Started tapping today

[maple flats]

My leased bush was started getting tapped today, should get finished tomorrow, except the section still being changed from 5/16 vacuum tubing to 3/16 natural vac. I'll take delivery of the necessary additional lateral and supplies at Verona this weekend. Then we move back to the new install at the sugarhouse. That was always gravity in the past. We ripped most of it out and started setting up new mains with vacuum. The releaser is set, as well as the moisture trap and the longest main is up, except we need to put in 2 sap ladders. Next we'll need to re-tension the second main and put in 1 sap ladder. The remaining sections need some mains and sap ladders.
The issue is that there is slight but repeating undulating (former) lake bottom which needs either 7 collection points or needs sap ladders to allow the sap to be gotten to the sugarhouse (maple flats is for a reason).
Then I'll string the laterals, and drops to be ready to tap.

[Mr. Red Maple]

I am a bit worried about when to tap. Some more input on this would be helpful. The red maples started to get large buds by the end of December. I'm just a bit worried on if the season will be over really fast right when it warms up. Still my sure on wen to tap


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[WestfordSugarworks]

Maple Flats, good luck in your install and tapping. When you install ladders, do you put a small leak of some sort in the ladder? I've seen ladders with the spiderweb-type of 5/16", several lengths (perhaps 8-10), rising from the end of one main to the beginning of the other. These ladders would have a small leak which, from what I've been told, helps the sap to rise. How do you do it?

Mr. Red Maple, check out this study from PMRC http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/tapping.pdf. Microorganism contamination of the tap hole is what will cause taps to stop flowing sap, and the study that I posted above notes that some tap holes flowed sap for as long as 14 weeks in trees during their study. I see that you have tubing (new tubing?) and if you use a new, clean spout every year then you could probably begin to tap anytime that you felt good sap flows would begin. My opinion would be to wait until the weather is forecasted to be optimal for sap flow, and get all tapped in in time for that weather. Lots of producers that I know will wait to begin tapping until early/mid February, unless they have thousands and thousands of taps to do, in which case some have already begun tapping. I've also seen the Red Maples get large buds as fall has turned to winter, but nothing out of the normal for where I live.

[DrTimPerkins]

The red maples started to get large buds by the end of December.

Maple trees are very well adapted to cold conditions. The buds are there....they are there all the time. If they aren't there, the branch is dead. It takes a good amount of really warm weather and a decent amount of daylength for dormancy to be broken and for the buds to open. Maples only very rarely suffer from winter injury of any sort. I've seen frost kill on maple twice in my life (well...at least since I've been watching trees pretty closely beginning around 1980). Once was in 1983 (I think) and once was 2012. I don't recall the weather the first time, but 2012 had RECORD high temperatures up to 80 deg F and weeks of warm weather before the buds did finally break. Then we had a cold snap. I really don't think you've got anything to worry about in terms of the trees budding out.