Western MA - My drill finger is getting itchy

[berkshires]

Looking at the short-range forecast for my area in Western MA, next weekend (1/20 - 1/21) looks very good, with daytime temps in the 40s. And then long-term forecasts for the end of January and all of Feb look above average. I know it's really early, but I'm seriously considering pulling the trigger next weekend.

Some considerations aside from the usual come from the fact that my wife and I had a baby, so that means I'll likely only have time to get to the cabin to boil on weekends. That means that some late season runs might sit in the sun over the week and spoil in 60 and 70 degree temps. So if I can trade early season runs for late ones, that's probably a good trade-off.

There is another piece of it though. I may have a limited number of weekends I can skip out on the family, or convince the wife to come with me. Since there tend to be more and bigger runs late in the season, if I wind up only being able to get out to my sugarbush a few times, I might get more out of the late season trips rather than early season ones.

What do you all think?

[johnpma]

Congrats on the baby!!

The forecast looks tempting but I am no where near ready to tap. I can tell you (after my septic issues) that there is a LOT of frost in the ground. I'm not sure if this has any influence on sap flow.

I'm going to stick to my plan of 2nd weekend in Feb. If you do tap and need a hand on a weekend to speed things up shoot me a PM I'd be glad to help you collect, or help however I can. I know how busy, and hectic things can get with a little one.

Good luck keep us posted on how it goes

[berkshires]

Thanks for the congrats, and thanks too for the offer of help! I'll let you know if I get overwhelmed.

I think in Chesterfield you're physically close as the bird flies, but quite a bit higher in the hills. I suspect as much temperature difference between your place and mine as between mine and, say Westfield (typically around 4 degrees warmer than me). So it seems reasonable I should start a week or two before you. Last year I tapped Feb 19th, which worked out perfectly for six weeks. Looking at my notes, I can't see any time in the recent past where tapping this early is really the best, but in 2012 and 2016 I think there would've been only a small penalty for tapping so early. So I might get lucky this year. I dunno, the jury is still out.

Gabe

[johnpma]

I work in Westfield and it's about 8 degrees colder up in Chesterfield so you are correct for sure........

Certainly up by me this weather feels warm after the cold we had but I have never really tapped before Feb ever.......

Good luck

[berkshires]

Well, no-one talked me down from this crazy idea, so.... I'm going to go tap tomorrow. We'll see what happens!

[MikeR]

Go for it! I'm going all-in tomorrow as well (~30 taps on swamp maples).

[berkshires]

Good luck Mike!

[johnpma]

Good luck this season guys did a lot of cleanup around the shack today.....interested to hear your results

[berkshires]

Well I tapped today, and I'm now wondering if that was wise. Nearly 40 degrees, and barely a couple of drops of sap from the trees that see the most sun. I'm thinking with all the snow, they're still pretty frozen up. Hope I don't regret tapping so early. We shall see. Forecast says 50 degrees on Tuesday. If that bears out, that'll get the trees running for a day at least.

[sweetwater sugar shack]

I put in 86 yesterday they were running pretty good all 3/16

[berkshires]

I put in 86 yesterday they were running pretty good all 3/16

Hey that's great to hear! You're right next door, so to speak, in Blandford. I think the super-cold nights for the two nights before I tapped were the reason I didn't see much on Saturday after tapping, but I expect it ran pretty good for me on Sunday, and today and tomorrow should be killer. At least I hope so! I won't be able to get back to the sugarbush until next weekend, so time will tell.

Gabe

[sweetwater sugar shack]

The one's I put in are in westfield so a little warmer down there

[SeanD]

I cut a limb from a sapling that was against one of my lines and it dripped pretty well on Sunday. Tasted pretty good, too. I'm not ready, so I'll get going in February.

[berkshires]

The one's I put in are in westfield so a little warmer down there

Oh yeah, like four degrees warmer on average. Still, I'm hoping that I should've gotten a decent run Sunday, maybe a little today, and tomorrow should be good.

[WESTMAPLES]

honestly ive put out 4 test bucket taps in westfield and montgomery at my bushes and my results are wait alittle longer. i like to `test the water` so to speak, before going all out tapping and because there is nothing worse than fighting frozen releasers, tanks, pumps, lines, float box, ect....when i haven`t got enough coming in to justify processing before this next cold snap (15 or less degrees for multiple nights) goes by. keep up the good work

[berkshires]

Makes sense. If I had no other constraints on my time, I'd definitely still be waiting (though it would be hard with these warm spells).

[bigschuss]

I'm up in Savoy at 2,000 and I can't even imagine tapping right now. My average date of first tapping is right around the first week of March. But reading this thread sure makes me anticipate the season a bit more!

[berkshires]

Well I just drove out to my sugarbush and... the trees say it's still winter LOOOL! I've probably got around 8 or 10 gallons in a dozen buckets. Not really worth firing up the evaporator for. A couple of the trees ran pretty well - ones that get the best sun (go figure), but most have only an inch or two of sap. And all the sap is totally frozen solid. So I think I'll just toss all the sap cubes in a 50 gallon tote, hang the buckets back up, and see what happens over the course of the next week. It should be cold enough this week that the sap will keep until next weekend. Hope to get another little run over the weekend and into Monday. That plus what I've got should give me enough to boil next weekend.

