What to do.......

[boondocker]

Man this weather has me going crazy, everyplace I have looked at a long rang forecast shows mid 30's to mid 40's and teens at night. I really don't want to miss a drop. The past 3 years for me has been very low key and have only put in barley 200 out of my usual 500+ taps. I Went through a divorce a couple years ago and my heart just wasent in it. I put my priorities In order and put my little girl before anything else and the sugar house went on the back burner. Fast forward 3 years and here I am installing 4 new pipelines adding vacuum to one of them and looking to have a record season. I have read the previous post and it seems there are mixed emotions. I know it's early but this winter has been a strange one and I have invested a stupid amount again this year on this addiction. What is everyones outlook on this tap or wait it out dilemma.

[Peeper]

This is a test of the emergency maple sap flow system of 2016.
I'm in mid-coast (South Hope) and put out 5 test buckets today, as the forecast says freeze/thaw (sort of) the next four days. Four reds and one sugar. The sugar & one of the reds ran a little today with the sugar at 2.5%, and the red at 2%. Tomorrow may yield the other 3 reds kicking in a little as there wasn't a freeze last night, but will happen after tonight's freeze. Repeat... this is only a test (but we might get lucky). 117 Sugars, and 60 reds are the full potential on 9 acres.

[blissville maples]

boondocker, way to go man i can relate big time, i know what the stress is like, drains the best out of anyone. yea just watched weather, i see a couple 35-40's mon tues and then thurs. if this goes into next weekend id be worried, but things are locked up pretty good still. need to see some prolonged warmth not a day here or there. i thnk best is to pay attention to polar oscilation, it shows what will happen to the polar cold air mass, which dictates a low or high latitude Jetstream which inturn affects our weather patterns, warm or cold. 2 weeks out. not saying you couldn't get some sap but, ive chewed my nails off in the last couple years, feeling just like you and occasionally i still do, but i know that its not time. if it were second week of feb, i may say otherwise. but bottom line is anyones guess. its a horrible disease.....sugaring!!! ill agree its costly, but look at wht some of these other fools do with thousands of dollars...fill their noses and arms with drugs so it cant be too bad!!!

[bees1st]

If you are using CV's , I'd say tap em , your tap hole will still e fresh come April, and you may catch an early run .

[Peeper]

Put in 3 more test buckets after last night's freeze, 2 sugar one red. Thermometer's at 38 as of now, and got down to 19 last night. One of yesterday's reds that was dry is going today at 3%, a sugar and red both at 3.5%, another sugar at 3%, a red at 2.5%, and the rest are at 2%. Rate is about a drop per second on half of them. Freeze thaw forecast looks good for the next 3 days with a little snow maybe, but two sunny days. Still may hold off on the rest 'till another week or so as I'm just checking the %. This is the first year I've gotten to check the red's percentage. Pretty impressive! Some doing better than the smaller sugars. Never underestimate the power of your reds!

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Im in southern Nh and I decided to just go for it, I put in 60 yesterday and 40 this morning and I got over 60 gallons from yesterdays run. with the temps for the next week looking perfect I am hoping to get a few early gallons done before it does get a freeze again, if it ever comes back. Temps are PERFECT right now!!

[n8hutch]

I too have thought about tapping but I am going to wait till at least Feb 15th. It might run a little the next few days but it's not going to do much. My driveway is still frozen solid. I guess if I was way down in southern NH or Massachusetts I just might tap them now. But here in my part of NH things are still Froze up pretty tight

[BRL]

Man I just don't know? Very weird weather this year. National weather is calling for Mid 40's Highs Mid 20's lows all next week??? WTF:confused:

[Revi]

but if we were in Southern Maine....

[Peeper]

Good afternoon all. Snowing lightly here in West Rockport and the next several days are looking real good. More tapped today and she's a runnin'. Anywhere from 2% to 3.75%. I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm calling it the first good early season run. The early stuff is my flavor favorite to boil anyway. We'll see if it gives us the early light amber/x-tra caramel flavor.

[boondocker]

From what I am hearing, the end of next week is looking like we have a deep freeze moving back in. I'm not tapping anything yet, I am going to wait it out. I still have about 4 days worth of work left In the woods to finish up my 4 new pipeline systems. I can have everything tapped In about 4 days so i wI'll wa it it out. Good luck to everyone and hopefully mother nature is kind to us this season .

[Peeper]

Last night's low was 27, the sun is out now and it's already a balmy 35. Put out 16 more buckets let's see what we get. We've got nice freeze/thaws through Wednesday.

[gmcooper]

Going to wait this out for now. Still working on lines and finishing repairs from logging in one bush. Also still adding another 50+ taps.

[western mainer]

To early to tap when the rest of us are still going strong you all will be done done with dry holes. I'v seen this book before!
Brian

[little bettah flavah]

I too have tapped in recent years in these kind of Thawes and I learned it was to early my holes dried up and when we got the right conditions I'm gonna wait till middle of Feb b4 I tap

[Peeper]

I too have tapped in recent years (ie, the last January thaw that happened a few years back), & lo and behold... my holes didn't dry up too early. But there was some awfully dark syrup that I didn't care for toward the end of the run that just wasn't my preference. I don't recall that particular freeze/thaw period being quite as long as this premature spell. But the way this little banana belt is treating the mid-coast, I'm sure glad I haven't missed the higher sugar percentages from this earlier odd warm up period that I haven't gotten later in the season in past years. I'm sure it'll "cold snap" freeze over sometime again soon, but I won't miss fishing out the critters (leaf cutter bees-flies-and moths "oh my") taking a party bath in the sap come later Spring. ... Then again who knows what future weather will actually do. And so... the sophomore (earlier "sophumer" definition) tossed the coin and took a chance.

[Mitchman]

Sure it's early, but we are setting new records everywhere in the weather area. So I have to make hay while the sun is shining, and go for it.

[Maplewalnut]

Make hay while the sun is shining....

[Cider Hill Maple Farm]

75% complete here. I agree it seems early, but after the last couple of years I'll take an early run. This winter has been on such a roller coaster, I have to believe the track will continue. A couple days of freezing is much better than weeks on end, where 300 gallons turns into a block overnight. After the run today, we should have around 1500 gal +/- to sweeten the pans.

Good Luck to all!!!

[Maple Ridge]

I am holding off from early tapping this year. In the past, I ended up with frozen buckets, lines and my holding tanks frozen. I think it will come around by the end of the month. If not well less I need to clean. I say hold on.

[Mitchman]

I'm with you there Cider Hill, we want some fancy syrup. We are tapping in earnest, getting somewhat decent flow and all the problem bugs out of the system. My brother and I did a small interview with M.P.B.N. so if anyone wants to check it out, it would be under early maple syrup sap flow. We were caught off guard, but it turned out well. And a lady had some interesting facts you may want to hear.

[Mini_Maple_Men]

Nice interview Mitchman. We got all our lines fixed up today, on a north facing slope so it is still running slow. But now with all the 3/16 figured out should pick up tomorrow if the vaccume gets working.

[bees1st]

http://news.mpbn.net/post/maple-sap-running-early-due-warm-spell
Very nice indeed.