Northern Ontario - First Sap

[northwood]

Tapped a few trees this weekend and the Maples are starting to wake up. Drilled 5 test trees and all were dripping slow but steady. The weather doesn't look too promising for the next week, but i'll get the pans set up and be ready. Anybody else in my area tapping yet? Looking forward to a great season.

[pauliwalnutz]

I'm in Astorville, Have 50 taps and maybe about 6-8 trees were dripping very slowly yesterday. Hopefully today brings a bit more.

[SAS]

I am in Bracebridge. Trying this for the first time this year.
Tapped 10 trees and 7 of them are slowly dripping. About 30L so far.
Weather doesn't look great for the next little while.
Sarah

[Run Forest Run!]

Have fun Sarah. Things are starting to get going around here so you are just in time. :)

[pauliwalnutz]

Collected 18 litres tonight. Not a lot but its a start. Rest of the week does't look too good for weather.

[fitzes23]

Greetings! I'm in North Bay. I have 30 taps dripping very slowly, so I'm anxiously waiting! :)

2013 30 taps (12L syrup)
2014 30 taps (15L syrup)
2015 30 taps

[pauliwalnutz]

Boiled 40 litres yesterday. Got 1 litre of good syrup. Pretty slow star this year.

[northwood]

-20 here last night. Everything is frozen solid. Looks like we might get a couple warm days this week. I'll hang another 30-40 pails this week and wait. Looks like we'll be into April before we see any real dripping.

[Maplesapper]

One run in Parry Sound.
-25 Windchill has us on standby I bet until the weekend before everything thaws again

[pauliwalnutz]

6.5 litres of sap today.

[northwood]

2" of heavy wet snow this morning, the wind was so crazy last night we had buckets blow off the trees, a few inches of ice sap to collect. Hopefully we sweeten the pan this week.

[bushmoose]

I've been tapped in for almost 2 weeks now. So far I've got about 60-70 litres out of 78 taps! Mother nature has not been very cooperative in the least. Sap doesn't flow to well when it -20 in the wind?
Today however, I think it's starting to come around? Still fighting a strong NW wind, but the sun is warming things up. I'm heading to the bush shortly to have a look-see.

[TerryEspo]

Best day yet for pulling sap with my Shurflo, not a good day, just the best so far this season. Not a good day weather wise either, just a degree above freezing. Maybe 12 gallons from 50 taps.
That is a sign that the tress are letting loose finally.

I think this week we are finally going to get busy.

Terry

[northwood]

OK, so yesterday and today we collected just over 15 gal. Not dripping yet today. Guess the trees are not ready to really let go yet. Tough going on the snow shoes. Breaking through with every step.

[Maple in Mattawa]

Buckets are 1/4 full, frozen on top after a week of being left to their own devices. Some trees dripping in the late afternoon yesterday and hoping for more today

80 Buckets
120 on line

[Maplesapper]

Parry Sound
Collected 220 gallons from 304 taps on Saturday.
Still have 20-30 buckets that are sleeping.

Sunday am, and it seems all the trees are locked up again.

[northwood]

Fired up the pans on Sunday for the first boil this year. Just enough to sweeten the pan. Looking at the weather forecast for North Bay, should run pretty good this week. So great to hear that most everyone in south/central Ontario have had good runs this past week. We only have the sap for 3-4 weeks, so lets enjoy the sweet steam while we can.

[Maplesapper]

Hey Northwood-
We are near the bay in Parry Sound; maybe an hour south of you.
Still 3' of snow in the bush.
Trees really started to let loose today.
Lead up to the weekend looks very promising starting Thursday 7+, 16+, 8+, 15+

[pauliwalnutz]

Boiled 75 litres last Friday and another 35 litres on Monday morning. Yesterday I collected another 70 litres so I will boil today. Had buckets that actually overflowed and others only had a small amount.

49 taps.

[northwood]

Collected 100L from 58 taps on Tuesday. The trees on the south facing slopes produced the most.
My storage tanks are filling up nicely. Should be able to really put my new pan to the test by Friday.
Still 2' of snow in my area. (5min. north of North Bay)
The forecast to the weekend looks really good, but next week there calling for double digit highs and no freezing at night.

[northwood]

Good sap run this week end. Ended up with about 15L of syrup by Sunday night.
The dripping has almost completely stopped for me. Temps are just too warm now.
Anybody else getting sap?

[sugarstone]

Still running enough for vacuum in Trout Creek. Hope for below 0 nights this week. I wouldn't pull your taps yet..

[pauliwalnutz]

Good sap run this week end. Ended up with about 15L of syrup by Sunday night.
The dripping has almost completely stopped for me. Temps are just too warm now.
Anybody else getting sap?

Not much happening here. Probably be my last boil today.

[Run Forest Run!]

The northern Ontario season seems to have been really short this year for you guys. It seems like you only just started and already your taps are slowing down. I hope that you get a few more really good runs.

Hey TerryEspo, we've not heard from you in a while. How's your season going?

[Maple in Mattawa]

Good sap flow Sunday, some yesterday, little today. Hoping for cold night or two as there is still 6" of snow in the bush. From 200 taps have collected 175 gallons in the last 10 days.

[northwood]

After a week of +12 to +16 and only a couple nights near the freezing point, we hardly collected anything, but then the trees came to life on Sunday and gave up some beautiful clear sap. Ended up with another 8L of very tasty syrup. Thought the season was over.
Cooler temps this week just might recharge the trees.
Here's hoping for one more run.

