2017 season

[Flatlander]

hey all. hope you had a good year. trying to get the lines and equipment is shape for the coming season. Put a real roof on the sugar shack this fall so no more leaks. My kid wanted to paint the outside so they got started then stopped. Next summer!! Supposed to get a nice mural on the walls so we shall see!

Thinking about maybe tapping this weekend. It is beginning to look like winter has done its thing more or less. Guess we could have tapped at Christmas and could have made syrup all January.

What is everyone else thinking?

[TreeTapper2]

Hi Flatlander, I have been thinking the same thing about tapping. Been checking out the long term weather and it seems things could get rolling soon. It will be interesting this year with my work schedule. Currently working 10 hr days 6 days a week. The plan is to burn 4 hours a night and hope I don't get buried. Will see how well that works. A big flow with only two barrels for storage could get real interesting.

[dogpatch]

I'm in Costa Rica now but will be home soon. Looking at weather, maybe end of next week for me to tap. Planning around 70 taps. I helped a friend run some 3/16 tubing 2 weeks ago, will be a new experience for him.

[MapleMounder]

Spent the last few days getting everything ready. Headed out this afternoon and put over 150 taps in. Every hole was running, not a dry hole to be found, Sugars, Silvers, Norway all were running. Planning on collecting mid day tomorrow and then We'll fire up the evaporater and see how the new Smokey Lake hybrid drop flue pan does. Hopefully it speeds up the boiling time. Excited to test it out.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the season!

[TreeTapper2]

Didn't expect to get anything today. Wasn't sure temps were low enough last night but must have been. Collected 40 gals. All next week looks really good. Then four days up in the 50 's which isn't desirable since I tap mostly silvers.
Where are you located Maplemounder? Let us know how the new pan does.
Dogpatch did you get your taps in?
Hope it's a good weekend for all.

[Flatlander]

I finished tapping yesterday morning. Collected over 200 gals by evening. Getting ready to fire up the cooker now. Looking forward to this week's run.
Taper. Hope you do well up there. Mounder. COngrats on the new pan. Hope you enjoy it!

[dogpatch]

Put in 60 taps today, like Mounder said all holes were running. Still have a few things to do before. How could I not be ready��?

[MapleMounder]

Collected a little over 100 gallons mid afternoon. Fired up the new pan, so far so good!

Treetaper were just north of Mt. Morris

[TreeTapper2]

Looks good MapleMounder. We are up the road from you. Hwy 2 and Meridian rd area. SW of Rockford.
Collected another 55 gals today, 175 gals for the season. Since I can only cook for 4 hours I'm starting to back log some sap.

[TreeTapper2]

First batch of five gallons done tonight!
Way tired, 5am comes quick but worth it.

[Flatlander]

Well looks the this season is over. Sap quit running yesterday. I'm going to drain the back pan and finish it off on the fryer. Not sure my total production but it will be less than half what we produced last year. I know it is supposed to cool off again by this time next weekend but I figure the buds will be swelling up by then. Maybe I'll be wrong.

We had a lot of sugar sands this year. How is everyone else doing? Founder, how is the new pan working out? Are you getting the boiling rate you hoped to get? TreeTapper, hope you had a good season.

[katmike]

I just tapped a week ago so I am sure hoping we're not done. Not a freeze in the forecast until late next week! UGH....

[MapleMounder]

Flat your calling it already? You are quite a bit farther south. We had no sap to speak of yesterday but an unexpected freeze last night hopefully will yield some today. Sugarsand does appear to be heavy up here as well.

The new pan is doing well. It took awhile to figure out how to fire it but yesterday was getting a solid 20 gph out of it with the preheater. Finally drew syrup too which was stressing me out. It took about 400 gallons of sap and almost 20 hours of boiling but we got there. The new Smoky Lake draw off is nice. It's another level of safety into the operations.

Hopefully there is some season left, good luck to all!

[Flatlander]

I know its only mid February but I just don't see this coming back. Weather says it will freeze on Friday and Saturday night next week but then temps run right back up again. It will take more than a little freezing at night to get the sap running again and I think the trees will bud before it freezes up again. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted!!

Mounder, glad the pan is working out for you. I assume 20 GPH is a better than your old system. That would definitely be a plus. I looked at Smokey Lake stuff a year ago when I was up that way. Pretty neat, would like to pull the trigger on a new set up but what I really need is a better filtering system. Maybe next year! Hope you guys up north get some freezing temps to keep it running. Good luck.

[wilos1]

Buds have popped on almost all of my trees. Only ended up with 2.5 gallons of syrup this year. Hope you guys have better luck than I did.

Matt

[TreeTapper2]

Well it ain't over til it's over! And it's not over. Collected 89 gals tonight and am currently boiling it. Sap was clear and had a sweet taste. The boil smells fine.
I tap mostly silvers and yes they all budded out. But......because of the deep freeze it killed all the flowers and so the trees are starting over. This happened last year if you remember. Three 70 degee days in a row and then pop out comes the buds. After we had a hard freeze. So we test boiled everyday and no bad sap. Ended up with 300 more gallons.
I have also read on this blog that the trees start over if there is a hard frost after buds pop.
So DONT GIVE UP YET! I

[dogpatch]

I'm with you, Tapper. I checked my buckets Sunday morning and didn't have a quart of sap but by this afternoon I had collected 200 gal. from my 62 taps. I have all sugar maples on tubing. Keep bleeding those trees!

[TreeTapper2]

The trees are still running. Just picked 50 gals between the rain drops. Have 20 more buckets to check. I think this will be a recird year.
Go Dogpatch go!! Hahaha

[Jamieson]

In Batavia, one tap, one tree (I know, big time operation!)
Sap flowing well today, seems OK to me, no funky smells when boiling.

[dogpatch]

I couldn't check my trees until later this afternoon, I had buckets running over. Got around 80 gal. I will check them early tomorrow as they were still running.

[MapleMounder]

Heavy run today, several bags running over. Sap tested at 2%. Making darker syrup then we have been. Going to be a late night in the Sugarhouse.

Good luck to all, the fat lady might be warming up but she's not screaching yet.

[TreeTapper2]

Believe it or not another 73 gallons today. Boiling it now. If I hadn't stopped because of work hours this year would have come close to doubling my highest year. Looks like three more potential sap flow days ahead though.....
Anyone else still collecting and boiling?

[Sapster]

No buds on my trees and this looks like it will be the best week of the season - and the last. Have about 3-1/2 gallons per tap since Sunday and should have more in the next couple of days. Glad I resisted the urge to tap early this year.