Fall Tapping

[old tom]

Has anyone done any tapping this fall. It has been so mild I imagine the sap is there.
Thank You Old Tom

[spud]

I was going to play around with some Fall tapping but I'm to busy. We do have a guy in town that is tapping his whole woods now. He started over a week ago and has 25,000 taps. He did this last year also and made 40 barrels in the fall. In the spring he pulled spouts and drilled deeper and then knocked the same spouts back in. His overall production was not good. I thought someone said he made 125 barrels in all. If thats true then thats less then half of what he could have made in the spring possibly .

Spud

[markcasper]

I was going to play around with some Fall tapping but I'm to busy. We do have a guy in town that is tapping his whole woods now. He started over a week ago and has 25,000 taps. He did this last year also and made 40 barrels in the fall. In the spring he pulled spouts and drilled deeper and then knocked the same spouts back in. His overall production was not good. I thought someone said he made 125 barrels in all. If thats true then thats less then half of what he could have made in the spring possibly .

SpudIs this a story?? or true, seems a little far fetched to me. If the production was this poor then why would he be doing it again. ? I could see if it was a seperate woods for fall spring tapping.

[Bruce L]

A fellow sugar maker tapped in the fall for a few years to get fresh syrup for the Christmas market,then started losing trees,figured he was robbing the trees of needed food for the winter?,at least that's what he figured,so he no longer does it.

[buckeye gold]

I have been fall/early winter tapping for years. I do not see those trees dying at all. I use a separate set of trees that are hard to work in the spring. It's not mild weather you want, but early cold then a warming. I have found that most fall tappers go in too early. In reality fall tapping is best in about a 2-3 week period then done. what you do see is less sap, lower sugar and sporadic runs. I do not tap reds in the fall, as I only do gravity and they will not produce well, they are far more valuable in the spring. Fall tapping is a way for me to get some early syrup as I am always sold out by fall. If I had plenty of carry over I'd not do it. I have had a couple years the fall made a fourth of my total production though. a good early cold front of real cold weather and then some moving wet fronts will make for a good fall. If you see those trends coming it may be worth while to just cherry pick certain years. It gives me something to do in a slow time, but it doubles all the sugar house work as you end up doing two set ups and two cleanings as well as two tapping events. The syrup is always good and filters nice. I would not recommend using hanging buckets or bags as there are too many dry days and tap holes will dry and start healing at times. I use buckets with tubing running into them that I make sure has a small up turn to keep some sap in the tube. Check valves may help with this. I have thought of trying a piece of tubing into a bag to see if that would help bags. The best scenario is tubing and vacuum for fall tapping. I would say the best time period is to start around 3-4 weeks before your traditional hard winter sets in, for me in southern Ohio that is around December 20th-25th for my fall taps. I usually pull my taps around January 10th.

[GeneralStark]

Is this a story?? or true, seems a little far fetched to me. If the production was this poor then why would he be doing it again. ? I could see if it was a seperate woods for fall spring tapping.

I heard the same story at CDL today except that last season they made "lots of syrup" and that is why they are doing it again. Hard saying whether or not the "lots of syrup" part is true...

[spud]

Is this a story?? or true, seems a little far fetched to me. If the production was this poor then why would he be doing it again. ? I could see if it was a seperate woods for fall spring tapping.

Sorry for the delay in responding. I have been busy with other things and not on Trader much. The story is true and a friend of mine was one of the tappers. I confirmed that it was 125 barrels were made in both Fall and Spring combined. The people doing this have never gotten great production numbers is what I have been told. They have undersized mainlines and no duel systems in their woods until now. They have just installed wet/dry lines in some of the woods is what i'm hearing. I have walked some of their woods a few years ago and it was poorly set up. Although the woods itself is very nice and if it was ever set up right it would be a money maker. They are very nice people and are hard workers. Everyone has there own ideas and ways of doing things and this is theirs. I remember last Fall when they had 40 barrels made before Christmas. They were the talk of the town. I find it very interesting in what their doing and wish them the best. I would not be willing to do this with my woods.

Spud