[Tapper705]

Sunday was our best day yet this year. We are South of Cobalt. We got 500 gallons on 400 taps with 3/16 tubing.:) Looks like we may have another good week. or not?

[TerryEspo]

Thought it is time to revive this post. Still early but find myself here everyday reading. Looks like another 3 weeks until the first forecast day of above freezing. Gives me time to work on my completely new system.

Cant wait to read all our stories this season.

Post often, post pics,,,,,,good luck everyone.

Terry

[northwood]

Yes, it seems everybody is anticipating and preparing for this years sap. I just bought a converted oil tank arch with a 2x3 main pan and a 1x2 finisher. Should be a nice improvement from the block arch. Looking ahead at the long range forecast, it seems as though we will need to wait a few more weeks until we sweeten the pans. I guess that gives me time to clean the pans and build a bigger pile of firewood.
Looking forward to a busy season.

[sergeaubin]

i will be tapping this weekend, weather looks promising all of next week

[TerryEspo]

Agree, this weekend for sure,,,,,I think. :rolleyes:

[TerryEspo]

Today, Today, Today.......Pretty sure it will be our first good run.
Temps froze last night, just about to warm up here to thaw the lines.

All systems go here, just need sap.

Fingers crossed.

[Maplesapper]

Any word from the trees up north Terry?
Georgian Bay area seems to still be locked up.

An hour south of us or east of us are busy, but we are still awaiting a start.



Today, Today, Today.......Pretty sure it will be our first good run.
Temps froze last night, just about to warm up here to thaw the lines.

All systems go here, just need sap.

Fingers crossed.

[sergeaubin]

im in sturgeon falls. tapped 100+ trees and few were running on sunday. should be good now.

[TerryEspo]

I tried, hugged them, swore at them, thought about starting a forest fire to warm them up. Still not a good run. I did get some sap, maybe 15 gallons from 60 taps. Some trees are running, some are sleeping.

Raining today, sap not running, didn't freeze last night.

Mother Nature is hard to figure out.

[northwood]

I hung the first round of buckets last night. All were dripping, some more than others. Almost no frost in the ground this year. I'll try and finish tapping tonight and hope for a good boil this week end. Weather wise, Friday to Monday looks good. Fingers crossed.

[TerryEspo]

Some sap today, slow start but I think the trees are just waking up.
No freeze last night and the trees are still willing to drip a bit. Sap should not have run today but did, that says to me they are just coming awake.

Not sure if I posted that my larger trees had very little sap in the drops. I guess to say our season has started and it will only get better now.

The sleeping giant has awoken !!

[Maplesapper]

Parry Sound here-

First day start- Punched in 45 taps on three laterals this afternoon.
Pulling 27, 25, and 27" pure gravity vacuum thanks to advice on this forum.
Key seems to have been running more directly down the slope- too much zig sagging last year.
Very little sap flow though. Only 15 gallons so far.

[TerryEspo]

Big day, big big day here. I think, a gallon per tap today, a touch less probably, approx. 60-70 taps, I need to count, but collected 60 ish gallons today. First and best run this season. Tomorrow, Saturday March 12th could be another great run.

Made just over a gallon and half of lovely syrup today.

[northwood]

Lots of sap this week end. Left the trees to drip all day Saturday and collected Sunday morning. All buckets were half to 3/4 full. Several were overflowing. First boil on Sunday. I don't know about other's but I had lots of niter in the pans.

[TerryEspo]

Got a break today,, happy about no sap running today.
Had a great weekend, collected and boiled approx. 150 gallons and its all syrup now.

All cleaned up and ready for next run, tomorrow maybe. Its nice to get a break in the action after being busy three days in a row.

[Maplesapper]

One run last Saturday,Sunday and that's been it ?
Pouring rain and warm ever since.
Where oh where has the season gone....

[northwood]

It's been a slow week for sap in my neck of the woods. (North Bay) Weekend of March 12 was a great run and we got 12 litres of light amber from that run. The trees have dripped a little since, but not enough to boil. Old man winter is hitting us with a spring snow storm tonight but Easter weekend looks promising for another run. Nice to see the Maple addicts to the south having a late season run. Have fun with it.

[franks sap]

it will come in haliburton ont it gust started :cool:

[TerryEspo]

Easter weekend for sure looks good, very good. It is Thursday eve and snow and cold. Tomorrow (Friday) forecast says a few degrees above freezing and sunny, similar forecast for Saturday.

Let hope she runs like we think it will.

[northwood]

Easter weekend was a good run with plenty of sap, and then again on the 30th. Looks like cold weather for the first weekend of April so time to catch up on boiling. Still 10 inches of snow on the ground. Shaping up to be a great season.

[northwood]

So much for April showers!:confused: First of the month brought 6 inches of heavy wet snow followed by several days of double digit night time lows. And just when I thought things might get back to normal, we get the worst snowstorm of the season that dumped a sap stopping 14 inches of the white stuff. Needless to say we've not collected any sap for 10 days now. Had to get the snow shoes out and repack trails for the bucket line. It looks like double digit highs for the week end. Hope it does not get too warm.

[northwood]

It looks like we'll get one more weekend boil and then shut it down for another year. This weeks forecast is calling for 3 or 4 night of freezing that might just give us one more run. Can't complain though, we've had a great season. The red and silver Maples in town are starting to bud, but still some snow coverage up my way. Anybody else in the North Bay area still going?

[maple75]

I'm in Pembroke/Deep river area and still no buds in the bush. Sap slowed down since last weekend but hoping cooler temps this weekend will bring a little more sap.