[johnpma]

I'm actually down at the south Shore for work in RI and I don't see anyone tapped yet which is surprising as it is a bit warmer down here.....good luck! I hear we have some more winter coming early in the week

[SeanD]

I was really keeping an eye on what the next ten days held as we got into this thaw. It looks like we are having a typical winter to this point in the sense that we've had substantial cold and some snow, a January thaw, and a return to cold and snow - at least in this area. I'm sure the trees with good sun started to thaw a bit, but I think they are taking their time. While I do look at the predicted highs in the forecast, I also watch the lows. Even though the high might get to 40, if it's coming out of the teens or low twenties, sap might only run for a few hours that day. The ground is still pretty frozen and the January sun just isn't that strong yet. In two weeks, the day is 30 minutes longer. Two weeks after that, it's an hour longer. It may not matter too much for the tubing, but it definitely helps the buckets. Of course, I'm small enough that I can afford to wait for things to be perfect.

[berkshires]

Wise words, Sean.

[johnpma]

Still getting things in order in the shack. More tubing in the woods this weekend. Was 23 overnight and we are lucky to see the mids 30's for a short period of time during the day. Seems to be slow going up in Chesterfield. Still hopeful to tap for Valentines Day......no pun intended

[berkshires]

Take your time John! Looking at the long term forecast, they're now predicting that all of Feb will be colder than average. Then again, that could change - just a week ago they said it would be warmer than average, so who knows.

Anyway you look at it, seems like I tapped way too early. First week I got around 3/4 gallon per bucket. Hopefully I got a little more over the last weekend and into Monday, but it's going to be so cold the rest of the week and going into Monday, I'm not even going to bother to make the drive to boil this weekend. Everything should stay frozen and fine. I'll drive up during the next warm spell to boil. I knew I was jumping the gun, I just didn't expect to be penalized so much LOL. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[sweetwater sugar shack]

I got my pan sweetened that's about it for now Manbey a run on Thursday

[berkshires]

I got my pan sweetened that's about it for now Manbey a run on Thursday

Nice! Sounds like your trees around Westfield are producing pretty well for you already?

[WESTMAPLES]

all ive seen so far is a few drips from a broken limb on a maple tree next to my shop that lasted about 5 mins before freezing up again and thats in the direct sun, so im keeping up with my regular day job for now.... to cold over night in my area for good long lasting runs thru the day

[johnpma]

Can't wait to see what they say THIS week for the month of February forecast.........may not want to see it:o

[maple flats]

Mine looks like no sap anytime soon, may even be March this year before it flows

[WESTMAPLES]

usually the weather in my area evens out right at the` sweet spot ` around mid to late feb but im also accounting for taphole life using CV spouts keeping in mind the general area that my season may come to the buddy end.... the weathermen guesses at the weather all the time, but if i guess then end up wrong = money and time lost. keeping a eye on the long term forcast the way its been- looking day after day, definitely helps ease the excitement of wanting to go out and tap everything thats for sure

[johnpma]

Anybody have enough to boil yet??? I think I'm still a couple weeks away from tapping..........

[WESTMAPLES]

i haven`t and nobody i know has..... honestly the only maple trees ive been looking at lately have been going thru my firewood processor lol

[johnpma]

i haven`t and nobody i know has..... honestly the only maple trees ive been looking at lately have been going thru my firewood processor lol
Do you sell cord wood? I'd like 3 cord in the spring after the maple season ends

[WESTMAPLES]

yes i do.... ive been selling premium hardwood firewood for going on 12 years now started out doing 20 cord a year with a maul, then a `big box store splitter`86 cord, then built my red devil splitter with 4/6 way head and a old 24 ft kmart merchandise conveyor 178 cord , and now ive almost finished (adding little things here and there) to my processor in the last 4 months ive done 230 cords and counting ..... liven my american dream everyday. PM me when we get closer to when you would like it thanks

[johnpma]

yes i do.... ive been selling premium hardwood firewood for going on 12 years now started out doing 20 cord a year with a maul, then a `big box store splitter`86 cord, then built my red devil splitter with 4/6 way head and a old 24 ft kmart merchandise conveyor 178 cord , and now ive almost finished (adding little things here and there) to my processor in the last 4 months ive done 230 cords and counting ..... liven my american dream everyday. PM me when we get closer to when you would like it thanks Congrats that is awesome!!! Down the road from me they build those CRD processing units. Can't believe how many they move all over the country. Will do thanks!!

[WESTMAPLES]

yeah i went and demo`d a woodbine rapido loco 60 a few months back and talked with chris and his guys, there is no bs, pumped up cord pre hr rates, or smoke n mirriors with them, ive run a handful of other processors the rates others advertise are slightly inflated in normal, not prefect wood . hopefully the end of this year or start of 2019, i will be the proud owner of a 60 model. i just laugh abit when people ask `what do you do for work` and my reply is `im self employed`.... they usually say `it must be hard out on your own`!!! my reply is ` well everybody has to stay warm`..... boy the looks i get.

[berkshires]

Anybody have enough to boil yet??? I think I'm still a couple weeks away from tapping..........

Haven't boiled yet, but the one silver lining on this cold is that hopefully it's keeping my sap frozen so it won't all go bad when I get back up to the sugarbush to boil. It's now been three weeks since the first run. I put all of that run (pretty much 100% frozen blocks of sap, aside from a little sugar-syrup in the bottom of some buckets) into a 50 gallon tote and put it in my (unheated) sugar shack. Really hoping it's not a stinky mess when I get back there. Given how cold it's been, it should've stayed pretty much frozen the whole time. As for what little has been dripping into the buckets since then... we shall see. Fingers crossed.