Who's still going in New York?

[maple flats]

I'm still going but others have called it quits around here. Who else is still going out there?
While my sugar is low (1.4-1.6%) I keep getting sap and the buds were still tight at my bigger bush. Around the sugar house they are tight too but the trees there have all but called it quits. There, after pulling my soft maples off over 4 weeks ago I still have 130 sugars on, but when I run the pump (at 26-27") it takes up to 2 hrs for the releaser to dump and that one dumps at slightly over 3 gal. I don't see that as enough to justify the electric used to get it.
In my main bush, I still got 400 gal yesterday off 568 taps @ 1.4%. Will head back this morning to collect again and see what's there. That bush has vac from 18" up to 28-29". It is all on a vacuum tank at 18" but then slightly over half of the taps are on 3/16 with good slope, most of those get 28-29".
I'm going to change a few more to 3/16 for next year, I still have a few laterals with good slope that would benefit from the natural vacuum.

[ALSMAPLE]

Hi Dave
We're still going!32 degrees and running like crazy about a gallon per tap per day
,really clear sap for 3 days now.sugar is only .9.I'm really glad we converted the RO to electric!!Thanks!

[saphound]

I'm still going. Boiled and finished around 40 gallons yesterday. Sugar content measured 2.5 without removing any ice, with is up from my previous collection which averaged 1.5. haven't filtered or bottled yet but looks like around a gallon and a quart in the pot. Trees dripping but slowed due to weather the last couple days..no below freezing temps. Hoping to do one more boil if we can just get the right weather.

[Ghs57]

My taps are still in, so I can continue if there is anything to boil. My sap output has dropped to near zero. The buds look tight and yesterday's sap (a few day's worth) was OK, but a little cloudy. I test boiled a pint first on the stove and got a good tasting lighter amber syrup.

When I fished the boil at 9pm, I noticed a fire brick from the rear wall of the fire box was laying on the grates, so I may have some equipment issues which would prevent me from continuing.

[mountainvan]

Sap is pouring in here in the Catskills. At least from 1,500 ft up. I think I have another week.

[lew]

Still going here in central ny. Our sap looks like 2% milk but the grade just went to very dark today. Sap still at 1.2. Terrible sugar content year. An odd note though. We are getting a 1/2 gallon per tap per day or a little better on 10 week old holes. Neighbor is getting the same on 3 to 4 week old holes. Good flavor, just dark.

[Wanabe1972]

Finally saw the base of my trees on Tues. The 110 tap bush that has under performed all year gave me 185 gallons on Wed and 65 on wed night. They trickled in all yesturday but not enough to boil. Last night we froze light and i wasnt sure if they would run today. My son just called me at work and said we are over a gallon a tap at the sugar house for the day and the 200 gallon tank at the 110 bush is 3/4 full. I dont know about the 130 taps at my parents but could be a 300+ gallon night for me. Im at 24 gallons this year and had a 30 gallon goal. It looks like i will be above my goal. I will have to determine if the pull some taps at my parents that have not run good the last week or so that are on a shurflo. The 44 on 3/16 seem to just run all the time. My sugar has been 1.2 to 1.4 so its spending a little more time in the RO As i cant get 1.2 to 8 percent in a single pass.

[maple flats]

I hauled in 240 gal today from 568 taps, 1.2%. Sap was cloudy, made Dark, but getting close to very dark. I sell lots of Dark but very little very dark.
The remaining 130 taps on sugar maples around the sugarhouse have just about quit. Ran pump at 27" and it took over 2 hours to dump the firsat time (dumps at slightly over 3 gal). Not worth the power to run the pump, I shut that one off.
1.2% sugar, that's the lowest I've ever had, prior to this season my lowest ever was 1.7%.

[1ruralmailman]

finally called it a season on thursday,had the sap in my buckets smell like vinegar.the last bush i had was down to little under a gallon a day.i have had a sucsessful season,made enough for me,and gifts.ready to go on to build my new syrup house.

[Brian Ryther]

Going strong in Otsego County. gallon of sap per tap every day. Today marks 7 boil days in a row. We began tapping on December 28th. .41 gallons of syrup per tap so far. We went in to dark last night. not sure what todays syrup will bring. Todays sap went a little cloudy. 10 day forecast looks good.

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

Still running great here just north of Norwich NY. Tapholes drilled in Dec are still running like day one. Best run of the year the last three days. We hit 100 percent of a crop tonight.
Neil

[Sunnyacres]

Still running in Saratoga Monday will be the end though. We have made mostly dark all season. It's been a good season despite the ups and downs in the weather.

