When is everyone planning to tap?

[Dave Y]

I was wondering if any one had a target date to tap this year. I was thinking about presidents day weekend. It will be a three day weekend for me and I should be able to get everything out in three days. Or should I wait for the first break in the weather?

[FLB maple syrup]

Dave:

That sounds about right. We hope to be tapping by then - weather permitting. Would need snowshoes here now-over knee deep and
more falling in the next few days. Anyways it won't be long give or
take a few days.


FLB Maple Syrup

[tapper]

Dave,

I am planning on the next warmup whether thats next week or 3 weeks from now. The 15 day forcast has warm days on the 13th 14th and 15th but its always wrong. especially that far out.

[Russell Lampron]

I am planning to tap when the cold weather breaks, hopefully the last weekend in February or the first weekend in March.

Russ

[Dave Y]

FLB,
I heard you guys got a ton of snow over your way. We have close to a foot on the ground. It is a little difficult sloggin thru the swamps check in beaver traps.
Am going to wash buckets to day. I think i currently have more trees than taps. I will be able to be more selective on my tapping

[maple flats]

If the forcast is right I plan on the last week in Feb. I have that week off and that makes it easier, but if the forcast at that time is still too cold I may hold.

[Sugarmaker]

Looking at mid Feb. like others or when we see several days of above freezing temps coming. We have a lot of snow now and it would be a real challenge to slog around through that. Looking forward to trying some tubing to totes to reduce the gathering labor and time.:)

Chris

[brookledge]

Dave
I have always taped based on the weather and not by the calender. I have 700 taps and I wait until the weather breaks. It onlyt takes a day or two to tap.
With buckets ther is no need to tap into frozen trees and have them hanging there for days or weeks with nothing happening. And further with frozen trees you risk the possibilty of splitting the tree and then the some of the sap will seep down the tree instead of into the bucket
Keith

[220 maple]

Brookledge
I have a question. And they always say their is no such thing as a dumb question. I had a large commercial syrupmaker tell me that if you tap to early you have the risk of the tap holes freeze drying if we would have a extended peirod of cold weather. He claims it can be almost as bad as extended peirod of warm weather without a freeze. I would have to believe that the supersize camps up north with 30000 or more taps have to tap frozen trees.
How do they keep there tap holes from freeze drying??? What do you think?
220 Maple

[Parker]

I am by no means an expert BUT at the Addison county Maple school,,Tim Wilmot from the UVM Proctor center (An expert) said he belives the one thing that makes a hole "dry up" is the ammount of bacteria introduced to the taphole on above freezing days,,and that you could tap a tree on Jan 2nd,,if there were no above freezing days till march 1st and you tapped another tree (with the same drill bit-used the same spile) the 2 holes would run for the same ammount of time

[tapper]

With my past experience of tapping a bit early and doing early test taps I think parker is right. Last year I had a few taps in January then it froze up for 8 weeks. The early taps ran right along with the later ones, same amount of sap and same duration. In my opinion freezing will not dry out a tap it will preserve it.

[Dave Y]

I is a bit nippy here this morning ,it is curently -7. Not nearly as cold as it cold be.the wind makes it nasty though. Just check the 15 day no above freezing temps in site. Still trying to decide when to tap. May just go with Presidents Day and maybe catch a run when I'm not looking.

[220 maple]

Tapper
I drilled some last year when they were frozen and I believe they ran as good and the same duration as ones drilled when they were running. It's fun to drill a tree when it's running however I am always thinking about the loss of sap from the trees not yet drilled. If possible I'm going to drill at my location this week while they are frozen and if the 10 day forecast is correct I'm looking at some 40s on next monday and tuesday. Note: I'm way south of you in WV.
220 Maple

[ennismaple]

We'll tap when Mother Nature tells us it's time! The 14 day trend does not call for any daily highs above zero around here. I'm guessing we'll start to tap around the 7th of March. Once all the lines are stretched we can get have all 4000 taps ready in 2 days - 2 really hard, tiring days!

[tappin&sappin]

I'll tap when the forecast looks right.... or when Sugarmaker says he's tapping!

