N00B - When to Tap - Southern NH

[jwith]

I'm new to maple syrup production. The neighbor and I are doing this for fun and family only. We have finished building our arch and had a 2x4 SS continuous flow evaporator pan made.

We have identified ~80 trees (mostly swamp maple, but some good old sugar maples). We have good elevation ~100' drop for about half the trees (Unfortunately, they are North East facing). We have setup 3 lateral runs with 10-20 trees each, using 3/16 tubing for natural vacuum. We followed Tim Wilmots papers for 3/16 vacuums.

Being new to this, we understand the theory of freezing nights and warm days causing sap to flow. The problem is identifying good runs and when they are coming, based on weather forecast. I've spoken to a few local backyard sugars' and most have said they have been starting too late and missing the first good run. We don't want to tap too early because we don't want the taps to start to heal and close up before the end of the season.

If anyone in our area could keep us up to date when they are taping. I'd like to follow along with experienced maple syrup makers.

Thanks!

[Flatpan1]

Keep an eye on your local weather. You want the day time temps in the 40’s and nights below freezing. And in a perfect world nice sunny day but that’s asking a lot from the weather. Taps will run good for 6 to 8 weeks and then start losing production. If you put taps in around now you should make it to the end of March in good shape.
Old school rule of thumb tap Presidents’ Day. Good luck have fun

[BlueberryHill]

I'm not too far from you and I am going all in right now. With all new tubing, you should be all set to make it without drying up early. If you are hanging buckets, you might want to wait just a bit for those. Looks like a stretch of a few good days in a row starting this weekend!

[maple flats]

Taps drying up on 3/16 vacuum is rare. Most will still be wet and running as the buds open. Your issue will be the soft maples, their buds will open well before the sugar maples do. As soon as you see the buds open you must remove the soft maples from the lines. Last year, my soft maples opened bud 3 weeks before the sugar maples did, 2 weeks might be more common.
If you were on buckets or 5/16 gravity tubing the issue with drying tap holes is far greater. With 3/16 the vacuum never quits unless you get a leak that causes the natural vacuum to be lost. Watch out for little bubbles, that is a leak, fix it. To identify where the leak actually is go up the line to where you first see the tiny bubbles when the sap is running, you just found the leak.

[bagpiper]

Hi NOOB - I'm an hour east of you just over the border in Maine. I tap all reds and have a 100 trees on vac. and 40 on buckets. If you are just going with gravity, I would wait a bit until we start getting some 4 and 5 day warm spells. Reds are very stingy unless you are on vac. and if you start too early, you'll get frustrated with the small flows and constant freeze-ups. Keep checking back on MT. When the sap starts flowing, everyone will be posting and you'll know.

[BlueberryHill]

Weather outlook has improved. I'm going all in right now. Tapping everything I can before the weekend. Hope to be boiling by Monday!

[jwith]

Hi NOOB - I'm an hour east of you just over the border in Maine. I tap all reds and have a 100 trees on vac. and 40 on buckets. If you are just going with gravity, I would wait a bit until we start getting some 4 and 5 day warm spells. Reds are very stingy unless you are on vac. and if you start too early, you'll get frustrated with the small flows and constant freeze-ups. Keep checking back on MT. When the sap starts flowing, everyone will be posting and you'll know.


Keep an eye on your local weather. You want the day time temps in the 40’s and nights below freezing. And in a perfect world nice sunny day but that’s asking a lot from the weather. Taps will run good for 6 to 8 weeks and then start losing production. If you put taps in around now you should make it to the end of March in good shape.
Old school rule of thumb tap Presidents’ Day. Good luck have fun

Thanks! Next week is looking perfect, starting Saturday. Highs in the mid 40's and lows in the mid 20's for 4-5 days straight.


Taps drying up on 3/16 vacuum is rare. Most will still be wet and running as the buds open. Your issue will be the soft maples, their buds will open well before the sugar maples do. As soon as you see the buds open you must remove the soft maples from the lines. Last year, my soft maples opened bud 3 weeks before the sugar maples did, 2 weeks might be more common.
If you were on buckets or 5/16 gravity tubing the issue with drying tap holes is far greater. With 3/16 the vacuum never quits unless you get a leak that causes the natural vacuum to be lost. Watch out for little bubbles, that is a leak, fix it. To identify where the leak actually is go up the line to where you first see the tiny bubbles when the sap is running, you just found the leak.

Good to know. I will remove the reds as soon as we start to see the buds.


Weather outlook has improved. I'm going all in right now. Tapping everything I can before the weekend. Hope to be boiling by Monday!

I will be tapping Friday!

[Brandy Brook Maple]

I almost never make syrup in April, so my rule of thumb is count back about 7 weeks and tap. And I guess it's a good idea to tap when it's fairly warm. So you don't split the tree.

[raptorfan85]

This is my second year tapping. Last year I was a little early to the party... just put 30 buckets up today to see how it goes.

[Dill]

I could have tapped today. Decided to spend my woods time adding more taps here at home. I think I'll probably tap what I've got installed monday and then go back to adding more tuesday. Figure I won't fire up til thursday.

[bcarpenter]

I'm new to maple syrup production. The neighbor and I are doing this for fun and family only. We have finished building our arch and had a 2x4 SS continuous flow evaporator pan made.

We have identified ~80 trees (mostly swamp maple, but some good old sugar maples). We have good elevation ~100' drop for about half the trees (Unfortunately, they are North East facing). We have setup 3 lateral runs with 10-20 trees each, using 3/16 tubing for natural vacuum. We followed Tim Wilmots papers for 3/16 vacuums.

Being new to this, we understand the theory of freezing nights and warm days causing sap to flow. The problem is identifying good runs and when they are coming, based on weather forecast. I've spoken to a few local backyard sugars' and most have said they have been starting too late and missing the first good run. We don't want to tap too early because we don't want the taps to start to heal and close up before the end of the season.

If anyone in our area could keep us up to date when they are taping. I'd like to follow along with experienced maple syrup makers.

Thanks!

I’m in Bedford. We are tapping this week 2/12 after work no later than this coming weekend 2/17. Have 50 taps on hobby vac.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jwith]

I’m in Bedford. We are tapping this week 2/12 after work no later than this coming weekend 2/17. Have 50 taps on hobby vac.

We tapped this past Firday/Saturday 2/9-2/10. We have 50 taps total, 3 3/16 lateral lines that run down ~100' drop. The taps started running immediately. We've got about 30 gallons of sap in 36 hours. I'd say not too bad. Weather is looking good for this week.

[Scm]

..........

[bcarpenter]

We tapped this past Firday/Saturday 2/9-2/10. We have 50 taps total, 3 3/16 lateral lines that run down ~100' drop. The taps started running immediately. We've got about 30 gallons of sap in 36 hours. I'd say not too bad. Weather is looking good for this week.

Nice! Are you closer to Bedford or Amherst? Always looking to see how other people do their hobby set ups. We are off of Wallace rd.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lords sugaring]

Greetings from Candia. 25 in yesterday and another 25 today with the little one. We got soaked but he had a good time. Hopefully finish off the buckets in the next few days. Seems pretty early this year but weather looks promising, don't usually tap for another few weeks. I guess we'll see what happens. Have a good season everyone

[jwith]

We put 50 taps in on Saturday 2/10. Over the week we collected about 120 gallons of sap and made 2 to 2-1/2 gallons of syrup this weekend. We are expecting a lot more this week.

https://preview.ibb.co/de0rFx/sap_storage_1.jpg (https://ibb.co/gsuwhc)

https://preview.ibb.co/dBUwhc/sap_storage_2.jpg (https://ibb.co/n4tNNc)