How long do we have?

[sr73087]

I noticed the buds on some of my trees already swelling. The runs the last few days have been very bad to non-existent. Are we already done, at least in the southern part of the state?

[Calycanthus]

we'll find out.

I once heard someone say that when the peepers peep three days in a row, the season's over. I've heard them once.

there doesn't seem to be a way of reliably predicting or measuring when or how the end of the season arrives...I gots an idea, but then gots to find a statistician...

I still have trees that haven't even started to flow (low lying land), so I've got to think there's time.

man plans, nature scoffs.

[mspina14]

I'd like to think we'll have at least one more good run.

It was too hot last week, although my sap kept running until this morning.

Might get close to freezing tonight which will be good.

Mark

[Woodsrover]

I'm thinking this might be the last week and next weekend the last weekend. We'll see. Glad I tapped early!!

[Ski Bum]

Do not worry young Jedi, The Fat Frog has not begun to sing!!! If it does you're Toast!!! Boil on, Full Steam ahead!! Good Luck.

[hodorskib]

Up and down temps for the next two weeks - I am in a low valley with little sun this time of year - the pond nearby is still ice covered so I am hoping for at least two more weeks.

[Agent914]

I noticed some trees budding in Middlebury this morning but I believe the real end of the season is signaled when the moths arrive....no moths yet so 1 or 2 more runs.

[valleyman]

we'll find out.

I once heard someone say that when the peepers peep three days in a row, the season's over. I've heard them once.

there doesn't seem to be a way of reliably predicting or measuring when or how the end of the season arrives...I gots an idea, but then gots to find a statistician...

I still have trees that haven't even started to flow (low lying land), so I've got to think there's time.

man plans, nature scoffs.

I'm taking this to the bank! I heard the peepers 1x too.

[Helicopter Seeds]

I think I read on a different thread that what may look like buds opening may be the flowers, which is ok. sure. I am nervous, I started feb 15. I figure if we make it through 65 degree tomorrow and Thursday, then we may be good for three more weeks. Acuweather had predicted a regular March with warm days, freezing nights, but now many of those freezing nights are just above freezing.

I suppose it depends on the tree buds.. Many of mine are red and silver, which I also hear that they simply stop, rather than go buddy nasty. I have 3 to four more burn days of firewood, and not buying any if the season stops. 20 gallons sap yesterday, plus whatever today, plus (cross your fingers here)....

[Ctmaple84]

Had a good run the past few days.now it looks like after tommrow the weather will allot better for us

[hodorskib]

This has been a very strange season for us. Runs have been huge 1.5-1.75 gallons per tap but in the past week the sugar has dropped to just below 1%. Normally it runs right at 1.5% and has been that way for the past 18 years not sure what is going on. Anyone else seeing a drop like this?

[doctortom]

This has been a very strange season for us. Runs have been huge 1.5-1.75 gallons per tap but in the past week the sugar has dropped to just below 1%. Normally it runs right at 1.5% and has been that way for the past 18 years not sure what is going on. Anyone else seeing a drop like this?

I'm not sophisticated enough to know about %'s, but I am yielding much less syrup this year than prior years. It seems that it is 45-50 gallons to make a gallon of syrup, so I would interpret that to mean that the percentage is down for me compared to prior years.

[mike103]

This has been a very strange season for us. Runs have been huge 1.5-1.75 gallons per tap but in the past week the sugar has dropped to just below 1%. Normally it runs right at 1.5% and has been that way for the past 18 years not sure what is going on. Anyone else seeing a drop like this?

I think its because we havent had a good freeze in about a week and trees have to reset sugar. Dr Tim has a good explanation why that is. Something to do with the freeze thaw cycle.

[tonylaroccia]

Moths in the buckets with cloudy sap in Salem. Not much last three days. No buds or peepers though. Maybe last week?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-P907A using Tapatalk

[lafite]

peepers were in full chorus here in Cheshire the last 2 nights.

[valleyman]

I'm hoping for at least 40 more g's for a boil. Weather forecast seems encouraging for another run or two.

I'm a sucker for the peeper chorus, but I certainly wouldn't mind NOT hearing them again tonight.

Guess we all need to be ready to go in mid January in 2018.

[Stiets]

........I certainly wouldn't mind NOT hearing them again tonight.

Guess we all need to be ready to go in mid January in 2018.