[brookledge]

220 maple
As far as freeze drying. I think that research is proving that warm days and bacteria are more of an issue than tapping in cold weather and freeze drying the hole. What I'm suggesting is if you are able to tap in a day or so why not wait until the weather is right. Also like I said the tap will split the wood in the tree very easy when it is frozen solid, especially with the 7/16 steel taps. When you hit them in with a hammer if the wood splits you will lose some sap down the side of the tree.
Keith

[Sugarmaker]

Jake, I was waiting for You!:o :o You are going to like that bigger evaporator!

I thought I was ready to go this year but I (we) always throw a new twist into it. I called Wiggers (Leader dealer) and they have most of the tubing and fittings I need for 200 taps. So I am going to try to get that going in the next week or so while its cold. At least get the drops made. The pump has shipped so I need to rig that up to the dumping station for remote pumping.

So lets see if I tap 200 on tubing and have 200 buckets to spare do I need to go out and find 200 more taps for a total of 600?. (shhh don't let Cheryl hear)

Anyone using the clear Leader tubing for Drops and laterals? Says it has less bacteria problems? I thought the clear might be better. I suppose it just gets cloudy and dirty looking after a year or so?

Oh yeah the we part of the equation. Our daughter Kelly, and her husband Mark, will be having our first granddaughter tomorrow morning 2-6-07. Her name is Marly Ann Irwin and hopefully she will be a sugarmaker if she hangs around me a little.:o
So it will be a busy week.

Regards,
Chris

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

post edited

[emericksmaple]

We are shooting for the 16th. We are putting the finishing touches on the new vaccum system this week. We want to be tapped before the sap starts to run, so when it does we can be working the bugs out of the new system.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

post edited

[Jim Brown]

We will be moving our new vac system into the woods on Friday of this week and plan on tapping (360)end of next week for the vac bush and not till the following week on the gravity(400) 15 miles further north.Want to get the bugs worked out of the vac system first. will most likely tap the 40 buckets in the yard so the youg lady in the pic(my grandaughter)can help and empty buckets.
Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Glad the back is doing well.
I am going to get some tubing this weekend for getting started on my gravity system. I just got the remote pump today for out collecting.

We also just got a new grand daughter Monday.:) Marly and her mom (Kelly) are doing fine. Cant wait to get her in the sugarhouse.

Happy Tapping,

Chris

[Pete33Vt]

Chris, Congrats on the new addition to your family. I am sure she will grow up to be a sugarmaker like her grandpa.
Thats what sugarings about, Fun, Friends, Family!!!

[Jim Brown]

Congratulation Chris;(as if you had anything to do with it Ha-Ha) Grands kids are the one of the best things about growing older! They are like a sponge when it comes to learning something new.enjoy them!
And the back was doing better until last saturday and I was carrying the newspaper in from the mail box and fell. Went to the drs and he said in words I could understand 'i don't think your hurt to bad but you most likely 'PULLED THE SCAB OFF" i know one thing us old guys don't bounce were well
Looking forward to getting started
Jim

[Dave Y]

Jim,
You will need to be careful. You will be down and someone else will be tapping your trees and running your rig. I am corious as to how that steam away works for you.

[Jim Brown]

Dave Y. I could only hope someone would come in and tap and fire the rig.!!
we could just sell syrup and relax. kind of like being retired!
Thanks
Jim

[Fred Henderson]

Kind of like being retired my "A". Retiring is merely a new job under different management.

[Jim Brown]

Fred; I have been on the shelf for the last three weeks with the back surgery thing and it's a good thing I'm not bed ridden or I would go mad. I'm looking forward to the day when I don't have to put on the badge and go to work and listen to all the crap of the other folks. don't get me wrong everyone has problems but why me LORD!. 2years and 4 months to go
Happy tapping All
Jim

[Fred Henderson]

Jim, I know what you mean. I had a gall bladder and a hernia done last summer and was in a rocking chair for 6 weeks, I about went stir carzy.

