Upper Peninsula 2015

[Plungerke]

Yoopers have any tapping and flow reports?
I helped a newbie tap 20 trees today and will be tapping my sugar bush tomorrow, forecast is interesting but not sure if it will flow this week around here.

[U.P. Sapsucker]

Tapped today and some of the trees had a little flow. Looks real good for the next week!!
Todd

[JRCunningham]

Tapped 100 this afternoon, a little steam on the drill bit was the only sign of moisture other than the four feet of snow on the ground. If I imagined myself a Maple, I felt that afternoon sun start to warm the insides. It's coming. The taps at the highest end of my mainline are 8 feet above the snow, Almost 13 feet above the ground. I'll be pulling spiles with a ladder this year.

I'm struck by how we have had zero daytime temperatures in the 20's. We went from teens to 30's. Nature never fails to surprise.

Best of luck everybody.

[Plungerke]

Well today we tapped 80 trees before I ran out of pails, it was a great afternoon in the bush with family. No moisture on my bit however I helped a friend tap 20 trees yesterday near Carney and he reported some running today.

[yooper]

Started tapping here in Munising today.
Around 20% of the holes were wet. A few even had some slow flow. Not bad since we have four feet of snow on the ground.
Still early but it looks promising so far.

[U.P. Sapsucker]

Turned on the vacuum pump to test and check for leaks. Very little flow, will have to wait until the trees thaw out a little. Supposed to be 50 degrees and sun today, will test again.
Todd

[yooper]

Temps hit 58 degrees here and the big melt has begun.

Sap is starting to flow and the snow is pulling away from the trees.

[Plungerke]

Well the temp hit 55 but the flow was slow, 80 taps = 6 gal. Doesn't look like we are going the freeze tonight either but looks better for Thursday. Really hoping to boil this weekend so keeping my fingers crossed.

[fishman]

What a change. 2 months and hardly broke 20 then 48 yesterday and 45 today. Tapped 60 this afternoon and several were dripping good and a lot of the others were weeping. Looks like at least 5-6 good days coming.

[S&STappers]

Roughly 250 taps in. 100 on a shu-flo. Produced 75 gallons today. 150 on a guzzler produced about another 75 gallons. Just finished tapping another fifty to bring the guzzler to 200 for tomorrow. Letting pumps run all night

[slybird353]

We drilled two test buckets yesterday on trees that the snow had fully melted from and still not a drop of sap. That's ok as we are still not ready to turn vac on.

[larboc]

tapped last night, 1 out of 5 trees dripping as soon as the tap went in. Weird season, seems way too early but with the forecast, why not?

[miohman]

About a gallon per tap today South of Marquette about 10 miles. Lost most of our snow in the last couple days should help flows for the rest of the season

[JRCunningham]

200 taps in, had about 1 gallon per tap today out of the larger trees that have full sun. Less than a quart back in the woods where there is less sun. Planning on a busy day collecting tomorrow if it runs all night tonight. Getting the evaporator set up I'm realizing how little I prepared for this season to be here. I will say this is the first year I didn't have to spend much time thinking about when to tap. Seems like we're always trying to figure out the right moment--and this year it just came.

Yooper--I drove through Munising on my way to Marquette Tuesday, and between the morning drive at 0930 and the trip back at 1530, the snow looked like it dropped a foot! I was surprised that I could see front doors of houses on M-28. Rooting for you guys to get rid of that stuff. You had it hard this winter.

All the best,

--J.R.

[U.P. Sapsucker]

520 taps in, ran Vac for 2 days in the afternoon. We have about 250 gallons of sap at 1-1.5%. Not worth firing up the evaporator. Hope the sugar content goes up soon
Good Luck

[Plungerke]

Slow going here, 25 gal from 80 taps. Most of the buckets where dry.

[yooper]

Sap is starting to flow better here. Snow is melting pretty good. Still have to collect on snowshoes.

Planning on first boil tomorrow.

[yooper]

Yooper--I drove through Munising on my way to Marquette Tuesday, and between the morning drive at 0930 and the trip back at 1530, the snow looked like it dropped a foot! I was surprised that I could see front doors of houses on M-28. Rooting for you guys to get rid of that stuff. You had it hard this winter.

