It may NOT be over in NE Ohio

[johnallin]

This looks better. Temps for week of March 21-24 are perfect. Here's hoping anyway.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/chardon-oh/44024/daily-weather-forecast/335053?day=11

[heus]

John Im staying tapped in Ashtabula County. Fingers are crossed. We have actually boiled almost a week straight, now. Sap is cloudy but syrup tastes great and no bad smelling steam, yet.

[johnallin]

I agree. This was a crazy week. No sap Sunday - after a 27° night - followed by three days of great sap runs, in spite of temps never lower than the 40's and highs in the mid 60's. It made no sense and all of it was clear as a bell with the best sugar so far this year. Not wanting Tues night's run to spoil, I took the day off and boiled in shirt sleeves yesterday!

Looking at my records, this is not like 2012 at all, but could turn out closer to 2013 when we kept going into April. We didn't tap this year until Feb 20-21 so no worries about dry holes over here.

[christopherh]

I'm hanging in there, I'm hoping there's a little more to be made.

[johnallin]

Chris, looking at today's forecast and it just got even better:
Fri 3-18 48°-27°
Sat 3-19 49°-32°
Sun 3-20 46°-26°
Mon 3-21 40°-20°
Tue 3-22 44°-29°
Wed 3-23 43°-26°
Thur 3-24 40°-22°....and it keeps up for the several days. I'm may need to get back to splitting wood next week!

[WoodButcher]

i kept all my taps in too.... but that forecast is a week out.
In Ohio forecasting school thats next to impossible to predict. :)

Hey its perfect timing for my open house too next weekend. I wasnt looking forward to boiling water and throwing some B in the front pan to put the scent in the air...

[Sugarmaker]

Good luck guys! Too far out for me. My containers are getting bad. Picked all them up today. Will watch you guys make some syrup! Hope it goes back to Golden Delicate!
Regards,
Chris

[johnallin]

Had frost on the ground this morning, I'll bet they run today

[Sugarmaker]

Yes it should be running as we speak! Good luck guys!
Regards,
Chris

[heus]

It's starting to run good here but so far the sap is milky white. If it doesn't clear up I'm afraid this could be it. We will definitely get sap in another week by the looks of the forecast, but my reds are starting to flower (although the sugar buds are still tight). I will need next weeks sap to produce permeate for my RO shut down. I will boil until the syrup gets an off taste.

[RC Maple]

We had 31 this morning with just a little ice in some puddles. I checked a couple of buckets and they were slowly dripping. It was about 43 degrees then, maybe if it gets upper 50's they well be going a little harder. My forecast is improving too. So far I have only had clear sap and when I last boiled on Wednesday everything I had boiled and smelled good yet - nothing bad. Will leave my buckets out and hope the forecast is right or that it even gets better.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/pandora-oh/45877/march-weather/2137916

[WoodButcher]

I'm at the bush right now. The sap is crystal clear and no bitter / nutty off flavors. I don't think I'll have enough to fire the arch up with just today's run. hope it runs later in the week

[heus]

Did one boil today and the syrup still tastes great.

[johnallin]

I plan to boil tomorrow. Looks like I've got some sap out there.

[johnallin]

Brought in 65 gal and am boiling off now. Still pretty clear although not perfect. Sugar was at 2.1 and steam still smells good. This may be it for a while (darn)

[christopherh]

Finished boiling over the weekend. Pulled the plug on vac, sap was very cloudy and not a lot of it. Looking at the forecast I just may let my buckets hang a bit longer.

[RC Maple]

All my trees dripped at least some after Saturday mornings freeze but not enough to amount to anything other than to give the ants and other bugs cause to hang around the buckets. I ended up pulling everything to give the buckets a rinse and clean and boil the taps. Accuweather says later this week and next week a few freezing nights and if that's still the case when the time comes and I don't think the trees are too far along I have got another woods I have never tapped before that I will finish the season with. If it stays warm and that doesn't happen then I am that much closer to cleaned up.

