skidiver
01-23-2017, 05:33 PM
This is my 6th year to tap my sugar maples.I tap 72 maples and in middle Tennessee,I found that around the first of January is the best time to tap.I tapped about half of my trees on new years day when it was 4.5 degrees.I tapped the rest one week later.I only have a tiny bit of sap in a few jugs but most have none at all.I got a friend of mine two miles away to tap some of his trees and he has no sap either.We had a late Summer and Fall drought and other than a cold 9-10 days in late December we have had a very warm Winter so far.We have had many days that reached 60-70 degrees with day after day of cloudy days.Does anyone have an idea why my sap isn't flowing this season? Also,since I first started tapping 6 years ago,I noticed that the smaller trees 8-10 inches in diameter produce the most sap and the largest trees 20-28 inches produce very little sap.I think it may be that the larger trees don't freeze up since we rarely have many days in a row with sub-freezing temperatures. skidiver