I agree, next year I will be hitting the ground running once the temps are looking good. I was still finishing the new sugar shack in mid January this season and not ready. It was a rough learning year for me with the weather and a new setup. It looks like my field sugar maples are drying up but the sugars in the woods are still dripping away.

[Ctmaple84]

The 10 day forecast looks good with highs in the 40's and lows in the upper 20's and 30's after Sunday.i know you cant trust it more then a few days out but looks like we will get a few more good runs.this hard freeze this weekend is gonna help out allot.hope I am right

[valleyman]

The 10 day forecast looks good with highs in the 40's and lows in the upper 20's and 30's after Sunday.i know you cant trust it more then a few days out but looks like we will get a few more good runs.this hard freeze this weekend is gonna help out allot.hope I am right

I hope you're right too! Especially now that I've had time to re-plenish my wood supply for a few more boils.

[DaveB]

While we will probably see temps in the 50s in the middle of next week, we have to get past temperatures in the 30s today, teens and 20s tomorrow and 30s on Sunday with temperatures near zero come Sunday morning. After the middle of next week it looks more normal so I think the trees will respond accordingly but if we have another warm stretch, it might open the buds.

At least for me in the north eastern part of the state in a valley at 700' I think I should be good for several more weeks.

[Woodsrover]

I started boiling the 700 gallons I collected over the past few days. Very, very dark. Looks like coffee!

[BSD]

we just can't win with the weather. too hot last week, too cold tonight and tomorrow, then back into the 50's again... hopefully we squeak out a good run in between, i need some sap to boil!

[Woodsrover]

we just can't win with the weather. too hot last week, too cold tonight....

Spent all night on Thursday ferrying sap up, ROing it and tanking it in my RO room. Got the last 70 gallons up last night after thawing the line at the bottom of the tank. Yes, this weather is a pain!

[sr73087]

I have gotten almost nothing the last 2 weeks (under 5 gallons on 8 taps). Hopefully this cold snap helps us, but is it too late? I haven't seen any moths, just ants on 3 of the 8 reds that I tap.

[hodorskib]

We should get some good runs this week but after that it depends on where your trees are and how much sun they get. Reds at my house that get full sun budded out but a few miles away where my trees are nothing has popped.

[Sugar Bear]

I tapped about 14 trees on January 15th. Most of them did not produce much last week. I got about 9 gallons of sap from them. On Tuesday I decided to tap a tree over on the property line that I had passed up earlier in the season. Its about 4 feet in diameter. I put two taps in it on Tuesday at about 1 PM and by 4 PM both taps had filled one gallon jugs. So I put the sap away and put out 5 gallon pails on each tap. By Friday morning I had taken 8 gallons from each tap. With that 16 gallons of sap and the 9 gallons from the slowing down other 14 trees I made a bit more then a half gallon of excellent syrup. Most of my other trees are much smaller then the big tree i tapped on Tuesday and I am wondering if I had tapped all the other trees starting on Tuesday would they have done so well too. I feel like I would have had 100 gallons of sap to boil if I started everything on Tuesday. Are my feelings off based?

[Mike Van]

I tapped about 14 trees on January 15th. Most of them did not produce much last week. I got about 9 gallons of sap from them. On Tuesday I decided to tap a tree over on the property line that I had passed up earlier in the season. Its about 4 feet in diameter. I put two taps in it on Tuesday at about 1 PM and by 4 PM both taps had filled one gallon jugs. So I put the sap away and put out 5 gallon pails on each tap. By Friday morning I had taken 8 gallons from each tap. With that 16 gallons of sap and the 9 gallons from the slowing down other 14 trees I made a bit more then a half gallon of excellent syrup. Most of my other trees are much smaller then the big tree i tapped on Tuesday and I am wondering if I had tapped all the other trees starting on Tuesday would they have done so well too. I feel like I would have had 100 gallons of sap to boil if I started everything on Tuesday. Are my feelings off based? The part you left out is how much sap did you collect from Jan 15th 'till last Tuesday?

[jrm]

I have gotten almost nothing the last 2 weeks (under 5 gallons on 8 taps). Hopefully this cold snap helps us, but is it too late? I haven't seen any moths, just ants on 3 of the 8 reds that I tap.

Last sap,I collected on 8 taps was 1/3 gallon, a week ago today. Ironically, it was the day of my first (only) boil. So, if this is it, I made just under a quart and a half for the season. I have another 7 taps that I was going to put I once last week's warm weather got back to normal. At least one of the untapped trees appears to have budded out, or at let the flowers have opened... its a red.