[huskyxp]

Still going strong in cortland county. Getting a gallon to gallon and a half a day off holes drilled in mid January. Sugar around 1.0 %, at .45 gallons syrup a tap after yesterdays boil.

[PACMAN]

hey Dave I just had my first boil Thursday,had to sweeten pans and made 4 gal of light amber. Yesterday made 20 gal of light. Still 2 and a half feet of snow and the trees arent opened yet. Froze last night so should be a good day today and for the next two weeks.sugar is at 3.1

[AdirondackSap]

Still going up in Whitehall NY. Making a darker syrup and the weather is showing no more freezes uuggghh

[Wanabe1972]

I thought id get the week of running but this morning the forecast changed. It was supposed to get to 26 last night but there was no ice on the puddles this morning. Tonight is supposed to be 25 then no freezes for a week. Ill let it go and see what Monday brings but maybe pushing all the sweet out on Tues or Wed. Considering the low sugar content and a 10 day hard freeze in the middle of the season i will meet my goal.

[DrOriginal]

We just boiled yesterday as well. Had some of our best runs last week. Our syrup did turn very dark with yesterday's boil. And our sugar content must be low, it took a lot more sap to get syrup then the past few boils.
On another note we tapped trees in two areas, around the house and in the woods. The trees around the house have budded out and we pulled our taps. The trees in the woods with less sun haven't budded yet, but they must be close. We had frost on the ground this morning. Going to see how it runs each day and plan out from there. Not a lot of cold nights in the 7 day. If it runs good today we may have trouble keeping the sap till next weekend. Maybe a weeknight boil and call it a season.

[stonyhill]

I collected 70 gallons here in CNY today from 52 taps. All sugars except I have one tree that's a red maple with 2 taps that produces really well. Being it's not a sugar maple I was concerned about it being buddy seeing that it was a bit cloudy and the buds look like they are starting to swell. I test boiled some of it and it was fine. I'll probably pull my taps tomorrow afternoon with the warm forecast. Like most here, I've had below normal sugar content this year. Around 1.4. I'm wondering if last years drought played a part? I've also had more sugar sand so I've let my syrup sit a few days in the fridge in half gallon mason jars and siphoned syrup off the top to bottle. Worked great. Seems to work better than extra filtering. Just takes longer which isn't a problem for me. I've learned a lot reading others posts and advice the last few years. Thanks to all who have been so eager to help out their fellow syrup makers!

[Jonnie Maple]

Collected 20 Gallons from 16 taps today. The other 4 dried up. Hoping to get enough for 1 more boil.

[cropseyvillemark]

Still at it in Rensselaer county. Sap went below 2% for the first time this weekend. We haven't made any Dark all year,no matter how much I abuse the sap. Oh well, I sense the end is near. Running out of wood and running out of steam.

[saphound]

Pretty good run yesterday (Sun), which surprised me because it hasn't dipped below freezing in 3 or 4 days. Went to check buckets in the afternoon and they were all 1/2 to 2/3 full and all dripping at least a drop per second. Forgot to bring my hydrometer but going back soon to collect and I'll check sugar then. Hard to believe there was 40+ inches of snow 2 weeks ago and it is entirely gone now and no way to keep sap cool again. Gonna have to boil it today or tomorrow. Probably the last batch for this year. Going to be a warm week ahead.

Edit: all buckets testing between 1.7 and 2%..which is down from last week when it averaged 2.5. Sap temp was 38 so guess it'll hold till tomorrow...gonna need more propane. I wonder if sugar is down because of the no below freezing temps lately. Will that affect sugar content?

[lakeview maple]

All done here, tanks were really cloudy after cleaning and emptying the night before. The sugar was down to .8% at both tanks. Good season , see you all next season.

[Buddy 58]

Been done here for about a week & 1/2 , most every thing is cleaned , started pulling taps Saturday , finished today. Took back blade off JD and put the wood splitter on :( House wood , sugar wood - wish their was two of me . One of the places I tap can be added onto , so I guess that's in the plans for next year , IF any one is in need of a dairy bulk tank (600 gal ) I have an extra one I don't think I will ever use . PM me if interested . To all a good night .

[pipewhiner]

Final collection and boil here tonight. We collected over 4000 gallons of sap on about 240 taps.

[Trapper118]

Last night was it for us. We gathered 160 gallons of sap from 160 taps, but the sugar content is around 1-1.25. Burnt a lot of wood to boil that off. We did have a decent year. We ended up making just over 31 gallons from the 160 taps and a good portion of it was light to medium in color.

