When is too early to Tap???

[Slick Willy]

Anyone know if I will run into any issues if I tap my maple trees in January instead of when I usually do it a week or 2 before the first run? I have some downtime now and thought that it would be good to get the 50 -75 taps in sooner than later. I'm a bucket/pail man so I'm thinking about just putting the taps in but not hanging the pails. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[smokeyamber]

With buckets you will see a dropoff in sap quicker than vacuum, I would wait....

[Urban Sugarmaker]

I would also wait. Last year I started with buckets on January 27 and put more out around 2/7. Because I was all buckets, I did not do as well as I could. The season lasted until Easter Sunday (3/27/16). Those first 50 buckets I put out did not hold up very well by the end and I pulled them 3/13. Even had a 70 degree day in early March. They had been exposed to multiple 50+F degree days even before that. The last 90 or so were the ones that made it to Easter.

This year I am going with about 80 on tubing, and the rest on buckets. I will start the tubing taps in Feb. if the weather is good and wait a little while and see with the buckets.

[Slick Willy]

Thanks for the advice and it sounds like I'll be waiting to tap the trees for a while still.