Flow in SE PA / Philadelphia? Hobby guy getting worried.

[adatesman]

Howdy Folks,

Bunch of Norway Maple out back, and I've put in ~30 taps a year for the past 5 years r so. Nothing fancy; simply a 1/4" brass hose barb into a piece of Home Depot tubing into a bucket. Had been getting ~150 gallons of sap per year that way, but switched to 5/16" Leader Tree Saver taps and semi-rigid tubing this year. I realize the weather's been goofy this year, but I seem to recall being halfway through harvest by this point last year yet only have maybe 20 gallons collected so far (tapped 2nd week of Feb). Guessing it's simply the weather/season, but have noticed that this new combination of tap/tube holds the liquid in the whole length rather than it running out into the bucket (3 feet of tube max, with 4 taps on Y fittings). Is this normal? Are these taps only for vacuum systems? All of my free time the past couple months has been spent building a new evaporator, so gonna be majorly disappointed if I missed something obvious with the new tap/tubing thing. I have half a mind to simply go poke a hole in all of the taps to break the vacuum and let what's run drain into the buckets....

[Cabin]

Howdy Folks,

Bunch of Norway Maple out back, and I've put in ~30 taps a year for the past 5 years r so. Nothing fancy; simply a 1/4" brass hose barb into a piece of Home Depot tubing into a bucket. Had been getting ~150 gallons of sap per year that way, but switched to 5/16" Leader Tree Saver taps and semi-rigid tubing this year. I realize the weather's been goofy this year, but I seem to recall being halfway through harvest by this point last year yet only have maybe 20 gallons collected so far (tapped 2nd week of Feb). Guessing it's simply the weather/season, but have noticed that this new combination of tap/tube holds the liquid in the whole length rather than it running out into the bucket (3 feet of tube max, with 4 taps on Y fittings). Is this normal? Are these taps only for vacuum systems? All of my free time the past couple months has been spent building a new evaporator, so gonna be majorly disappointed if I missed something obvious with the new tap/tubing thing. I have half a mind to simply go poke a hole in all of the taps to break the vacuum and let what's run drain into the buckets....

It is not the date but the temps you have to keep track of. Here I had -7 Yesterday morning. Next week looks good for me with 20s at night and 40+ during the day. Now to get the snow shoes out and finish tapping the trees. How many days have you gotten to 40? Don't poke any holes just make sure there are no sags in the tubing holding the sap in the lines.

[Sandersyrup]

Those spiles and tubes should actually significantly help your yield. I did home made spiles a few years too and switching 5/16 really lengthened the season when I switched. When the tube is full of sap you actually get a small amount of vacuum on the hole which can help the start running sooner and longer. I'm in lancaster I tapped at the same time and I'm in the same boat. Last year at this time I made 4 gallons on buckets this year nothing has come on buckets. As cabin said, it's the weather. Trees are frozen hard. We need a significant warm up. Just keep doing your sap dance maybe the nights will continue to freeze and the days will begin to thaw.


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[adatesman]

Thanks for the reassurance. There's been a couple warm days and little came out, so was worried I had used the taps incorrectly. :)

[Sandersyrup]

No problem.

There are so many factors at play in this. It really is all blessing when you get sap. You can play you cards perfectly and come up with nothing. My worst year I made 1 quart total. My best year I made 10 gallons. This year looks like 5 gallons.

So many little things can prevent sap flow. If it freezes too fast, if it's windy, if it's cloudy if the trees are frozen solid if they are too thawed. The list goes on and on. Sometimes when the forecast is perfect... Nothing. Sometimes when the forecast is bad.. Overflowing buckets.

Enjoy what you get and have fun with it!


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[adatesman]

Looks like you all were right... I was worried for now reason. It's 48 degrees today and the trees that have typically been my most productive are flowing nicely.

Thanks again!