2016 Tapping Plans in Missouri

[Ray_Nagle]

With the weather so warm so far this winter, what are other folks in Missouri thinking for the upcoming 2016 season? I'm concerned that a lack of sustained sub-zero temps will hinder sap production, but this'll just be my second year making syrup so I'm not sure.

[Goggleeye]

It'll be OK. I think the cold spell we're getting now will prime the trees, and any bitter cold will put us back where we should be without drastically affecting production.

[Ray_Nagle]

Okay...looks like we'll be mostly below freezing for the next few days. So then the decision becomes whether to tap in early January, or wait for another cold spell.

[Sugarmaker]

Ray,
Good luck this year. Look at the forecast for at least a week (or several days) of freeze thaw conditions in the next month. That would be a good time to be ready. Ready meaning you could tap and make syrup withing 48 hours. Always a guessing game. I always watch for the neighbors to tap, then it must be time:)!
We always have had spring. If the ground is frozen solid its too early, if the peepers are singing its to late! You just need to make syrup in between those two events.
Regards,
Chris

[Ray_Nagle]

Thanks, Chris. We're in freeze-thaw conditions here now, but I'm gonna wait a few days and keep my eye on the 10-day forecast before I make a tapping decision. I did set up my cinder block stove today, and now I'm preparing my records spreadsheet for 2016. Getting psyched to collect some sap.

[RiverSap]

This past weekend I was out doing some preparation work which involved digging in some concrete block steps on the Missouri river bluffs to make getting to the maple trees easier. In doing so I cut into some sugar maple tree roots and they were dripping like crazy. I am sure if I had trees tapped I would have had a nice collection weekend. However I have not tapped and am a few weeks away from being ready. But seeing those roots dripping has gotten me geared up.

[Ray_Nagle]

Good to hear, RiverSap. Around here, the weather has been a mix of freezing nights and thawing days for the last week, so that's been tempting me to tap right away. However, I've decided to let the trees get a couple solid weeks of freezing before I tap them. It's supposed to warm up again later this week and then get cold again over the weekend. The forecast looks good for next week, so I'm planning to tap on Jan 10th or 11th.

Let me know when you decide to tap, and what kind of flow you get.

[esetter]

Hey guys , 3rd year syrup maker here. You all and virginia are the closest to me here in Tennessee. I may peek in from time to time and pick your brains. Good luck this season.

[Ray_Nagle]

Hey guys , 3rd year syrup maker here. You all and virginia are the closest to me here in Tennessee. I may peek in from time to time and pick your brains. Good luck this season.

You're not too far away, especially if you're on the western side of the state.

I ended up tapping on the 6th, despite my last post. The weather just looked too perfect to pass up the opportunity. I've gotten 13 gallons of sap from 15 taps in the last few days. We're in a deep freeze right now, so the trees are back in "charge mode." I'm planning to do my first boil tomorrow.

[esetter]

Wow , you are off to a good start. Im gonna tap as soon as this current cold snap starts to warm. Hoping more good weather ahead. Im on eastern part of the state but same latitude. Ill let you know how mine goes. Im building a wood fired boiler , hope to get it done this week.

[Ray_Nagle]

Here's a picture from my first boil of 2016. I ended up with 45 ounces of syrup. The color is much lighter than I had last year. The bad thing is I've got niter in the jars, so I think I'm gonna re-heat, re-filter, and re-jar tonight.

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[esetter]

Thats awesome that you are already boiling! Just put in two test taps today. One dripped one didn't?

[Ray_Nagle]

There's been no flow here either for the last few days due to freezing temps, but it's supposed to warm up (for a couple days) starting tomorrow. So we (and maybe you too?) should see more sap in our buckets this week before the temps plunge again this weekend.

[esetter]

Im inersted to see how it goes. We might be a little early yet. Was 20 here this morning. Supposed to warm then back down here too.