[Dave Y]

Looking at the long range forecast, it looks like a warming trend will begin on the 19th. I think I will try to tap on the 24thand 25th. That will put me 3-4 days from the 1st of march. I'm tired of waiting . I invested alot of money this year and I want to make syrup.

[Fred Henderson]

Looking at the long range forecast, it looks like a warming trend will begin on the 19th. I think I will try to tap on the 24thand 25th. That will put me 3-4 days from the 1st of march. I'm tired of waiting . I invested alot of money this year and I want to make syrup.

I hope the your investment is not approching 10 k like mine is.

[Dave Y]

Unfortunatly it is. I bought a used 3x12 w/hoods and pre heater, truck to haul sap with , a 550 tank 2 pumps, converted atthached garage into surgar house, new saw, more buckets , 200 new spiles. Yep we're getting real close.
Next year probably half as much as I want to set up some pipelines. Oh well you can"t take It with you.
I have almost twice as many taps though. probably could get to 800 if I had the buckets.

[Fred Henderson]

When do you find time to run the trap line? I am putting all my traps up for sale next fall.

[Dave Y]

I do most of my trapping in Nov and Dec and Jan and part of Feb. I have cut back I used to trap till march 31. I plan on going back to that when I retire. Remember I have a full time job also. I usally take november off. But may not next year. I do a lot trap checking in the dark. What do you have for traps maybe I could by some off of you.

By the way I spend all summer getting ready for Nov thur april.

[Fred Henderson]

They are not going until next fall but heres the list


2 - conibear 330
2- " 220
1doz or more 110
A whole bunch of #1-1/2 single spring, stop loss
several #2 double coil under spring,short & long chain
2 # 4 single spring ( for underwater for beaver) These have not been made for 20 years or better and are still legal and highly sought after. I have caught as many beaver with them as I ever did the 330's. Set them up on a bait pole or on a wire slider.


I really need to get an acurate list put together.

[Dave Y]

Fred,
The only ones you have listed , that I may be interesed in are the 300's. I currently have ,I dont know, 7-800 traps. I manage to get most of them set at one time or another.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Fred,

You are retired and 64, so if your investment aproaches 20k, it doesn't matter. You are enjoying life and your retirement and that is the most important thing. It is great you have the health and strength you do to be able to enjoy it. You worked hard all your life to get here, so no need to hoard the money and leave it to someone else instead of enjoying it!

[Sugarmaker]

Picked up the tubing and fittings and some items for our remote pump. Nice trip from Albion Pa. to North Clymer NY about 110 miles round trip. Nice guys there and had all the stuff ready and waiting for us.
I worked on the remote pump and have it just about ready to assemble. Should start making some drops this week.

Cold weather looks like it will hang on another week. Hope every one is getting equipment ready. I have a feeling it may be on us all of a sudden?

I talked to Gary Bilek last night and he was running main line for another several hundred taps last week end when it was 2 degrees F!

Regards,
Chris

[Fred Henderson]

Fred,

You are retired and 64, so if your investment aproaches 20k, it doesn't matter. You are enjoying life and your retirement and that is the most important thing. It is great you have the health and strength you do to be able to enjoy it. You worked hard all your life to get here, so no need to hoard the money and leave it to someone else instead of enjoying it!

Brandon
I retired at 60 but thanks for the 4 more years. I see investing in sugar equipment the same as you. Its an investment and I can sell it when I don't need it anymore. Wifes/companions however look at things a little differently. She wanted the bigger evap so I bought one,. I want a set of Mattracks for the RTV and now I am being told I don't need them ha ha .I will have them soon. That snow is deep out there. As a matter of fact there may be a new RTV1100 w/cab,heat & ac sitting in the grarage after this season.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Fred,

I meant you are 64 now and enjoying life, I didn't know how old you were when you retired. If you don't need the RTV900, just send it on down. I would love to have one, but need to work a few more years and get all the other stuff paid for first!

[Fred Henderson]

If you had an RTV your tractor would never get used.

[Dave Y]

I know what an ATV is, but what is an RTV?

[Fred Henderson]

Dave , RTV is what Kubota calls the ride side by side. This one has a hyd dump box and its a 4x4 with differ lock.