[lew]

Trying to hang on but it seems futile. Gathered 4,000 gallons from 6,000 holes yesterday. Problem is, it took 3 days to get that much. With these warm temperatures you know what the sap looked like. We used check valves on everything and keep the vacuum going until everything is froze solid. I see that others say they are still going strong with trees tapped in January and even December. We tapped mid January and only had 2 decent days of sap. We averaged 2 40 gallon barrels per boil. Very hard season for us.

[sugarsand]

Pretty sure tonite is our last boil. After freezing Sat and Sun nights the trees just arent putting anything out clost to home. However another woods 10 miles away thats colder are dumping it out. 1000 taps that I will sell, nearly out of wood and I dont wont to buy any more barrels this year. Will seem good to get cleaned up and thinking about something besides chasing after tubing.:cool:

[maple flats]

I'm going to collect today, but I expect it will be the last. Sap was very cloudy yesterday, thus I'm pulling the plug. I've had over 10000 gal of sap but never saw over 1.7%. My usual is 2.2 or 2.3 a few days early then mostly 2.0, usually finish with 1.8. Yesterday it was 1.2%. I wish I had a bigger RO at times like this season.

[whiteout]

Still going in st. Lawrence county. sugar content down t0 1.8 from high of 3.0

[antelope76]

Last boil tonight. Pulled all buckets down yesterday and sap was a little cloudy.

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

Still getting over a gallon a tap per day. As of yesterday, syrup was AR and still had decent flavor. Will be over 6 pounds a tap with today's boil. Hope to go through the weekend.

[maple flats]

When I went to collect yesterday the sap smelled sour, I dumped it. Forecast says it might freeze again this weekend. I'll run the pump an hour or 2 Friday and dump the sap, then wash the tank and see if we get the freeze. If we do and the buds have not yet opened, I'll collect the 2-3 day flow that will bring, then I'll likely call it quits. Still not a great year, at this point I'm at 140 gal packed and I have about 15-18 gal in the finisher plus the concentrate in the pans. That usually makes another 12-15 gal or so. If I get no more sap I might hit 170-175, we'll see. Lots of sap but poor sugar %.

[lew]

Neil, how's your sugar been? We've been pathetically low.

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

Neil, how's your sugar been? We've been pathetically low.

I haven't figured for the year yet, but looks like it will be on par with most years. Around 1.3 average for the season will be close. We've been around 1 percent for the past week.

[adk1]

I am still going but this Sunday maybe the end

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Carmel flavor tonight but no peepers (the kiss of death) yet.

[saphound]

Peepers are singing up a storm the last 3 nights in our pond. They must've had a good ole time last year because we've never heard this many out there before.

[Ghs57]

Heard them here for the first time this season yesterday, but I was done last Friday anyway. Still finishing up though.

[Eberzin]

Peepers out for 5 days. Last boil on Friday, but my neighbor picked up sap on my buckets 4/3. Last day for sure, some yellow, cloudy, off smelling. Only 15 good gallons. Many taps dry. Pulled all taps. Adding up season totals and statistics.

[Shaun]

At 1200' have not heard the peepers. First 100 Gallons went down the drain this morning. The sap is now running clear, maybe a freeze tonight.

[Wanabe1972]

I pushed all the sweet out on Wed. Ran a good flush, acid and soap wash to the RO. Pans are full of permeate and waiting for a scrubbing. Made 32 gallons from 244 taps which isnt great but the sugar contenet was pretty low.

[maple flats]

My bush is running clear and I also hauled 260 gal from another producer, very clear and it was running good when I was pumping. The unfortunate part is that it was only 1.1%. I'll collect that again Monday, which will be my final collecting for this season.Still shooting for 200 gal syrup but the chances look slim. If his falls to 1% I'll be lucky, I think I'll get 550 gal on Monday morning if the flow remains good. It is forecast to freeze again tonight and then run all day and night Sunday into Monday. He's Amish, and doesn't want me to pump on Sunday, I'll respect his wishes.

[Eberzin]

Done. Last sap run 4/3. Season went from 2/17 - 4/3. Boiled 5 times.
Had a very good year, tapped some new trees which ran very well.
19 gallons of sap per tap
.425 gallons syrup per tap
44.7 gallons to make a gallon of syrup.
Early runs were higher sugar content but then very low the rest of the season.
Only 2-3 days where it ran really well and not many days where we had cold nights and warm days. I think the new trees which were never tapped before saved us as they out produced every tree we have in our 45 year old sugarbush. My neighbors totals were equal to this or better, this was his first year and on all trees which have never been tapped.

