Where's the sap?

[madmapler]

We had 42 degrees today after this hard freeze and I couldn't believe how little sap I got. Hardly ran at all with 25+"vacuum. Anyone else?

[Russell Lampron]

I don't know what the high temp for the day was here but I turned the vacuum on at 12:30 when the sap was just starting to come in. At 6:00 I had about 60 gallons in the tank from 700 taps. The lines coming into the releaser were already frozen and it was still 35* up at the house. It is always colder where my releaser is than it is at the house so it wasn't a big surprise. I'm pulling 26.5"+ vacuum.

[DrTimPerkins]

We had 42 degrees today after this hard freeze and I couldn't believe how little sap I got. Hardly ran at all with 25+"vacuum. Anyone else?

It takes a while for trees to thaw after a deep freeze. Trees don't follow air temperature exactly. They're big and pretty well buffered, which is why sometimes works the other way too when it falls below freezing and the sap will still be running. Another few hours of warm temperatures (and perhaps rain) will thaw things out pretty well and you'll be swimming in sap.

[BAP]

After this past weekend with three nights at zero and below plus the strong wind, the trees are frozen right threw. It takes a long time and more than temps in the upper 30's low 40's to thaw them out so they will run good.

[wmick]

Im not on a tubing system, but I did have a similar disappointment... I finally tapped some trees on Sunday... After missing a fluke early season things turned very warm for a while and then to deep freeze for a while.., It finally got to the point of hovering... After -12C (10F) here for a few days it flipped to 8C (46F) Sunday night... I thought I'd have full buckets, but barely anything... I said to my son.. "I wonder if after several days being so cold... it will take a couple days to thaw them out"... I think Dr. Tim confirmed my suspicions.