All done

[toquin]

Kept looking for the signs that the season was over,Peepers,geese pairing up, crocus flowers,daffodils,killdeers,millers,ants,flys, bees, butt the one that told us we were done was almost 40 day old taps on gravity. Quit running this last warm spell, drilled a new hole next to one drilled 2/11, 2 drops a second. Still a good season(butt strange) ended up with 129 gal.

[JBIV]

All done here in Jackson too. For the first time in my short sugaring career my holes have dried up. I was hopeful for a push at the end to get my gallons up, but not in the cards. Usually by now I am looking forward to it being over. This year I am still waiting to get after it!! Worst season for me since the big warm up 6-7 years ago.

[Jon Foster]

This is our first year tapping a couple of trees in our backyard. I think they are all red maple so I'm not sure how good the sap will be. We tapped the tree's Sunday night (3 days ago). So far we've been getting a couple of gallons of sap each day. Enough for an experiment... We are in White Lake...

Jon.

[Snappyssweets]

Welcome Jon,

Reds give a very nice tasting syrup.

Most of us are smiling at the thought of your future. We know it well.
Just an experiment.............
Spends the next ten months looking at all the trees in the area pondering how many taps, contemplates a new boiling method and means of gathering more and more sap each year. Envisions a future with acreage and a sugar house. :D

As for done. Friday will finish it here. I am out on Friday. Been a good year, a strange year and at least productive but its taken a lot of work over nearly six or seven weeks.

[Ed R]

Jon, if it gets cold after this week you could make syrup till the middle of April.

[pamelance]

I pulled all my reds today- still have 20 hard maples with life in them.
I noticed a funk in my red maple buckets, but it ended up being a sort of mildew (slightly pink/ slimy feeling). I never had that before. Gave em all a wipe with paper towel and got 2-3 more good days out of them. Anyone have this before?
I wonder if it's because it's been a long season for me? Next year I will clean / swap buckets about 3-4 weeks in to prevent this.

[wnybassman]

I pulled all my reds today- still have 20 hard maples with life in them.
I noticed a funk in my red maple buckets, but it ended up being a sort of mildew (slightly pink/ slimy feeling). I never had that before. Gave em all a wipe with paper towel and got 2-3 more good days out of them. Anyone have this before?
I wonder if it's because it's been a long season for me? Next year I will clean / swap buckets about 3-4 weeks in to prevent this.

I have pink in the bottom of one of my buckets right now, and a slightly slimy bottom in most of them. I've rinsed them out twice this season already. Doesn't seem to bother anything, I just try not to agitate things too much when dumping them. This upcoming run will be my last one anyway.

[Snappyssweets]

Collected 90 gallons today and on the afternoon pull we pulled all the spiles brought all the jugs and buckets in and put them in the porch for the washout.
Boiling now and will again tomorrow to finish the sap we have in storage. Total sap this year for us was 797 gallons of sap. Low sugar content has kept us between 70 and 100/1 so we have not produced as much syrup however its only for friends and family now anyhow. Well and my sugar production to feed me my maple sugar candy all year.

[Hertelbr]

Collected almost 3 gallons per tap on 5/16 today. Biggest collection this season. Will collect buckets and pull spiles this week. Heading to Carribbean next weekend for a week.

[Jewdave]

Welcome to the addiction Jon. We are close by in Farmington Hills just tapping the trees in our suburban lot. 3rd year in and loving it. I've gotten a lot of offers from my neighbors to tap their trees too so might expand a little next year.

[pamelance]

All done; pulled my red maples 3/23 (no buddy sap, but buds were bursting and weather was only getting warmer). I let my sugar maples go another 2 weeks, but honestly just ready to be done. I pulled those today- it's a sunny day for cleaning buckets outside.
I had between 6-8 weeks this season- the longest for me.

Totals for this year:
Sap collected 500 gallons (plus a dozen or so that didn't make it into the ledger)
Finished syrup: 9.45 gallons bottled (plus some ounces in 'scraps' bottles for immediate use and not counting what you loose in filters/ pots and pans, etc)

This is a huge step up for me, having previously only had 2 trees and this year having 70. I'm hoping to figure out the legal aspect of becoming Dept of Ag certified for retail/ bulk sales next year (any help is super appreciated - I read myself in circles!).

Time to start the garden, as I suppose one cannot live on maple syrup alone. Believe me, I've tried.

[dlwithers]

All done in Hale this weekend too. On Saturday the temps were almost 60 degrees and the sap was running fast and clear, however after 6 weeks of trips up north I called it a season. Final tally: 383 gallons of sap and 8 gallons of syrup. The last 2 cleanups had a lot more sand than earlier weeks and the sugar content was dropping. Saturdays sap was @ 2.5%. All and All, a good year!

All the buckets and equipment has been cleaned and put away; a big thanks to my wife for all the help, and putting up with my crazy hobby!

[ronintank]

I pulled all my taps sunday 4/2/17, done for the season. i still have a few days of putting stuff away, but i finished up with 38 gallons of syrup.

[Lethalbowman]

16324 I am a 1 man operation here and wrapped things up with my final batch last weekend. Total for the season was right @ 4 gallons.

[BoarsNest]

All done for this year. Collected 1636 gal of sap and made 25-30 gallons of syrup won't know for sure until we bottle. The week I was gone my "friends" didn't test the syrup and I know it was over 70 brix. I have one highly crystallized jar to prove it. Buckets and storage containers were all washed Saturday and stacked to dry. Now they just need to be put away. New sugar shack is started and it will be ready to go for next year.