[Dave Y]

So its like an ATV .

[Fred Henderson]

NO, It has a steering wheel , bench seat and a ROPS. Won't even begin to go where an ATV will. Its more for work than play. You can't be that far back in the sticks that you never heard of one of them.

[tapper]

Fred,
My Arctic Cat RTV has gone everyplace Ive had the atvs. Only problem is its wider than the atvs and the woods arent freindly to the fenders on it.

[Fred Henderson]

I f I ever tried to take this Kubota RTV where I have been with the Polaris ATV that I had there would be nothing left to it but a pile of scrap metal. This RTV weighs close to a ton empty and no where near the ground clearance that an ATV has. Anyhow I am older and wiser now and I don't do the mud bogs anymore. My comapaion got hurt real bad in an ATV accident. It was just rider inexperience on her part.

[Dave Y]

Its Like This I have a great dislike for ATV's. I dont own one and I dont see owning one in the foreseable future. The only place one can ride is in the National forest on designated trails. We have a trailhead about 6 miles from town. They come to town like they are our saviours and the town would be dead without them. A lot of them are rude and crude. Then the local Vol. firemen sponsor a ride twice a year and there are literaly hundreds of them al over town. you gotta be here. I'll walk first before I"ll ride one.

[Fred Henderson]

Dave, When we had the 2 ATV's we were on our own land 99.9% of the time. The other 1/10% I was at my hunting club with it and it was only used drag a deer out if need be. At home there were used primarly for a small farm tractor but they did not have a ROPS. We may have pleasure rode the 1 or 2 times. In New York they are not allowed on any highways around where I live and we had some land that we had to get to across a creek.We hauled fire wood,sap mostly.
To just go out and sit on my butt and ride one all day, no way. No wonder America is so overweight. I wouldn't want them rumbling thru my hometown either. They can be a good thing for fighting forest fires when you need to get men and materials to remote places. The side by sides are becoming very popular. The Kubota RTV is considered a tractor, I don't have to registar it or insure it, and I can drive it on the highway like I do my tractor with my SMV sign.

[Jim Brown]

gentlemen I can remember with I was a kid if you were caught on a motorcycle you were considered crazy.( i owned one of them too) Now it's ATV. I have to admit only in the right situation are they good. I had a 12 horse garden tractor I used to plow snow(hydraulic lift) with and hauled wood for the evap. with.After 30 years and darm thing just up and died!. No respect! I replaced it with a 400CC ATV electric start, Electric lift plow and trailer hitch. I have had it for over a year and it just turned over 23 miles.Only when they are used for what they are intended for are they safe. When I bought my first MC the salemans told me as soon as learned how to ride it and thought I could I was to sell it because it would hurt me or kill me. He was right. one year later I laid it down and put myself in the hospital
Fred; I'm sorry for the accident your friend had and Dave I have been in Marienville when all those crazy drunks have came through. So I do under stand your point.

[maplehound]

I know how Dave feels. I had a neigbor with one a couple years ago. He would ride it all through the woods. He didn't even care who owned them. The owner of the woods I was tapping caught him on his property so he told him he could walk the woods all he wanted but leave his atv at home. When he got home he came to see me all mad. He told me that the old man had no right to through him out of the woods and he would continue to ride anyhow. I strongly advised him not too, but he wouldn/t listen. Another time he about ran the owner over while he was walking his path, Again he told him to get out. All the other neighbors gave him permision but later really regreted it. He rode any where he felt like with no regad to established pathes. When he finally moved out we where all relieved. But now there are pathes that didn't exsits before and other neighbor kids like to ride those paths. One of them dug a 2 foot rut near some young crop trees and cut up the roots all up. I talked to his father and he put a sudden stop to it and offered to fix the damage. I told him the damage was done and only time and nature could fix it.

[Dave Y]

If you have your own land to ride them on thats fine. Or you use them as a peice of equipment to help get your work done , ok. But in my mind around here most who have them have more money than brains. just my opinion.