Thinking I'll put a few more taps out and see if we get something with this next ten day weather run.

[Sugar Bear]

The part you left out is how much sap did you collect from Jan 15th 'till last Tuesday?

Dear Mike

I did leave that part out.

I collected quite a bit from these taps. I suppose I made 3+ gallons of syrup from them. Some did better then others and some dried up sooner then others.

None of them came close to delivering a gallon in three hours and 8 gallons in three days like the two taps I put in the 4 foot tree last Tuesday.

So I am wondering did I just strike the correct big old tree or did I just hit the main flow and would have done better waiting to tap the other trees.

As I said, I feel like i would have had 100 gallons of sap to boil at one time rather then 25 gallons over three times.

[Sugar Bear]

By the way all my trees are sugars.

Have some reds but I never tap them as I find they are a guaranteed early shut down in warm winters. Reds have burst in our region by now. You can already see the Red/purple canopies of the Red Maple groves across the top of the Hudson Highlands if you drive Interstate 84.

This is a great time of year to identify the Red Maples by the red/purple canopy already showing.

Sugars show absolutely no red when bursting. They are all green. They have a ways to go yet this year.

If I were taping reds i would have put my taps in January 10 of this year.

[Mike Van]

Sometimes it does depend on where you drilled the tree, some trees i've tapped for 25+ years will fill a bucket one year, do half pails the next - By tapping early, I made some 30+ gallons of syrup, mostly light & medium. The hot weather we've had has changed my last boils to really dark, o.k. if thats what you like - I have far more people ask for light & medium - Some years ago I had syrup go from medium back to light due to a long cold snap. The maple business can leave you with a lot of second guessing of what you do - The old saying of 'make hay while the sunshines' can be turned into 'make syrup while the sap runs' The only regret I would have is tapping so late you missed most of it.

[Woodsrover]

Boiled all day yesterday. Sap was super thin, syrup was super dark. Unless this weather makes a drastic change in the sap yesterday was probably my last boil. :/

[DaveB]

The upcoming weather pattern looks pretty ideal. After a mid-week warm-up we go back into the freezer this weekend and several chances for storms over the next few weeks as well. As others have said, if we can get into a more prolonged period of freezing and thawing, I think the sugar content should come up.

http://www.weather.us/newWindow.php?x=CT_HARTFORD

Tomorrow night looks like the only night that we won't go below freezing but after that it's 10s and 20s through next week. It doesn't get any better than that!

[lafite]

dripping slowly today. I tested the sugar and it's back just above 2%

[Helicopter Seeds]

Tomorrow night looks like the only night that we won't go below freezing but after that it's 10s and 20s through next week. It doesn't get any better than that!

For here, not supposed to freeze tonight, and not until Thursday night. I expect OK flow on my collection tonight, and good tomorrow since we had such a deep freeze, just hoping it holds until these 'steady cycles' for what it is worth, 2 weeks ago, the long term prediction for March had every day looking ideal freeze/ thaw. Now that we are here, those cycles are longer. we shall see...

[DaveB]

For here, not supposed to freeze tonight, and not until Thursday night. I expect OK flow on my collection tonight, and good tomorrow since we had such a deep freeze, just hoping it holds until these 'steady cycles' for what it is worth, 2 weeks ago, the long term prediction for March had every day looking ideal freeze/ thaw. Now that we are here, those cycles are longer. we shall see...

If you're referring to the Accuweather forecasts, they really don't look at anything beyond 7 days in much detail and since the models only go out 14 days, they really don't look at anything beyond that every day. That's why I look at the ensemble model forecast and just look at the mean value. You can see the spread gets wider as time goes out but it can help to see trends and then apply it for your area.

Like you said, I guess we'll see how things work out.

[Woodsrover]

Checked the sap I was boiling this weekend. 1.2%
Checked the sap that was dripping today. 1.2%
A lot of work for coffee colored syrup. I'll probably dump this and see what happens later in the week.

[Sugar Bear]

I noticed some trees budding in Middlebury this morning but I believe the real end of the season is signaled when the moths arrive....no moths yet so 1 or 2 more runs.I saw moths back in January.

[sr73087]

Anyone pull their taps yet? I haven't gotten anything even after last weekend. I think I am done. Forecast going forward looks go though, but is it too little too late?

