Tapped in Central Ohio

[Grand Square Acres]

Just want you guys to know that an Amish guy down the road put all his taps out today. Around 500 or so. I stopped and talked with him and it seemed to be flowing, the bags by the road had maybe a gallon or so in them. He said it tested at 2.5%. I think it might be a little early yet but I am thinking of tapping this weekend. Maybe the small woods behind the house. Has anyone else heard of any tapping going on.

[bowhunter]

I'm not tapped. I've tapped too early every year so I plan to wait until mid February. What usually happens to me is I tap and get one run then nothing happens for 3-4 weeks.

[buckeye gold]

I'm south of you by an hour and half. I ran some fall taps until last weekend (pulled them Sat. 1/9/16) and plan on putting my regular season taps out sometime between January 23rd and Feb. 1st. The fall season was my worse ever as temperatures swings where way too radical and the highs were way to warm. So all I got was a bunch of small runs. with that said I still made about 2/3 what I usually make for fall taps. Sure new taps will run on warm days now, but there are too many dry days between runs and ultimately you will get less sap by season's end. I have done this before and tapped about half to 2/3 my total taps early and put my full load out around Feb, 1st and then moved the early taps to new trees as they slow in production. I have the luxury of having about three times the number of trees as I put out taps. If your tapping 100% of your available trees then my feeling is wait until at least Feb. 1st.

You never said if your on buckets, tubing or vac., that would matter as with vacuum will keep sap flowing better under marginal conditions.

[EastmoorSilver160]

Hey, backwards urban dweller from Columbus here. This is my second year tapping (yes)silver maples in my parents' yard over on the lower East Side. We're having bizarre freezing and warm weather, and I am not sure what are the dangers of tapping too early. I am not really near anyone else who does this, so I go by the temperatures. I'm guessing by your post that everyone does that, because there doesn't seem to be any authoritative source on when to tap each year. Is it better to tap while we have a warm spell and not wait for after the freezes that are sure to come? I'm afraid of a short season and would rather have a longer season with intermissions when the days get below freezing.

[bowhunter]

When to tap is not an exact science...you can't accurately predict the weather. You need above freezing days with below freezing nights and the ground should not be completely frozen. The risk of tapping too early is that the taps seal off before the real season starts. You can think it as a clotting mechanism to protect the tree from long term impact of injury. The best flows are generally in the last two weeks of the season. I think the rule of thumb is about 6 weeks for the tap to flow fully although mine will usually run longer than that.

[EastmoorSilver160]

Thanks for the helpful info! Would it be bad for the tree to just re-drill the hole after a period of only freezing weather?

Having only two silvers made it tough to get enough to make my target single pint of syrup last year, so I hope to start earlier this year.

[maple flats]

If you use check valve taps the hole will not seal off early. While they are meant for vacuum, they also help with gravity.

[Grand Square Acres]

Update. Stopped by Mr. Millers farm down the road (he is the Amish guy). He was boiling, He told me this is his 3rd of the season and around a 1000 gals of sap so far. He also said he has made about 11 gals of syrup so far. We talked about this cold snap and he feels that it will be flowing again by next weekend. Another guy I know by Ashland has all his taps out around 2500 or so and said he thinks this season will be a short one. Both of these guys have over 40 years sugaring and thinking I should take their advice and open up this week.

[buckeye gold]

If the weather forecast holds I'm going to tap my main woods January 23rd or 24th. I feel the trends will be warmer and it will be an off and on season. Hard to keep clean gear in these years, but I look for a cold spell in February to extend the season. Could be a very good year if this is true, but I think there very well be a lot of dark syrup made this year. I will be done by early march no matter what, as I get busy then. I think the best syrup will be made early. If we don't get the colder February then it will be lights out for me by the 3rd week of Feb. I hope the fall tapping wasn't a precursor to spring.....if it was there will be some disappointed producers! Oh, If you didn't read my previous post, my fall syrup season sucked!

[newman_maple]

I have never finished in Feb, but all this talk makes me wonder if I need to pull the trigger next weekend. I agree that it will be darker this year. We have not had enough cold weather. Half of our syrup was light last year. We blended as much as we could to make it medium and dark, but we still ended without enough dark and too much light. I am a bit stressed this year dealing with a tendon issue in my dominate hand. Hoping to get a shot Thursday. Six years ago, I tapped on Jan 15th and had an average year lasting until mid March. If I had not tapped Feb 1st last year, I would have missed 6 1/2 gallons and had my worst season.

[Grand Square Acres]

newman I think I am also going to pull the trigger and tap this weekend. With using the check valve taps I don't think I will loose to much on the back end of the season maybe a week if that. The two guys I have been talking too both made boarder line light to medium syrup. So I think the season has started here in central Ohio.