All the best,

--J.R.

It came early this year but at least it wasn't as cold as last. We still have a good three feet of snow in the woods here.

Not a good place to live if you don't like snow.

[Plungerke]

Low sugar and low flow didn't stop us from boiling today, had 81 gallons of 2% we turned into 2 gallons of delicious syrup today. Hope the flow picks up this week.

[S&STappers]

Sweetened the evaporator today. Ran roughly 500 gallons of sap and made only 2 gallons syrup. Checked sugar content, turned out to be 1%. Normally running at about 2.7% Latest sap collected already turning cloudy. Definitely not liking what I'm seeing thus far.

[JRCunningham]

I'm seeing the same, we got 100 gallons of sap, maximum sugar was 1.5% and it's turning cloudy fast. Also didn't freeze last night.

It's never the same year over year, is it?

I'm going to clean everything again and hope for a restart after this week's cold front.

[Plungerke]

Flowed good today, 50 gallons off 80 taps. The sugar is holding at 2%, does anyone know if the sugar content ever goes up? From what I understood it only goes down. Forecast looks better this week for flow, keep your fingers crossed.
Forgot to mention the good results from today's pick got the crew fired up and we tapped 18 more trees!

[fishman]

Boiled down 70 gallons from friday and 40 from today. All the woods trees are real slow. 4 trees in the field have been giving up 3 gallons a day. Feels good getting that first boil out of the way. I'll finish and bottle tomorrow and hope I don't screw something up like I usually do on the first run.

[yooper]

Boiling here now. Outside temp is 40 degrees and the sap is still flowing.

Pretty good run yesterday. Woods trees are still running a little slow but improving. Sugar content is averaging around 2.5%

[larboc]

Very slow up until yesterday for me, yesterday produced about .75 gallons per tree. Sap is very clear, started boiling yesterday. Weather looking good for this week.

[maple creek]

Getting rain today, a good freeze and some warm weather should get us rolling good. Checked sap yesterday and it was creeping up on 2%. All in all I think there is plenty of time to make syrup yet this year.

[U.P. Sapsucker]

Getting about 1/2 gal per tap so far with 1.5% sugar. What are you guys doing to get it at 2-2.5%? First boil will be tomorrow already dumped 300 gallons of cloudy 2 day old sap!

[Plungerke]

We got 60 gallons today, looks like tomorrow should be a good run day. If this week works out I'll be processing 200 gallons on my new arch, can't wait!!!

[yooper]

Getting about 1/2 gal per tap so far with 1.5% sugar. What are you guys doing to get it at 2-2.5%? First boil will be tomorrow already dumped 300 gallons of cloudy 2 day old sap!

I'm just reading the refractometer. My Maple Trees do all the work.:cool:

Cool temps have shut down sap flow here for now. Looks better later this week.

[S&STappers]

Boiled 640 gallons tonight. Made about 13 gallons. Sap reading 2%. Not great but better than last week. Need these frosty evenings. Long range forecast looks promising for extending our season. Looks like a lot of wood will be burned!

[larboc]

Running good, but only 1.7%. wonder if it has to do with last years dud of a summer.

[U.P. Sapsucker]

Finally hit 2% and getting around 300-350 gallons a day off 520 taps. But it's all going to shut down for a couple days. Hope everyone can get some rest for a couple of days

[CampSNOcook]

Had a good run from the 18th to the 21st. Got my 6 gallons of syrup and then the deep freeze came. I'm done for this year. Crazy weather up and down, but at least this year it was easier making and maintaining the snowshoe trails. Good luck to all who are still tapping and boiling. There should be some real good days coming yet.

[JRCunningham]

Had what I thought was a good run yesterday, only to test the sap and have it at 1.2% sugar. Almost water! I had a tree that produced 3.9% all season last year--I tested it and it was at 1.8%. <shrug>. I ran the RO until I barely had enough to fire the evaporator and it was at 7%. Yuck.

No two years are the same. So far, I give this one a big "D minus", but still grateful to be out in the woods. Thinking next week is the make or break week for production. Good luck with what you have left of the season everyone.

[slybird353]

I also saw sugar in the 1.2 range yesterday, all 4500 gallons of it. We had 2% last week. I also am looking at next week with great anticipation.