[Russell Lampron]

I have an ATV and use it like a small tractor. I use it to plow snow, haul sap and haul tools and supplies to work on the tubing. I use it on my own land and on my parents land and wouldn't think of going on someone elses land without asking first.

I know how you feel when the town gets invaded, my town gets invaded with bikers in June and the NASCAR jerks in July and September. The Bikers are the least invasive, for the most part they just ride thru. The NASCAR jerks camp at the race track and take over the resturants, stores and especially the bars. The police let the town people that are trying to get to work wait at intersections while the NASCAR jerks pretty much have the right of way and they are in no hurry to get anywhere.

Russ

[maplehound]

I do believe they can be good when it comes to work but those that own them for just recreation should do something else with there money. I myself would love to have a RTV although I know them more as haulers or Gators. I think they would be the perfect runabout for the syrup season.

[Father & Son]

The Accuweather extended forcast for NW PA is showing a warm up the middle of next week. It shows Wednesday in the mid 30's, Thursday in the upper 40's, and Friday at 50. Will have to wait till Sunday or Monday to see if that still holds or if it has changed. Might take till Sunday to dig out from the snow we are supposed to get tonight and tomorrow. Not as bad as New York though, thank goodness!

Jim

[Dave Y]

Jim,
If you need snow shoes holler I'll lend you a pair. If the forcast holds I'll be tappin around the 19th or 20th in anticapation of the first run of the season.

[Fred Henderson]

Jim,
If you need snow shoes holler I'll lend you a pair. If the forcast holds I'll be tappin around the 19th or 20th in anticapation of the first run of the season.

What do you haul your sap with? 700 buckets is a lot of dumping.

[Dave Y]

Fred,
I have a 1971 ford 350 dump truck w/ a550 tank and a dupm station on the back. This will be my first year with it so I am intrested to see how everything works.

[Dave Y]

Fred,
Please note I am young (50) and foolish also.

[Fred Henderson]

Yep I know about young and foolish. I am not where they got 12 feet of snow but it is still going to be tough sleddin. My helper is 60 and me 64. You be careful haul so many gallons on that truck. Not have a full tank is not so good either.

[Dave Y]

I fully expect to use my snowshoes to tap. and my tobogan to haul sap to the truck . But if I wasn't doin' that I would be doin' something else.

[Sugarmaker]

I haven't looked at the forecast but if Jim is correct then we will have a lot of snow on the ground when we tap? This snow (about 6-8 inches) so far is just like sand or salt, grainy and coarse. very unusual.

Dave,
Snow shoes and a toboggan. Better get a picture of that.;)

Chris

[Dave Y]

Chris,
Remebr Im a beaver trapper. I have put many miles on with snow shoes dragging a tobbogan behind me. Thats the best way to travel in these conditions. The only thing that can break down is me.

[Sugarmaker]

Dave Y,
yea we will probably do some trudging in snow to tap, but sounds like you are much more prepared than we are! We never made a lot of syrup when the snow was on, seems like the best runs happened when you had PA mud on our boots.
Chris

[Fred Henderson]

Old say is "Its not sugaring unless you are in the mud".

[Father & Son]

Chris,
We'll see how close the accuweather 15 day is come Sunday or Monday. What it is showing is a sudden warm-up with very little melt time for the snow. With the piles of snow the roadside trees might be hard to get to.

Jim

[tappin&sappin]

Monday night I saw two different places that had tapped. One just down the road from me, and one just outside of blooming valley.

I was considering putting my buckets out this Sunday (the 18th), but since we have at least 2-3 ft of snow in most places, I may reconsider and hold off until the 24th. Especially since my ATV won't make it acrossed the field to the woods.

Jims right about the roadsides and deep snow. Maybe I'll invest in a team of siberian huskies...

[Sugarmaker]

Jake,
I am surprised that folks have tapped in our area. The time is abut right but I can't see fighting the snow yet. I will keep putting this tubing together and maybe try to put some taps out towards the end of next week if it warms up.

Do you have your evaporator set and ready?