[BSD]

Anyone pull their taps yet? I haven't gotten anything even after last weekend. I think I am done. Forecast going forward looks go though, but is it too little too late?we had a solid run yesterday. i was surprised to see it actually. I'm holding on until the bitter end since i got a late start

[DaveB]

I tapped later than I should have as well and I too am just going to wait until things stop completely. I'm still getting decent sap when it warms up but it doesn't help that that we go back into the deep freeze into next week. That might help things because long term (at least the next couple of weeks) it does not look like it's going to warm up like we had a couple of weeks ago.

[Mike Van]

Anyone pull their taps yet? I haven't gotten anything even after last weekend. I think I am done. Forecast going forward looks go though, but is it too little too late? Pretty much all the trees I tapped Jan 11 or so have stopped, the 2 dozen or more I did last week are going to finish off the season for me. I'd like another 225 gals of sap to match last year. This really has been the year of extremes, nights in January [lots of them] where it wouldn't freeze, then when it did it was down bitter cold. Same in Feb. I don't think I had back to back runs, always a big gap in between. I finished a batch & bottled it 2 nights ago, I thought it would be like bunker oil after those 70 deg. days, but it was just like a real strong medium, not yet dark. I did get about 60 gals of sap the last 2 days from those new trees, it was 2%. More stinkin' snow coming too - so I hear.

[Stiets]

I pulled taps we set in the last week on January. They stopped running after the 60-70 degree temps. Tapped some new sugar maples last weekend and they have been putting out real nice and clear sap. My buddy, thank you Scott Devine, tested the sap collected on Wednesday and it was at 2.9 -3%. I am very lucky to have enough trees to be able to move taps.
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[mspina14]

tapped my 80 or so Reds on January 30th.

Only got about 10 gallons of sap in the last week or so.

Next 5 days looks to be below freezing. I hope we get more sap when it warms up....


Mark

[BSD]

forecast looks the same on the west side of the state too, too cold for the next few days. I'm tempted to try to tap some more trees that I think i've acquired for next season. I probably have just enough left over 3/16 and taps... so very tempting.

[Woodsrover]

Managed to get 300 gallons up, ROed and into the tank room before things froze up tonight. Should make a few gallons tomorrow but that's about it. Gotta wait for things to thaw out. Crazy year.

[MichtonTree]

60 gallons of sap last few days, before the big freeze (from 15 taps). Started late this season (March 5).Syrup still lite amber.
http://mapletrader.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=15998&stc=1

[DaveB]

Today was a really hard core boiling day with temps in the teens and the wind. I'm working on finishing up the 400 gallons I collected this week. My forecast doesn't have above freezing temperatures until next Friday so I'm pretty sure my season is not over for another couple of weeks but we'll see.

[tanta]

Had to pull my taps due to a messed up knee and to give my Maple Syrup loving daughter a break. She was trudging through the snow to help collect and she's due with baby #3 in 3 weeks. I graduated to a propane fryer this year and have to decide how far to go next year. Volunteering at the park I used to be sugarmaker at but just can't stop! Sugaring is addicting and I still love teaching about it. Open House was this past Saturday and thought cold we had a steady stream of visitors. So many good questions and wonderful people so interested in learning. After this freeze I'm guessing there will be one more good run so don't give up yet if you don't need to. Enjoy nature at its sweetest!

[sr73087]

What is weird is my trees are running again, but the buds are pretty big. What are the odds of buddy sap with these?

[DaveB]

What is weird is my trees are running again, but the buds are pretty big. What are the odds of buddy sap with these?

You really need to collect a couple pints of the sap and boil it down and see. My guess is that it's fine. I have some reds that look like they are budding but the sap is running. I suspect that the week long freeze set things back.

[lpaigeg]

I know it's real late in the season but if I've got another week, I'd like to try a tap. I only want the sap for drinking not for making syrup. But I am having trouble figuring out what size bit to use on the tree. My stile is 7/16, I'm pretty sure (It's Stoule). But when I make a practice drill on a piece of wood with a 3/8" bit I can get the stile in only 1/2 in. I am using a rubber mallet.

What is the minimum depth the stile needs to go in?

Does the size of the bit I use matter?

Thanks in advance,
Laurie G

[Woodsrover]

I believe (and I could be wrong) that a 7/16" spile wants a 7/16" bit.

[SlopYourDripper]

I find that a 7/16" bit is just a tad too tight, with the spile only going in about 1/4-1/2" and easily splitting the tap hole if you're too enthusiastic with the mallet. I have come to prefer a 1/2" bit, driven carefully (no wobbles!) to make a hole as nearly perfectly round as possible.