[Ray_Nagle]

Yeah, I was able to make a little bit more syrup today, but it's gotten sub-freezing and looks like it'll stay that way for a while. So now I'm expecting the sap to start flowing again a little bit on Wednesday, and then heavier next weekend. Anyway, I guess it gives me a few days break from emptying buckets.

[huntindogg]

We are in the southeast part of the state near ste genevieve. We put out 230 taps on Jan 2 and collected 630 gal of sap which we boiled off this weekend. Still need to finish it off over propane but should get 11-13 gal syrup. The trees dripped pretty good the first week but last week was disappointing. Some buckets had a couple gallons in them but many had just a cup or so. We hung the rest of our buckets yesterday for a total of 440 taps. Made a small RO unit last year that's cut our boil times in half so that's nice. No drips this am as its 5 deg out but maybe later this week. Good luck!

[Ray_Nagle]

The trees dripped pretty good the first week but last week was disappointing.

Same here. Good first week, and lousy second week. That's an impressive amount of taps you've got...how many acres are you on?

[Sugarbush Ridge]

I had only seen small runs and the sapsuckers have not been working in trees yet so I had not been excited about getting taps in.
I did put in about 300 taps yesterday. But I did not have a single hole that run any sap when I drilled them. Weather looks good for next week.

Hopefully get enough sap to do a run on new RO from Ray Gingerich,,, a 125EX that I picked up in November.

[esetter]

Yea , calling for high 40's possibly 50 next week. Hoping for a decent run.

[skinny78]

We got ours tapped this weekend! Some ran a little but not enough to collect.

[Ray_Nagle]

The warmup has shaken some sap loose, and I see some dripping. I haven't had any sap to collect for the last couple weeks, but hopefully that changes today.

[unclejohn]

over the last 3 days, we put in about 140 taps in 126 trees. yesterday when tapping in the morning, the holes were dry. about 1 pm, the floodgates opened and the trees ran through the night and all day today. went around collecting after dark this evening, which is fun with the 4-wheeler and trailer, and headlamps are a must. we'll set the 70 gallons of sap somewhere cold and boil after we collect again later in the week. the 30 mph gusts this evening had me concerned about our buckets blowing over but we lay branches by them and that seems to protect em. still too cheap to get the blue sacks or connect with tubing. hey sugarbush ridge- do you ever have deer run through your system and tear up the tubing? good luck to all missouri syrupmakers!

[esetter]

Had decent flow yesterday , only collected a gallon. Seems like my first sap of the year is really dirty. Boiled down a few gallons I had frozen from last year. Good luck!

[Sugarbush Ridge]

uncle john,,,,, I have not had any problems with deer. Sometimes I may see where one went under and had raised a line. A bowhunter said he watched as deer walked along a mainline,, only a foot off ground,,, to get to the end and then walked around end. I don't know,,, seems like they can "see" the lines.
May main problem is squirrels. Did have a bear bite an extension cord into,,,, 12-2/G,,,, power was off!!!!!!

[Ray_Nagle]

I did my third boil yesterday. Got 43 oz of syrup from 12.7 gallons of sap. The raw sap was about 1.9% sugar. Finished the syrup to 69.7 brix and ended up with a nice light amber color. Canned the syrup in 4 and 8 oz jars for gifting throughout the year.

The weather has been wonky, which has limited the flow from my 15 taps. Seems like it's either Antarctic temps or Florida temps, with few freeze/thaw cycles on single days. We're supposed to get cold again later this week, so hopefully we get some good flow from that. I'm up to about 2/3 gallon of syrup this year, but I'm hoping for over 3 gallons by the end of the season.

[Ray_Nagle]

The last couple days have been the best of the season so far for sap flow. And the 10 day forecast shows some good freeze/thaw cycles, so hopefully there's more good flow to come.

[Sugarbush Ridge]

I dumped about 100 gallons today as it had dripped in at 25-30 gallons a day from over 300 taps,,, Not enough to light a fire in a 2x8 with 6' flue pan. It takes about 35 gallons just to fill pan. The new RO just sitting there. I did get to run 300 gallons thru it back on January 29. That was fun. I hope weather gets better later this week.