Hope it warms soon just put the last of the firewood, for the house, in the wood boxes tonight. (About enough for a week)

Chris

[Dave Y]

It doesn't look like the weather is going to come thru for tapping next week. the 15 day has no tapping in site. taking it one day at a time.

[tappin&sappin]

Chris... I "think" I'm ready. The evap is set and I have the pan about as level as I can get it. It is difficult to know if the pan is level because I'm not able to set the level in the bottom of the pan (won't fit). I guess I will know when I start boiling.

I hear you on the cold. I'm about ready to move the wood furnace out of the garage into the house. The fuel oil just keeps burning...

[Sugarmaker]

Jake can you fill it with about 1/2 inch of water? Then level the evaporator? Then you can look at all the areas of the pan. Good luck.

Chris

[mapleack]

Hey Guys,

Here in Indiana County we tapped about 260 on tubing today, would have done more but it was too darn cold. Looks like it might start running next weekend so we figured we'd get tapping today, then finish next weekend.
- Andy Kinter

[emericksmaple]

Well we started today, we tapped 1200. Some were dropping and some was not. Going to go back at it again tomarrow.

[tappin&sappin]

I'm going to put mine in Saturday. Come he!! or high water. Well, make that he!! or high SNOW! Hoping enough snow has melted so I can get around w/ the Honda.

What are the rest of you NW PA boys figuring on?

[Dave Y]

I am going to start after work tonite. hopefully by Sat. eveing I will be done. I am going to hit the roadside trees first. then go to the woods on Sat. expect yo be boiling by Monday.

[Fred Henderson]

I am seeing 32 drg on the thermometer today. However I am not tapping until the 6 or 7 th of March.

[Dave Y]

Fred,
I Hope to have two or three boils in by that time.

[Fred Henderson]

Good for you Dave. I went out with the Kubota to break roads open. Holy cow that snow is deep and more on the way tomorrow. We may just be still syruping in July.

[Dave Y]

I got 84 taps in to nite after work, the tress were runnning. Not hard though.
Tapped almost all road side trees. the snow was deeper than my knee boots. I may have to put my waders on th finish them. Will put some more in tomorrow.

[Father & Son]

Well just like last year we were icing the driveway up tonight washing buckets. Chase hung a test bucket yesterday and it only had an inch in it today. There is no way I can get my John Deere 850 or my ATV into the woods yet, the snow is still too deep. Next few days do not look promising temperature wise, still time. My wood pile was covered with 2 feet of snow and the roof of the sugar house unloaded on it and added another pile now I have to dig that out. Have the next two days off so I should be able to finish stuff up and tap tomorrow or Friday. Found a couple of cage tanks I need to pick up Friday. The list goes on and on.

Jim

[PA mapler]

I tapped 120 today, hope to finish tomorrow if there isn't a snowstorm. Some holes were running a little, 2 buckets by the sugar shack had about a quart between yesterday and today. The snow was knee-deep and slippery with the thaw, but I only wiped out twice! :)

Beth

[Jim Brown]

We are taping our first 400 on Saturday. Will get the vac. up a running and then tap the next 400(no vac) maybe Monday or tuesday
GOOD lUCK ALL!
Jim

[sugarin4fun]

Put out 32 taps on tues and 10 more yesterday, hope to put out 30 more on Sat. The snow is knee deep most places and difficult to get around in, but with the small number of taps in a small area it's not to bad. I use clear plastic gallon jugs, some of them only had an inch or two in them but others where running over. I plan on boiling Sat. on a new 30x48 homemade rig, if all goes well.
Greg

[PA mapler]

I just checked the AccuWeather 15-day forecast, and it looks kinda stinky until maybe late next week, and even then it's only highs in the mid-upper 30's, at least for NW PA. I sure hope this won't be another short, late season!

Beth

[Fred Henderson]

A late,short season would be like getting all dressed up and no place to go. I am going to wait until the 6 or 7th at least and maybe not until the 10th.

[Jim Brown]

We tapped 350 today and the sap followed the bit out of the hole all afternoon. hope to get our other bush(350) tapped this week.

Jim
BRING IT ON!!!