[newman_maple]

They are talking about a major snow storm (possibly) coming through here this weekend so I will play it by ear. I put bags on the rings today and will keep getting my tapping supplies ready. Forecasts vary from 1" to 12" so they basically have no clue yet. The snow won't bother me tapping the home trees as long as it is warm enough.

[SevenCreeksSap]

next week behind this storm looks good though as far as temps. i'm so far behindwhile building a cabin to move into we don't even have the tank cleaned out yet, and still repairing squirrel damage on the tubing. If I don't have to go out of town for work this week I'll be repairing lines and trying to tap in a week or two.

[bowhunter]

I'm planning to tap Wednesday/Thursday of this coming week. The temperature forecast looks really good starting next week. It'll probably change after I get everything tapped, but I think there's a good possibility the season with be over the 2nd week in March.

[Grand Square Acres]

Bit the bullet and went ahead tapped today, had a few soft maples weep. All total 500 taps, forecast looks like it might be a good week. Will keep everyone posted.

[Marcus]

I think I might tap mid week. Weather looks good for while.

[buckeye gold]

well..... I had planned on tapping this weekend, but a foot of snow has changed my plans somewhat. My tractor just does not manuever the hillsides so good in that much snow. So I'll wait until mid to late week. I think it will be ready to rock and roll from there

[Grand Square Acres]

Well all taps are out, have a small trickle into the tank. Tried vacuum but could not get it to build., time to track down leaks. fun fun. But on the bright side I'm tapped and didn't have to wade through the snow to do it. Hope to get to sweeten the pans tomorrow evening.

[newman_maple]

I got 66 taps out today around the house. I need to get started on the 90 or so I will tap on my parent's farm next door. I hope to get them out by the weekend. Some were dripping, but they should wake up tomorrow. Let the fun begin!

[Grand Square Acres]

Just finished first boil of the season, 200 gals. 2.5% not a good flow for vacuum and 450 taps, but at least I sweeten the pan. Hope it flows better tomorrow.

[buckeye gold]

Put 95 out today and had about half the holes wet but not dripping. I ran out of drop tubes so I didn't get the full 100 out, but 95 will do for now. Hope to get a run tomorrow.

[buckeye gold]

I collected 45 gallons off the 95 taps I put out yesterday. They are running good this morning so tomorrow morning ought to be a good collection......it's on, the season is here for Southern Ohio.

[Grand Square Acres]

Just finished my second boil almost 500 gals at 2.5% drew off about 8 gals of light syrup. just checked the tank and there is around 125 gals in it since I drained it at 230 this afternoon and that is with the vacuum off. I think this is going to be a short season with the forecast. I noticed today that the buds on my soft maples are starting to swell.

[newman_maple]

I only have about 20 taps left to get out after this evening. I only have 50 gallons of sap in my tank and I didn't have time to collect tonight. I am sure I will have plenty to start boiling Friday night. This might be setting up like last year - only a week or two earlier. I tapped last year beginning Feb 1st and made 6 1/2 gallons in a week or so then everything froze solid until March. When things thawed, I had two good weeks. The early stuff saved my season. I hope this heatwave gets some big sap flowing this weekend!

[EastmoorSilver160]

10-day forecast for Columbus looks dismally warm. Going to go tap tomorrow. We are supposed to climb into the fifties early next week.

[bowhunter]

I tapped 50 yesterday and plan to tap another 80 or so today. Maybe I can catch the run late this afternoon and maybe a good one on Saturday. After that it looks too warm for several days...guess we'll see.

Finished tapping this afternoon with total of 125. Weather forecast doesn't look quite as good as it did earlier in the week.

[buckeye gold]

I had a real good run last night and I've made syrup every day this week. I will finish today's run in the morning as I had a long day. I think we'll get a run Saturday into sunday then it will be too warm for a few days.

[newman_maple]

I finished tapping this evening, but didn't collect much. I boiled my 100 gallons down to 20 and will see what tomorrow brings. Should be 2-3 days of good sap then we wait on next weeks cold snap.

[mjjoutdoor]

I'll be finished tapping by noon today here in Gahanna. The trees I taped yesterday ran well in the late afternoon. When done I should have about 170 taps this year. Can't wait to sweeten the pans!

[bowhunter]

I collected 140 gallons on 125 taps on Saturday January 30. Did a boil on Sunday and netted about 2.5 gallons of syrup. I think I will have to finish on the turkey frier as I realized near the end of the boil that my temperature probe was touching the pan some of the time. I changed my NF4 membrane out for an NF3 and it made a big difference in my capacity.

[Grand Square Acres]

Just finished boiling 1500 gals. already this year I've boiled 2275 gals and made 24 gals of medium syrup. Looks like I will be boiling tomorrow before the cold front hits. I'm glad to see a slow down for a couple days. Think I'll take this time to clean my pans the niter is heavy so far this year. Don't know if it is because I started 4 weeks earlier than normal. I will also finish tapping this weekend have another 250 to put out for the season. That will give me a total of 650 taps this year.