When to tap Northeast of Bangor?

[Page Meadow Maple]

This is my second year making maple syrup. Bricked my new Leader half pint evaporator yesterday and anxious to give it its first run! I will be tapping 50 trees on buckets. When should I be ready to tap? Got 3 feet of snow in spots!

[RollinsOrchards]

With roadside trees I would put them out this week and see if you catch anything Thursday. I am not going to get excited about my woods trees for a bit yet. Looks like half an inch of rain this weekend that will settle the three feet of snow we have and then it should be faster working anyway. Might lose a bit of run this week here, but since I want 500 gallons of sap before I light the match i probably wouldn't get that much.

Be thinking about it after the rain this weekend in my opinion, next time the weather looks promising.

[Page Meadow Maple]

The weather report here in West Enfield sure looks promising for sap the next few days. Wondering if there is a down side to putting on my snow shoes and hanging out 30 buckets today? This would be a super early start for this area, from what I hear historically. And none of my neighbors have road side buckets out yet. Help please! What to do ??

[Rozzy]

It does seem early up there but maybe only by a couple weeks. It looks like through this weekend and most of next week the weather should cooperate with you. I think you are close enough to take the chance.

[West Sumner Sugar]

I say get em in now. A lot of us south of Bangor are finding we should have tapped a week ago. Sap is running well down here.

[sapper07]

We put out 50 today in central Maine. Sap is running good. It will probably shut off next week. Looks cold.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

We haven't got ours in and are missing some sap this week in Peru. Oh well, that's life!

[Baker's Maple]

We tapped 300 trees today in Shirley, Maine with another 600 to go. Nice 'sap flowing' day and did it flow. All trees dripping if now really running. Early but we will continue to tap. Many lines under snow. Need to dig them out in the next few days. We are on vacuum, so it works. Sap house not quit ready to boil. Needs cleanup and setting up new filter press and new pans. We usually do not boil until late March. But that is the way sap season goes!

[Page Meadow Maple]

I put out 50 taps on buckets today here in West Enfield and now have 35 gallons of sap to boil! Should give my new half pint evaporator a good work out.

[Page Meadow Maple]

Have collected about 165 gallons of sap since last Thursday. More in one weeek than I got all last season, thanks to the early, intense flow of sap and the addition of 50 more taps. Brix was 3.2. Excited to see what my new half pint will do with this volume. My double turkey fryer evaporators +fish fryer warming system wouldn't have stood a chance!

Page Meadow Maple
Lowell, Maine
Leader Half Pint evaporator
80 taps: 53 buckets, 27 drop lines

[sap seeker]

Have collected about 165 gallons of sap since last Thursday. More in one weeek than I got all last season, thanks to the early, intense flow of sap and the addition of 50 more taps. Brix was 3.2. Excited to see what my new half pint will do with this volume. My double turkey fryer evaporators +fish fryer warming system wouldn't have stood a chance!

Page Meadow Maple
Lowell, Maine
Leader Half Pint evaporator
80 taps: 53 buckets, 27 drop lines

I remember when you came on last year looking for advice on how to get started, now you are a raging sap-a-holic! :lol: Great stuff! My suggestion with a halfpint sitting on 165 gal. of sap = GET BUSY!;)

[Page Meadow Maple]

OMG, you are right, sap seeker. I have caught March Maple Madness. I boiled all day yesterday and will be very busy bottling what looks like fancy amber in my pan. Can't wait to tally/taste the final result!

[Page Meadow Maple]

I am about 20 miles south of Lincoln. We've had four short runs since the last week of February and lots of cold, snowy breaks in between. Hoping today marks the real start of the season! What's your experience been this season?

Thanks to Bob's Sugar shack in Dover-Foxcroft and Highland Sugarworks in Milo for excellent Maine Maple Saturday events!

[Atgreene]

Our sugarbush that is on a South slope just started running good 2 days ago, no vac, just 100 taps into a 100 gallons tank. Last two days the tank was full. All the rest are Eastern or northern slopes, so I think our best runs are yet to come.

[abbott]

I am about 20 miles south of Lincoln. We've had four short runs since the last week of February and lots of cold, snowy breaks in between. Hoping today marks the real start of the season! What's your experience been this season?


We're all in the same boat to one degree or another. Late Feb was great for me, but lots of cold and not lots of sap since. Way behind last year's total, but still thinking it will be an above average year before its over.

If you got 3+ gallons/tap in Feb, then that was the real start of the season. This will just be the real start of the second half!