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
You are farther south and may get just enough warmer weather that it will run some next week.
I put out approximately 200 taps on gravity tubing for the first time and have had nothing but start up problems. Mostly tubing coming off of the barbed fittings. I think I have been able to work through most of them. I realized today talking to Jim (Father and son) that several of my laterals were long enough that the tubing needs clamps to hold it on the fittings. I replaced at least a dozen of the connections that I made using hot water and replaced them with new tubing or cut the length back several inches, and made cold connections with my new one hand tubing tool vs the hot water method.

I have all the totes setting on pallets in the snow banks; which will all have to be changed and adjusted for level as the snow melts away.

I tapped 40 buckets this afternoon just to be done with several areas so I don't have to drive back there again until we gather ( I hope). I will have some redesigning to do for next year on the tubing as I see improvements and things I did that looked good on paper, but I was not happy with on the trees.
We still have about 150-200 taps to get out on buckets. But the snow is so deep along the roads that it would wear a person out trying to tap and worse yet to gather.
I had the water turned on in the sugar house Wednesday and Thursday when I tapped and didn't think it was going to get that cold. WRONG! I had to spend 45 minutes thawing it with the propane torpedo heater. Luckily no pipes broke. I did drain it this time. Hurry up and wait.
I did rent another 30-40 taps form a new site today. 9-12 old big hard maples on a hill, right on the way over to Pont. Those may replace some distant taps that were in the opposite direction, so should save some gas.

Must be syrup season, truck cab is full of tapping stuff and looks like I lived in it. Love this season! I may have tapped a week or more to early but glad to get the bugs out of this first time try at the tubing. I am sure 08 start up will be better.
By the way it did run about 5 gallon per tote, on Wednesday, when I tapped the first trees, so the tubing that stayed up did work!

I attended the NWPA Beekeepers meeting in Edinboro today. Very well attended with lots of new beekeepers.
Regards,
Chris ( Too Early in NWPA????)

[PA mapler]

Hi Chris!

Sounds like the usual beginning for us here, also! It never seems to go smoothly, no matter how prepared we think we are. Today, it wasn't supposed to be so nice out, and I missed a good day to finish tapping. The boys were out on the sleds today, all the way to Letchworth, so I had to babysit. But, I knew my preheater had a few small leaks, and worked on that.

Hopefully the extended forecast will change for the better, like today!

I called Laura and left a message about membership in the NW PA Association, but haven't heard back yet. I'll try again this week.

Beth

[Dave Y]

Today my helper and I put in a little over 300 taps. around 75% were running. Used the snowshoes to get around on. they were a blessing. I tapped 200 on road side trees earler this week. I have about 120 buckets left and enough trees for around 300 more taps. Oh well I would rather have too many trees than too many buckets. hope things get going this week I would like to boil on my new rig. want to see steam. Hope everyone is having fun!

[andyp]

Hi everyone,
We started tapping this past monday, and finished on wednesday.
We put in 295. It ran a little on wed. and ran fairly well on thur. We collected
and boiled off 90 gallon on fri. It was windy and cold fri. but it sure was nice being in that new sugarhouse !! I might get even more addicted to this hobby.
Andyp

[Sugarmaker]

Beth,
The association fee is $15.00 send it to Laura Dengler, along with your basis information. I saw her Thursday night at the maple board meeting and she said she had received a request from you. Check the NWPA web site. www.nwpamaple.org for her address.
Hope your evaporator is ready.

Andy P where are you located? Did you finish any syrup with the 90 gallon start up?

Jim Brown any sap for that new steam away yet?

I spent most of the afternoon working on getting my two wood moving wagons out of a 4 foot high snow bank then repairing and pumping up the tires. Also brought the 325 gallon tank in the sugarhouse to get it cleaned and ready. Re-connected the phone line in the sugarhouse, not sure why the wire decided to break today?
Refilled the wood boxes in the house as winter still seems to have a hold on us.
And delivered some Taste and Tour place mats and brochures to Schmidt's in Beaver Center, and Jim Bortles in Linesville. We ate at the Driftwood Inn in Linesville ("Where the ducks walk on the fishes backs").