[maple flats]

My pump is now running for the last time to collect sap this season. I'll pick up in the morning, my lease and one pickup from another producer, then finish off what is still in the works. Then I will get a season total.
Then to start the clean up and pull all the taps.

[lew]

Finished out the sweet in the pans yesterday. Pans are soaking. RO is put away and all the spiles are pulled. Just need to wash tanks, change oil in vacuum pumps, and scrub the pans. Oh, and start on next years projects.

Put together some final numbers. Pretty depressing. 5,800 taps, 1900 gallons syrup (almost exactly), 143,600 gallons of sap. 75.6 gal sap to gal syrup. Thats about 1.15 average sugar content. Boiled 23 times. Our yearly average sufar content is isually 1.4. Wouldnt have been so depressing if we had that this year. That's about 400 gallons of surup difference. Ouch! Never had a big run. Only 2 days with 2 gallons per tap.. ok. I'm done whining now.

[maple flats]

I'm getting twitchy about tomorrow's final pickup. It got awfully warm today, the sap may be spoiled.

[Shaun]

The peepers were singing when I got home from work tonight. Going to get up real early and boil what I have. Sap seemed to slow way down this evening.

[saphound]

I pulled my taps today...sure has been a weird year. I tapped in a teeshirt and pulled them today in a teeshirt...with a big snow and a lot of cold in between. Sap was actually running pretty good today as I pulled the spiles...sap is now running down the trees..most of them were going 2 drips per second. That's a first for me, but I got called back to work starting tomorrow and the sap would surely spoil before I could get to it on Saturday. Dumped around 25 gals or so. oh well. I've got enough for our needs for this year..won't be as much for gifting tho...

[maple flats]

I brought in the last of my sap yesterday. I got 550 gal from one other producer at 1.1% and I got 280 gal from my lease at 1.2%. The end.
Temps got up to 80 yesterday and anything that may have run is surely spoiled. Today I finish off what is in the evaporator, first a short boil in the arch, then it all gets pumped to the finisher. I will have a season total either today or tomorrow.
Sugar % was very low all season here, my bush and my lease started at 1.7-1.8% but soon fell to 1.7 then kept falling until it hit 1.5 and 1.4 for much of the long season. My first boil was on 2/19, over a month after I finished tapping my bush and about the time most of the lease was finished getting tapped after needing record amounts of repairs. My last boil was 4/10/17.
Now to finish what's left, clean the pans and move on to other farming needs.
I also have a few old bulk packed syrup I'm going to open, reboil and regrade, some in 5 gal jugs I no longer use and a couple in SS showing signs of maybe some fermenting. I may end up selling some commercial for a change. I'm going to do what is needed to get rid of all those loose ends, some of which are 5-9 years old. This is my year, "now that bulk prices are at recent record lows".

[Shaun]

Was not going to collect this last weekend. Glad I did, Ended up making 15 more gallons of DR with good flavor. Also low sugar this year, new tubing and first year with vacuum my numbers seem to good to be true...

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Pushed the sap to the sugarhouse yesterday AM and pulled the plug. Chased the evaporator today. Final figures give me .4 gallons per tap. I'll take it and try for more next year.

[Brian Ryther]

Pushed the sap to the sugarhouse yesterday AM and pulled the plug. Chased the evaporator today. Final figures give me .4 gallons per tap. I'll take it and try for more next year.
Good job Doug. How did the monitoring system work? Did it pay?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Good job Doug. How did the monitoring system work? Did it pay?

It worked well Brian, the longer we used it the more we learned. I did resent it showing me a releaser had malfunctioned at 10:30 PM but dealing with the problem then meant an extra 8 hours of sap.

[maple flats]

I'm done, my last pickup was last Monday morning, boiled it down, then finished off the contents of the evaporator. I ended up with just 174 gal off 750 taps. My sugar % for the season averaged just 1.25%. Had my sugar been at my typical 40/1 ratio I'd have made 303 gal. That would have been much better. I processed 12110 gal of sap but only got 174 gal syrup. My previous lowest sugar avg for a season was 2.05%.

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

We finished up on Tuesday. Did the final tallys. Overall, 43.1 gal. sap per tap. 5200 gallons syrup on 8300 taps. Sap to syrup ratio a little under 70:1. Best woods did 50 gallons sap per tap and worst woods did a little over 32(this was 3/16 gravity). Sap was still running well when we quit and probably could have dumped sap for a couple days and made a few hundred gallons of processing grade, but not going to go out of my way to make it when they are only paying $1.15. Exceptional year for us. 95 percent of syrup this year is table grade.
Neil