How Early Can I Tap?

[Sapcat]

I will be away from March 1st until April 1st next year. Can I put in my taps in January or February before I leave and just let any sap run on the ground? I'd then begin collecting in early April. Thanks.

[DrTimPerkins]

Can I put in my taps in January or February before I leave and just let any sap run on the ground?

I assume these are spouts on tubing (since you'll just let it run on the ground. If that is the case, and you use REALLY good spout/tubing sanitation practices (new spouts/drops < 3 yrs old, or new CV spouts/adapters), you should be able to do this. You might expect to lose some small amount of sap production at the end that you would get by tapping at the more appropriate time.

Producers with very large operations have to start tapping in Jan/Feb simply to get through them all.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If you don't have a lot of taps, wait and tap the day you get back home. You will get the most sap in April if you wait and tap when you are ready to make syrup. You could possibly make a full crop in 7 to 14 days doing this, but you wouldn't likely do that tapping a month before that.