work smarter not harder.

[treemonkey]

Was hoping for some end of the year grade B for a local business. It has totally shut down here. Tonight is the last gasp. Forecasted 20's. We will see what drips tomorrow. Then that's it. 88 gallons is not to bad for this year. Then starts the cleaning.

[treemonkey]

2015. Done

[Skyraptor]

Done here as well. Just under 5 gallons but I only do it for myself and family. Fun but hard work. Thanks everyone for the updates.