[heus]

I am still making dark robust with a good taste. Tomorrow I plan to walk my woods and pull taps on my reds that seem to be farther along in the budding process. Although I think that reds often simply just stop running as opposed to giving buddy sap. The forecast later in the week is too good to ignore.

[johnallin]

Yesterday I made some tasty dark syrup from what I had collected. I did toss some brownish sap, but saved everything else.
The sugars are still tight, the reds are opening but no off flavor at all. I'm going to wait for the weekend before I do anything.

My 3/16 tube gave up about 20 gallons today from 80 taps and it's still clear.

[christopherh]

Anyone still have their taps in??

[WoodButcher]

I'll get back to you after my round of golf :)

[johnallin]

Anyone still have their taps in??

I do. Most of the soft maples are opened up, but the sugars still look pretty good.
I'm going to see what the weekend brings, still have wood and would like to put some more syrup on the shelf.
One thing of note is that the taste has been exceptional so far this year.

[christopherh]

John, that's great to hear. I pulled the plug on my soft maples but I still have 150 sugars. I've been gone all week, so I wasn't sure what the sugars looked like.

[Fireman]

My taps are still out. We are in NW Ohio, and had a good run today on all hard maples, where we have the vacuum going. Still pretty clear. Probably 130 gallons on 283 taps. The gravity areas ran, but not that great. Hope to make one more good boil, hope to take a sugar sample tomorrow.

[RC Maple]

Still tapped here too. I didn't check buckets yesterday but will today. The 23 to 28 degree nighttime temps that were predicted didn't happen. Yesterday morning Accuweather and weather channel both said 29 for here. I am not sure that was quite that cold though. Saturday was only 32 in the morning. Today I showed 27 and that may have been enough. Will update when I have a verdict. Made a little more dark yesterday and have what's left in the pan to boil but no more sap without another run. We'll see...

[Ekrueger]

We still have our taps out as well. We cleaned all of the buckets Saturday morning. We collected about 150 yesterday and today. The sap is nice and clear. We are hoping for a couple more runs still.

[RC Maple]

A good run yesterday and I will have all the sap I want to lug out of the woods today too. I had 27 yesterday morning and I don't know if they started running on Sunday or all that was from yesterday but they were still running pretty good when I gathered last night. Good thing my youngest is home from college on spring break and likes to cook sap!

[johnallin]

Some of our trees started back up yesterday and were dripping last night. A quick look this morning indicated they had run through the night. Still looks clear too.

[Jacob]

With the warm weather I was not getting anything so I re drilled a little deeper and sap came out but after being in the 50s all day I just checked and looks like they stopped again don't understand why I am in lake county how is anyone else in this area doing

[heus]

Some of my sugars have dried up in Ashtabula County. This is even with check valve spouts.

[johnallin]

Heus.
I've got sap out there but no time to do much for the next week.
We're going away for the holiday. This year was a surprise for sure and probably could have made a few more gallons this weekend.

[Jacob]

Some of my sugars have dried up in Ashtabula County. This is even with check valve spouts.
Thanks for your reply I was just out now pull taps out stand there and look and just a little came out this has been a very good tree being on my second year juat not sure why it comes,out then stops it would usually be dripping like crazy with this warm weather

[RC Maple]

My trees still dripping when I gathered yesterday but today may be the last time. No more freezes in sight and getting hard to keep sap cool even though we are getting it boiled pretty quick. It can't go much longer with these temps anyway. Sap still looks good and holding around two percent.

[buckeyeboy]

I pulled my few taps yesterday. RC maple are you going to boil tomorrow or are you done?

[RC Maple]

I pulled my few taps yesterday. RC maple are you going to boil tomorrow or are you done?

Buckeye - We got everything boiled we had gathered by Wednesday night. Last night I drained the pan and finished that on a turkey fryer. Boiling is all done. I didn't think about messaging you but should have. We boiled Sunday afternoon, all day Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoon to get finished.