Southern Ohio - Just Tapped

[bigrick_2u]

Tapped a few trees Wednesday night.... It was supposed to be upper 30's yesterday, didn't happen. It did today. Around 40 most of the afternoon. Should I be worried that sap hasn't ran at all yet? Tomorrow it will be almost 50, so I'm looking forward to that.

Sorry if this is a ridiculous question. Thanks!

[buckeye gold]

bigrick, Your fine don't worry that you haven't any sap yet. It will flow pretty soon. I still have my fall taps in, but letting the sap run on the ground, I checked a couple of those lines today and they had just a slow drip each. We had some pretty hard freezing weather last week and the trees are still pretty frozen. A warm up after a real hard freeze will almost always take 2-4 days before you see much sap.

I'm in Ross county. I spent the day cleaning the evaporator pan, head tank, my line collection tanks and resetting my pans. I have to clean my transport tank tomorrow. I just ended my fall season and I have to clean everything before I tap the main woods and start my regular season. I will set collection tanks and check all my lines tomorrow and if I have time I'll tap, but it probably will be Sunday before I tap. I think next week we'll be rocking and rolling. My average tap date is January 25 over the last 10 years. I will be done by March 1st most likely.

So hang in there.....in a few days you'll have plenty of sap.

[bigrick_2u]

Thanks! You were right. So far I've gotten almost a gallon per tap, excited to see what they do this week! Looks promising.

[bmbmkr]

Good deal Rick!! Hey Buckeye!!

[esetter]

Mine have done decent the last couple of days. As stated , it seems like i needed a full warm up day to get flowing.

[buckeye gold]

I'm all in now with all 110 taps in and collecting sap. I tapped saturday and had a small run yesterday and expected more today, but was disappointed when I checked the collection tank. I thought something was wrong so I walked the lines and found two places squirrels had chewed my line in two. Fixed those and sap was moving good this evening. You ready to go bmbmkr

[bmbmkr]

I am tapping today if it kills me!

[BAP]

I am tapping today if it kills me!
That is a True, Diehard, Sugarmaker.

[bowhunter]

I haven't tapped anything yet. I always seem to start too soon and have long gaps between when I first boil and when the actual season starts. Got my RO flushed and and membrane installed yesterday. Everything else is ready. Think I'm going to wait until the week of February 11 to tap. March looks like it should be good this year...a little colder than normal.

[bigrick_2u]

Haven't gotten almost anything the last two days. Hoping the cold night last night vs the 40+ temps today will have it flowing again.

[bmbmkr]

That is a True, Diehard, Sugarmaker.

BAP, it didn't kill me. But is could have I was out all day working on tubing & mainline, cutting in new drops. I came in at dark to eat, grabbed a headlight and a couple LED work lights, and headed back out with the drill and bit. I found a lateral that I had forgot to connect, so I proceeded to put a big nasty blood blister on the inside of my left thumb with my tubing tool, slipped down a 20ft hill side, dropped one of my lights off a rock cliff, all before I got the first tap in, so I decided to call it a night. Not so much die hard as stubborn.

I did manage to get 183 taps in Wed & Thurs. I found my first squirrel chew, and second, and third, all in the same stretch of line- Funny those 3/16 fittings go in a lot easier to squeeze in when they are wet with sap. Also funny, I found the bubbling leak, spliced in a connector. Proud of myself for fixing my first leak, I stood back and beamed. Well there 6" below, was another one, just as many bubbles. Spliced in another connector-6" below that, ANOTHER one! lol. I had sap all over me and filled one of the pockets of my tool bag. Good luck everyone with this years season!

[buckeye gold]

I haven't seen any of the southern producers posting for a day or two. I suppose you're all busy boiling sap. The last two days have been full days for me with big runs. I cooked 295 gallons of sap the last few days. I'm ready for a break.

[asknupp]

Friday night was the first boil. Ro to 4% and boiled down 125 gal and made about 1.5 gal. Today boiled down 150ish of 4% and and made about 7 gal. Shurflo pumps are keeping me busy working leaks and finding the sweet spots to keep sap ladders working. It's been fun so far though.

[Cuse]

My first boil on Sunday. The gravity line produced more sap than I thought, RO produced 4%, boiler worked great, ended the day with a little less than a gallon. It was a learning experience, but loved every minute of it. My gravity line was the best decision this forum talked me into! Thanks for all the help!

[asknupp]

Collect 260 gal of raw amd will concentrate that down. Worried about freezing in my head tank tonight while boiling. Will have to get creative. Tank sits outside but I can boil off about 60gal an hour.