[fishman]

I've been looking at frozen solid buckets for 5 days now. I've been getting a dribble each day for about 2-3 hours. I could make a nice igloo out of the 1-2 gallon blocks I have. Guessing we'll get a good run someday.

[TerryEspo]

I hear ya Fishman, we are twins with the same problem, lol.
I think with our 60 miles difference away from each other, we suffer the same weather.

Hard to read some of the other posts of all the sap running and buckets full. It just hurts to read it.

Good luck to us up north, it has to happen.

Terry

[fishman]

Looking at a high of 22 today. Don't think it's happening today. I hear you on that Terry about people not that far away with big runs and we get extra days of ice fishing.

[larboc]

Had an unexpectedly nice run sunday-monday. Emptied buckets on saturday afternoon and they were spilling over yesterday. About 2.1%. Should be good today too however the days are numbered. I noticed buds starting on some of the saplings so the clouds might be here in a few more days and I'll have to pull the taps for the year.

[yooper]

Kind of a slow season so far here as well. Been seeing ice in the bags and slow flow.

Started flowing pretty good again yesterday, boiling now.

Still have almost two feet of snow in the woods.

[larboc]

Buds are really starting to show up quickly. I'd suspect the season will end for us near the lake this week. I'm on track to have about 7 gallons of sap per tree this year, fairly happy. Wish there was more syrup to show for it. Lots of boiling.

[JRCunningham]

Great run on Wednesday, decent run yesterday. All is frozen today. A few trees are starting to produce some buddy sap. I suspect after this cold snap we'll get a decent run or two and that's all she wrote for 2015.

[fishman]

25 and snowing hard (sigh). Not much happening for the last few days. Maybe tomorrow.

[racarr]

We have had a steady flow the last couple days in Chassell. Not much bud swelling yet. Perhaps that will change if temperatures reach the 50s as forecast for the weekend.

[regor0]

I had the first decent run of the season yesterday. Forecast for the next week looks poor. Still have waist deep snow, it can't be over yet. Last year my first boil was April 6th and was still boiling on May 5th. Anybody else still hanging in there?

[yooper]

Boiling right now. Had a good flow yesterday.

Still have over a foot of snow here but it's melting fast. Temp is 40 now.

Also saw a couple soft maples yesterday that looked like they were getting ready to bud.

Thinking 2015 will be in the books soon.

[slybird353]

Yesterday was 1 1/2 gallons per tap. More in the tank this morning. Getting ready to boil again. 1% sugar almost all year has been made up for by big sap runs. Snow almost all gone in the woods. Has been for awhile. Peepers and mosquitoes are showing up but Monday night might freeze. The writing is on the wall for this week though. Should wind up with 5 pounds.

[fishman]

Great run yesterday. Picked up this morning and got over 2 gpt. Got a good boil going, lots of family over, sitting in the sun and popped the first cold one just before noon. Life is good.

[regor0]

Yep lots of cold ones for us too. Unfortunately not much sap. Just finishing up the 60 gallons gathered today. Still snow up to my waist, snowshoes broke a couple days ago. 71 degrees today, buds look like they are about to pop! Hope to start again Tuesday, fingers crossed? Next Tuesday. Next freeze according to the forecast.

[larboc]

Anyone want some sap? I've got about 35 gallons I'm not going to have time to boil down. Located just north of hancock. Bring your own containers if you can.

[miohman]

Anyone still tapping and making syrup in the UP? We are going to try and make it through to next week. Forecast looks good, just have to get there. Buds are big but syrup flavor is still great, although quite dark. Soft maples look like they are going to have leaves any day.

Micah

[fishman]

I did my last boil yesterday. Started pickng up buckets about 11 today and most had 2" of nice sap. Time to move on to other things. I had a decent season with 16.5 gallons but I had an overall ratio of 31:1. Didn't get many big sap days but it was sweet. Hope everyone else had a good season.

[northernlite]

New to trader. 30 taps, 200 gallons, 4.7 gallons. Done last Monday

[regor0]

The next 4 days look good. Just finished putting my 400 bags back on the taps and turned on the vacuum pump! Trees are running strong and clear.
Anybody else?