[Goggleeye]

Not a bad sap flow the past couple days, but nothing like past years where I could hardly keep up with sap collection. At the same point last year we were over triple what we have now. Hopefully February will catch us up!

[johnnyf]

It's been a little hit or miss here in St. Charles County but I managed to collect 150gallons thru the week, finished it yesterday on my oil tank evaporator. Looks like next week before any more sap runs.

[unclejohn]

Hey Johnnyf: greetings from around Jeff City. Like Ray said below, the few days prior to Feb 7 were good runs. We collected 120 gallons on Sunday 2/7, boiled it down today to almost 4 gallons of syrup, a little darker than our earlier batches. So we are up to almost 12 gallons syrup so far this year. I think you are new to this Missouri tapping forum, so why don't you describe your trees, evaporator and finishing equipment and methods, and where you are. Do you know of anyone else who taps trees in your area? the forecasts for this weekend have been getting colder every day, so I don't think sap will flow til Monday or Tuesday. John

[johnnyf]

Started this 10years ago with my kids. We took a school field trip to rockwoods reservation where the conservation dept. was making syrup. Been hooked ever since. Today we tap 50+ trees mostly sugar maples some blacks and reds on our property in southern St. Charles county. We plan on tapping more but need to create some trails thru the woods. My evaporator is homemade from a discarded oil tank, bought a new pan last year 2x4 flat continuous flow. Finally got the whole continuous flow thing all figured out, wanting to make a float box but that will have to wait till next year. I filter and bottle the syrup on a steam pan heated bottler. That was a huge upgrade over cone filter way easier. Looks like we will have another good run over the next few days, am planning on cooking all day Sunday if all goes well. I know of only one other syrup producer in my area

John

[Ray_Nagle]

I'm not too far from you. In fact, I was up in St Peters last night for my monthly beekeeping club meeting. Though at just a few gallons of syrup per year, it's a stretch to call me a producer.

[johnnyf]

Small world, I took the bee keeping class early last year at the St. Peter's extension center. I've been meaning to attend a few meetings and learn a little more before I decide to get bee's

John

[RiverSap]

This year I upgraded my sap collection system with ¾ inch mainline tubing suspended from 12.5 gauge fencing wire. I have two main lines. One has 10 trees on it and the other has 18 trees. The trees tie in with laterals made of 5/16th tubing. When I am out and about this week I will try to get some pictures. At the beginning of each lateral I used loop fittings so that I can tighten the line. Those work very well. At the tie in point to the mainline I used the fittings with the little clip that catches the wire then a saddle fitting on the ¾ inch tubing. It looks really good. Now if only some sap would flow. I am behind a few weeks this year because of figuring out all of this new stuff. In the end I tapped 35 trees. I also tapped 12 walnut trees. The walnut trees are all on buckets. I am anxious to boil down that sap to see how the walnut syrup tastes.

I am still using a concrete block stove on the driveway. I did buy a new canopy. I got one that is snow rated. The ones I used the last few years did not hold up under wind and snow conditions.

[johnnyf]

RiverSap, pictures of your tubing setup would be nice to see. I keep thinking there has got to be a better way of collecting than the way I am doing it. Looks like we are both on the Missouri River bluffs, I am in southern st Charles county defiance area. Collected 75gallons this evening.

John

[unclejohn]

hey johnnyf and river sap....maybe both of you can provide photos of your trees, taps, helpers, and evaporator and i will do the same. we harvested 60 gallons on monday feb 15 and put it in the big fridge, and harvested 130 gallons today from sap run yesterday and today. now starting to cook tonight under the stars before it sours. (no sugarhouse yet!) the flow will probably decrease for a while with these 50 degree nights. john

[esetter]

You guys are big time for southerners. My 19 taps have produced around 30 gallons this year. The flow has been the best the last 2 days. Reds aren't giving me much but the sugars are flowing! I have a boil down planned for sunday using my home built wood fired evaporator. Should be doing around 20 gallons.

