Why am I getting so little sap ?

[SUGARSMITH]

This year I have gotten very little sap to date. It has been extremely warm the past couple of days anf where I live in CT, the nights have been below freezing.
I am hoping I am being over-anxious for this time of year. Local construction people tell me that there is still 3 feet of frost in the woods.
What are the chances I am getting very littlew sap because the roots are still frozen. Any since to this or should I start planning for next year ? :cry:

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Your guess is as good as mine. I have had four weeks of season down here already and the trees still haven't produced half as much sap as they should.

Might just be a bad year, dunno :? :? :? :?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jeremy,

We only have cold weather from Oct till March and normally don't see hardly any days ever in April or Sept below freezing. Maybe a couple in April and once every few years, one in May, but highly unlikely. This year was weird because on Jan 3rd, it was over 65 degrees here and like that for about 3 or 4 days and then it got extremely cold the rest of the month and stayed that way well into Feb, so I guess the trees are very confused like me. :? :? :?

It normally is in the 30's and 40's in Feb with freezing at night and in the 40's and 50's the first two or three weeks in March with mostly freezing at night and sometimes a day or two in the 60+ range. I have had what I would consider several good sap days down here from my experience over the past 14 years, but the sap has just almost refused to run. 45 to 50 with lots of sun during the day and no wind and in the 20's at night is as good as it gets for sap, and still they are not running much.

I don't know, but I am sure hoping it is going to get cold again this weekend. They are calling for it to get down in the teens a couple nights next week on Mon and Tues, so I am hoping for a least one more big run since I haven't gotten a big run yet.

By the way, I plan on re-drilling most of my holes on Sat with a 1/64" or 1/32" larger bit to freshen them up. Ever tried that and what is your opinion??

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jeremy,

Don't know about that and I am not one to bragg, but I have eaten Canadian, Vt, Nh and other northern syrup and I have never found any quite as good as mine. Maybe I am partial, but I have had many other Old(er) people that have bought syrup for years tell me the same thing. I would never come out and say that, but hope it is the truth anyway.

One thing that could have something to do with it is that I have to boil nearly 50 gallons to get a gallon of syrup, so I don't have nearly as high of sugar content and in all my years of making syrup, I have never seen any color sap other than mainly clean and sometimes slightly whitish cloudy when the bacteria count gets up. I have never seen any that was green, yellow or brown as I have heard some of you talk about??

[Salmoneye]

My first boil last year was 3/10...My last day was 4/14...

It aint even started here yet...

Dang good thing too as I have another 2 days...Maybe 3...

Looked at the long-range and it looks like Saturday night will be the first 'freeze' here in a week...The trees will turn on and we will not be able to keep up for a bit...

Life is good...