Too late to start?

[mcsap]

I wasn't ready to tap early this year and with the early warmth thought I'd miss the season completely. But, the weekend and early next week look good and I'm thinking of making one big push and try boil next week. I'm just hobby scale, hope to make 5-8 gallons. Anyone got a pro or con to getting a late start? Too late to tap reds? Thanks!

[johnpma]

I think next week is doable if you can boil on the days the trees make sap I pulled out but was wishing I waited another week No crystal ball here just react on gut and mother nature
Good luck hope you get some sweet!

[GV2]

I am not sure how long it would take you to set up, but maybe put a few buckets or a small line up and stove top test the smell and taste when it first drips. If it is acceptable then throw up more lines/buckets and give it a shot. I pulled and cleaned up last weekend but it sure does look tempting next week doesn't it!

[Russell Lampron]

If the reds haven't flowered yet give it shot. If they have flowered it's too late.

[mcsap]

Thanks, I got a start today, put out 49 buckets all on sugars. Reds looked like the buds were pretty swollen so I decided against trying them. Some of the trees were running a bit when tapped so I am hopeful for the next few days. Was able to tap a lot lower on the stem than most years and felt kind of good not be on snowshoes :-).

John

[Peeper]

I wasn't ready to tap early this year and with the early warmth thought I'd miss the season completely. But, the weekend and early next week look good and I'm thinking of making one big push and try boil next week. I'm just hobby scale, hope to make 5-8 gallons. Anyone got a pro or con to getting a late start? Too late to tap reds? Thanks!

We're talkin' "Taps"... 13891.

I'm hobby & I'm all done. Finished the dregs just today to 1 1/2 gallons o' dark, to bring my season total to 8 3/4 gallons. I've been tapped since January 27th, and tapped progressively more trees as the season moved (or didn't) onward. Today was a perfect "freeze/thaw" day with a sunny high of 40 and there was nary a drop from the sugars. Forget the reds. They've been dry for me for over two weeks. You'll be lucky if you get something, but I sincerely doubt 5-8 gallons on a hobby scale this late in the game. Best of luck to you.

[bigschuss]

I'm over in Savoy and I was getting slightly cloudy sap this past week on some of my sugars. The reds are budded out. All my syrup last week was very dark...good, but dark. I think you'll be fine this week. Not sure if you're going to to do 5 to 8 gallons on 49 buckets though? Seems like you'd have to have a spectacular multi-week run for that.

Good luck.

[Ravenseye]

I'm over in Savoy and I was getting slightly cloudy sap this past week on some of my sugars. The reds are budded out. All my syrup last week was very dark...good, but dark. I think you'll be fine this week. Not sure if you're going to to do 5 to 8 gallons on 49 buckets though? Seems like you'd have to have a spectacular multi-week run for that.

Good luck.

I pulled last weekend and cleaned up the pails yesterday. All my sap last weekend ran cloudy or was cloudy shortly after I dumped the buckets. Short, but good season for me.

[mcsap]

Got 70 buckets out between Friday and Saturday. Sap has been clear, but not as much of it as I wanted. Was hoping for 3-4 good days over the week and maybe have 200 gallons or so (8 gallons of syrup is pretty much out of reach). Seemed like it got started late in the day today, most were running pretty good at 5PM, hope they kept it up awhile longer. Most of my trees are on NE exposure that stays a bit colder. Tomorrow looks like a better day, warm up earlier, then maybe Friday and Saturday, too. Got a lot of ice in the storage barrels, more will freeze up tonight, hope it keeps until later in the week.

[mcsap]

Had a real good run Tuesday-Wednesday of this week. Had been slow Sunday and Monday, maybe a total of 80 gallons or so out of the 70 taps. Only 60 of them seem good as I tapped a few marginal trees just to see if they would produce anything, marginal in terms of being very close to the road with some damage or so obvious signs of rot on part of the tree. But, the good taps ran from Tuesday through into Wednesday evening, got close to 140 gallons out of the 60 good taps. First 80 gallons iced over pretty good and stayed partly frozen so I'm hoping the next few days to make syrup, maybe even catch a run tomorrow?

[bigschuss]

I had the same good run mid-week. I thought I was done for the season, but I may fire up the evaporator today and boil one more time.

Good luck.

[mcsap]

After the late start I ended up making just on 4 gallons of syrup, should sustain us for the year. Would have had a bit more but had some boil overs during the finishing process and lost some to the garage floor. Fortunately I kept some sap in the fridge to thin it out once it got too dense. It's a fine line between syrup and a sticky mess :-)