Tapping in Clinton and Franklin Counties wayyy Northern NY

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

Only have a portion tapped so far, but enough to make some tasty first run syrup for our family. Earliest I ever made syrup! Will get the rest of them all in in the next week or so.

[PACMAN]

I am going to start tapping tomorrow. I still think its early because my bush is 2000 ft ellivation but im gonna start.

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

I think all of us are going to see a continuing trend in earlier than traditional tapping times. I guess each of us should tap when we think it's time and hope Mother Nature agrees with us. :)

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

Have you made any syrup yet?

[seandicare]

i'm planning on tapping a week from Monday..forecast still looks alittle chilly this coming week, and have to finish getting things together anyways

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

Cool! We just finished tapping last week. It ran ovee the weekend here. Thursday looks like it will be running again. Hopefully we can get our system tightened up then.

[PACMAN]

Going up to the sugar house tomorrow and finish up some odds and ends tomorrow and sunday going to run the pump and check for leeks.

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

Good luck! Hope you have a good day! We had an ice storm here two days ago. Lost power, too. Damaged trees and branches all over. Not as bad as '98, but still kind of disheartening when we had all our lines tight and ready to go.

[DANNY-L]

The ice is about your worst enemy. We had quite a bit but only lost a few small limbs,nothing damaged. The lines sagged a lot but came back after it melted

[PACMAN]

Did not get the ice up here,only snow. 6 below last night on the mountain. going to wait for it to warm up a bit before going up today. The exstendid forcast looks good for me in two weeks. Time will tell.

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

Was it warm enough to get your leak checking done? Still working in it here

[seandicare]

was going to tap today, but after a string of bad luck last week, and long weekend at work, i rested instead. did pull out some jugs from storage, and cut some 5/16 tubing for a test comparison to 3/16.....i am just doing 4ft drop lines into jugs, and only doing about 70 taps.

saw from weather forcast that this week isn't looking too promising either. today is about the only day above freezing until the weekend.....thinking i may tap some tomorrow, not liking the storm coming through in the evening. figure i can get them in ready for the weekend, then collect on monday when i get off work. extended forecast at least looks promising from here on out. (but never really trust it)

[ADK_XJ]

was going to tap today, but after a string of bad luck last week, and long weekend at work, i rested instead. did pull out some jugs from storage, and cut some 5/16 tubing for a test comparison to 3/16.....i am just doing 4ft drop lines into jugs, and only doing about 70 taps.

saw from weather forcast that this week isn't looking too promising either. today is about the only day above freezing until the weekend.....thinking i may tap some tomorrow, not liking the storm coming through in the evening. figure i can get

them in ready for the weekend, then collect on monday when i get off work. extended forecast at least looks promising from here on out. (but never really trust it)

Would be interested to hear how your test with 3/16 goes...I thought the whole issue with that tubing was it needs a longer run and drop in elevation to give performance gains. If you see a benefit with 4' drops I'd definitely be curious...

[PACMAN]

No not warm enough last Saturday to check for leaks. It was in the teens. I think Im going to wait till Monday to do that. Its going to take at least 2 days to warm the bush up enough for sap to start running. Then I have to wait to get enough sap to ro anyway.I should have plenty of time.

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

Still no significant sap here. Baby bush woke up today. The rest of them will perhaps thaw tomorrow. We are ready!

[seandicare]

Would be interested to hear how your test with 3/16 goes...I thought the whole issue with that tubing was it needs a longer run and drop in elevation to give performance gains. If you see a benefit with 4' drops I'd definitely be curious...


well, finally got my first sap today.......probably 12-13 gals off @28 taps

the test didn't go as i thought between the 3/16 and 5/16.......5 taps of 3/16 and 4 taps of 5/16(could not find the last tree i tapped, too dark) i used weight instead of gallons, just because it is quicker and easier to measure with a fish scale.

3/16-5 taps gave 13lbs 07oz
5/16-4 taps gave 22lbs 01oz

all the tree were between 10-12 inch diam and tried to scatter pretty evenly.....if i put one size in a spot i tried to set the other close too it.

i did notice some of the 3/16 , that were not part of test, had alot more sap than others. probably difference in trees , though

i will continue keeping track and give updates on it's own thread.

[ADK_XJ]

well, finally got my first sap today.......probably 12-13 gals off @28 taps

the test didn't go as i thought between the 3/16 and 5/16.......5 taps of 3/16 and 4 taps of 5/16(could not find the last tree i tapped, too dark) i used weight instead of gallons, just because it is quicker and easier to measure with a fish scale.

3/16-5 taps gave 13lbs 07oz
5/16-4 taps gave 22lbs 01oz

all the tree were between 10-12 inch diam and tried to scatter pretty evenly.....if i put one size in a spot i tried to set the other close too it.

i did notice some of the 3/16 , that were not part of test, had alot more sap than others. probably difference in trees , though

i will continue keeping track and give updates on it's own thread.

To be honest (and not to discourage you) but I'm not surprised. I think you only really get the benefit of 3/16th when working with measurable elevation drop (I want to say they recommend 30'). There's a very good article from UVM Proctor...in fact, here it is: http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/3-16%20Tubing%20-%20Wilmot%20-%20Maple%20News%20Dec%202014a.pdf

So, maybe you can run your 4-5 taps together on 3/16th and then run them far enough down (if you have slope) to get at least 10'+ of elevation drop.

[seandicare]

no slope to speak of.........maybe 5-10ft drop over 500ft run......overall i think i am getting roughly the same run on both after looking at the other taps i had out all well.........i'll see how this year goes with it...then decide if i'll go back to 5/16 or not........if nothing else i can give Cornell co=op the info for their next presentation on this

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

Season just kicking in in NNY.

[PACMAN]

Well, tomorrow looks like the start of a good week for sap. Been sick for a week with phnewmonia. Been to cold for anything to run. Weather looks good for at least two weeks. Time will tell.

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

Amazing Easter. Jesus has risen and so has the sap flow! Record sap day. Record syrup day. Amazing Grace. Thankful.

[Brandy Brook Maple Farm]

I get an amazing sap flow on 29 trees with 3/16. Hardly a slope to speak of. I would never have believed it if I didn't see it for myself. No vacuum pump.

[PACMAN]

Just got my taps all in yesterday. Going to hook up the vac pump and releaser tomorrow and start it up and check for leaks then bring the ro up and wait for monday the sap should start for me.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Must be cold in Duane. I've got 1/2 crop in the barrel

[PACMAN]

you have been up there Doug it has been cold and even the days it did run a little it wouldnt have been enough to do anything with. Not worth it when you have to go up every day for 2 weeks and start a fire to keep evaporator from freezing. plus not getting enough sap to clean the ro. Still 3.5 feet of snow out of the 50 inches we had last week.