A very nice maple article in today's Eire News featuring a picture of Jim Bortles (Father and Son) tapping one of his maples. Jim Your FAMOUS!

I did check one of the totes on the way home and it had maybe a gallon in it. Not enough to worry about gathering at this point. Oh yea the tubing seems to be holding!
Regards,
Chris

[Jim Brown]

Chris; We have not had the problems with our tubing that you discribed. Could be that we installed all of ours when the weather was warm?. We don't run our laterals over 100 feet and use the hook connector to fasthen to the main line.We wire the hook connector to the main line wire and don't seem to have a problem with then slipping off. We will be going to our leased bush a couple of days this week and start to tap it.(350) we have not been in it yet this season since installing tubing last fall. We had to have a person with a 4 wheel F-250 with chains on all four wheel plow out the road there was 2 feet of snow in it yet and we could not get to the stock tank to haul sap out.
Weather looks as though we are not going to get sap weather this week yet.high of only 41 around here this week!

Jim

[Jim Brown]

NO SAP FOR THE STEAMAWAY YET!
Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim B,
Watch close this week for a run that may sneak up on you We had two last year that I did not think it would run and missed several good runs that froze solid the day after. I do have a call in to the dealer to get some tubing suggestions too.
Thanks,
Chris

[Dave Y]

I finished tapping this morning. Ended up with 630 taps. Got everything else done now I can relax for acouple of days. looks like maybe thursday we might get a run. My helper will be out of town till Sat. So I hope I can wait till then to collect.

[andyp]

Chris, we are in the Ford City, Kittanning area about 75 miles south of you.No we didn't finish it yet. It looks like we might have about 7 or 8 quarts.
Andy

[Sugarmaker]

Andy P,
OK I remember the Ford City location after you mentioned it again. Sorry for asking again, Its he_ _ to get old.;)
You should have syrup weather several days sooner than us.
I remember signs for Ford City as I neared Pittsburgh in years past.

7-8 quarts sounds mighty good on some hot flap jacks!
We had french toast for breakfast this morning with some 06 medium syrup and some maple cream spread on top!:)

Regards,
Chris

[Sugarmaker]

Dave Y,
Man 630 taps is a bunch fro you and a helper! You are well on your way to become the king sugarmaker in Forest Co,;)
My guess is your best run will be 1300 gallons of sap? Let me know if you beat that?
Yep get some rest, now that you are all tapped.
Regards,
Chris

[PA mapler]

Hi Chris, thanks, I'll get that check to Laura this week.

I finally got all the annoying leaks fixed in the preheater, which was my major accomplishment for the weekend, maple-wise. We took the afternoon off and goofed off around the hills here on the snowmobiles, sure is some good riding right now. I have to work tomorrow around Emporium, but hope to finish tapping Tuesday, I think you're right and a good run might sneak up on us the end of the week.

Beth

[Dave Y]

Chris,
yes that is alot of taps!I hope I can keep up with it. I may have to take off work! That would be a shame. I do have more than one helper though. But I never know when I will have them. That's the bad thing about free help. I am actully thinking about hiring a couple of school kids to help collect.
You are right about my largest run,1300 is what i figure i should get. an average run should be around 900gal.

[tappin&sappin]

I got 62 taps out this weekend. The sunny side taps were running a little on saturday. And they were barely dripping yesterday.

Looks like we should get some action towards the end of the week. I THINK everything is ready to go, but we all know how that goes...

DaveY, what do you use to gather? I hope you have something other than your lacrosses!

[Dave Y]

yea I got a old dump truck with a 550 on it. new for this year,but where there are no roads we haul it out by hand on sleds and 5gal buckets

[tappin&sappin]

Dang your tough. What do you use in place of sleds when the snow melts?

[Dave Y]

When you are stupid you got to be tough! I bought a wagon w/pnuematic tires. I am tapping on other peoples land and do not want to muck it up. I am hoping that in the next couple of years I can get a woods that I can put in tubing and vaccum. Cause I am not going to get any younger, and I plan on doing this till I am at least ninety.Then we will see what happens.