Slope question for 5/16

[Marvel26]

I have about 140 -160 feet of 5/16 with a drop of 8 feet or so. This should give me a slope of about 5-6% but when I look at the lines they really don't appear to drop too much.... I took a few lines off the taps and they dripped some but when I put the line back on there wasn't any perceptible sap going into the line. There is only a little sap in my barrels and I am worried that it is my set up and not the 4 feet of snow and cold temps that are holding things back.

Any ideas would be readily accepted!
1124011241

Oh and the tree in the foreground does not have the crap tapped out of it....I used tubing to anchor and you're seeing the loose ends up against the tree.

[maple flats]

It may just be too early. My ground is still frozen too hard. Today I had 22" vacuum on 1320 taps and in just over 5 hrs. I only got between 6-8 gal of sap. When the time is right I'll get upwards of 1500+gal on a day.

[bcarpenter]

I agree, its probably too early for you. I am south of you hear in NH and have a small Shurflo 4048 pump helping to persuade my Reds to run. Seems real late for us here.

This is my 3rd year on tubing, so I stopped watching lines this year waiting for stuff to run. If you pitched them right, trust you did it right and wait for the full tank. This is the 1st year my wife is in the woods and she won't stop watching the lines and the tank to see how quickly the sap runs. Its kind of funny how paranoid we become this time of year.

Bill C.

[Russell Lampron]

The line in your pic has plenty of slope. If New Brunswick is anything like New Hampshire with the cold temps this year it just hasn't been warm enough for the sap to run.

[BreezyHill]

Preception of slope can be misleading.

I run my ladder feeders at 2% slope. When they are seen from the road and sloping toward the rising hill they seem supper steep...then they cross the peak of the hill and then nearly follow the slope of the other side of the hill on its 2% decent.

Check your slope with a clinometer or a water level and be certain of your slope for when the good flows start.

Ben

[Marvel26]

Its the section of line that crosses the two small spruce trees in the background that "look" flat to me. I am mainly concerned with that section as I have sap pockets in the tube like the second picture. the very last taps in that line (goes a bit farther to the left you can just see the last tree) is about 10 feet high and the corner at the far right in the background is about chest height then you can really see the slope in the foreground but it is actually only about 6-8" of drop believe it or not. the run to the barrel is about a foot or so.

I may just be a nervous Nellie as she-who-must-be-obeyed is watching very closely due to the cost of my new hobby.....no money out of pocket but when she saw the funds in our paypal account from items I sold to offset the cost I think she started thinking of things the "family" could do with it ;-) that may be inappropriate to say on this site...true but inappropriate