[RiverSap]

I added some pictures of my tubing setup in my gallery section. I will get some pictures of my mainline setup this week. I had my camera with me but I got bust collection sap and forgot to take pictures. I collected about 30 gallons over the weekend. I hope to collect 60 or so gallons this week and cook up a batch this coming weekend. I have also collected maybe 25 gallons of walnut sap.

[Ray_Nagle]

I did my biggest boil of the year yesterday. Turned 40 gallons of sap into exactly 1 gallon of syrup, for a textbook 40-to-1 ratio. May get a bit more sap over the next week or so, but I suspect the trees are about to start budding since my bees are starting to haul in a lot of pollen (maybe from silver maples and/or elms).

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[unclejohn]

We noticed that the sap and syrup is getting darker now. And the buckets had more insects in them due to the warm days last week. After filtering and cooking, it looks and tastes great. A few more colder nights this week and we should get another batch that will raise our total to over 20 gallons for the season. I tried to attach a few photos of our operation- hope they appear OK. Hey RiverSap tell us about the walnut sap and syrup. John

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[esetter]

Net set ups! Seems like you all are getting a better flow. I boiled down 24 gallons yesterday and am putting the final finish boil on it now. Where did you get the round mason jar lid labels?

[unclejohn]

our daughter designed them and I had them printed at a local print shop on adhesive-backed paper, 12 to a sheet, we have to cut them out of the sheet.

[esetter]

They look really nice! Thanks.

[RiverSap]

I added some photos in my gallery area that show how I set up my mainline and laterals. If anyone has trouble finding the photos let me know.

[unclejohn]

Hey River sap I looked at your photos, congrats on a successful tubing operation. Glad to hear that you got it all installed without rolling or sliding down to the river. As I recall from our visit last year, you have the steepest slope of any sugarbush anywhere! Do you pump the sap up to your arch? John

[johnnyf]

Here are a few photos of our evaporator and finished product. I will get some photos of the sugarbush next time out.

John13339133401334113342

[Ray_Nagle]

Net set ups! Seems like you all are getting a better flow. I boiled down 24 gallons yesterday and am putting the final finish boil on it now. Where did you get the round mason jar lid labels?

LabelsOnTheFly.com is the site I've used.

[RiverSap]

I pump it up alright. One leg at a time while holding a five gallon bucket in each hand. I get a serious workout walking up and down those steep hillsides. Talk about a lung buster. I do have steps as my pictures show on the steepest parts. Unfortunately this year I am not getting good flow from most of the trees. I need to do some research on the best technique for drilling the tap holes and inserting the taps. I have 35 trees tapped and have only collected about 50 gallons of sap. I did get a late start. I missed the first week that sap was flowing while setting up the tubing.

[esetter]

Ray , thanks for the label site suggestion. My season is over. Warm all the rest of this week and I bet next week too. Ended up processing 50.5 gallons of sap into just over a gallon. Maybe a gallon and a pint. Short season here. I learned a lot on my home built evaporator and hopefully will only ever use propane to finish boil on in the future. I have enjoyed you guy's thread.

[Ray_Nagle]

Pulled my taps yesterday (29 Feb) and did my last small boil. For the season, I ended up with a bit over 2 gallons of syrup. I've got enough syrup to last through next season, plus most of it will end up being gifts. Mission accomplished. It was fun, but I was ready for it to be over by the end.

RiverSap, My flow wasn't very good this year either. I doubled my taps, but only got 1/4 gallon more syrup. I'm guessing the weather had something to do with it. There was just no good freeze for the first half of the winter. Let's hope the weather is a bit more normal next year.

[unclejohn]

we pulled our taps on 2/27. night temps during feb 15-19 were too high, and day temps feb 20-25 were too high. we made 18 gallons of good stuff in 5 weeks but the 1 gallon of syrup from our 2/27 collection was very dark and had a different taste, kinda like sorghum. trees arent budding yet, and there may be some more good flow days but our unpaid workforce is ready for spring. good luck to all. john