South Central and South Eastern PA

[Plutoman15]

How is the flow going in our area of Pennsylvania? Weather looks good until next week when it looks to stay above freezing for too long. Trees were mostly flowing really well yesterday and I am expecting a lot tonight.

I am new to sugaring so when does our area usually see the end of syrup season?

Joe

[Evets]

Depending on the weather trend, we could go at least well into March I should think.
I checked my traps this morning and was pleased to find most of them about 3/4 full. They all were maybe 1/4 full when they shut down a week or so back.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Hi Joe, I put my taps in today. All 8 sugar maple trees. Yes, it's time and the flow should be good. I am counting on four weeks of flow from today. However, keeping the sap cold will be a challenge near the forth week to keep it from spoiling (think of it as milk), but not an issue if you boil right away. If there are three or more days in a row without an overnight freeze, the tap hole will dry out and the season will end. Keep records of your tapping adventures and syrup making so you can plan for next season. Notes are very helpful. FYI, I am in Elizabethtown, Lancaster, Pa. Have Fun!
Ross

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cAiYDH7Ofo

[Plutoman15]

Ross,
Starting Sunday, the forecast shows 4 days in a row that does not get close to freezing. Are you saying that will end the season for the currents taps?

Joe

[Plutoman15]

I had my best night collecting sap. Even my dry maples are starting to drip. Sugar is really low though. One big open tree is at 2%, the rest are barely 1% so my average is just over 1%. I have a small RO system which will help a lot.

Anxious to see what one day of 60 degrees does. Half of my trees I think are still frozen. Tomorrow should thaw them out.

Joe

[Plutoman15]

Trees are flowing today. Hoping it doesn’t end the season being warm too long.


Joe

[Evets]

I made an interesting, if not disturbing discovery today. But first, Since it's warm out today and I was concerned about my 35 or so gallons of sap spoiling, and I won't be able to boil again 'til maybe Monday, I figured I better do it today. I ended up with just a bit less than a gallon of nice light syrup. Now for the interesting part! Since I knew I had to be respectable later on today, I did my whole boil without having a beer! I know, right?! Who-da thunk it was possible?

[Plutoman15]

What sugar percent is everyone seeing? I am averaging just over 1% using a mostly Norway, one silver, and 1 Walnut. One big open Norway gives me 2%, the silver and walnut 1.25%, and the rest is 1% or worse. Unfortunately I do not have any Sugar Maples.

What are you all seeing? I see a lot of complaining for low sugar this year in other threads.

Joe

[sticknstring]

Joe,

I am just north of you in Newville and work in Chambersburg. I can't help you on this one, but its cool knowing there are people around that are doing syrup. Being my first year doing this thing, I have sunk money into taps, block for the cookin pit and buckets. Considered springing for the stuff to measure the sugar percentage in my sap but figured that i'd spent enough for this year and really, it is what it is and I would be cooking it down regardless of whether it was 1 or 2 or 3%. I will have one for next year though, along with a homemade reverse osmosis system and I am going to have a 2x4 stainless pan made to cook in.
I don't know what percentage my sap is running, but it was sweeter than I expected when I tasted it. So I guess that's a good thing....

Justin

[Evets]

My sugar has been pretty good, at least according to my home brewers hydrometer. I only have two sugar maples but as of yesterday the sap was at 3%. The rest, all silvers are giving sap at 2.2%, all combined.

[Plutoman15]

are they open trees or crowded in the woods?

Joe

[Evets]

are they open trees or crowded in the woods?

Joe

Mine are all pretty much in the open.

[Plutoman15]

Sap was flowing pretty good today. I am hoping for a good day tomorrow and maybe an ok day Tue before things shut down for a while. Way too warm coming up with not much hope 10 days from now.

Joe

[Plutoman15]

So are we done in south central PA? Anyone see buds swelling? I was hoping for one more good run but the forecast is not promising.

[sticknstring]

The buds on the silver Maples I was tapping were popping the beginning of the week. I can't speak for other maples, but the silvers in Cumberland County are popped.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Ross,
Starting Sunday, the forecast shows 4 days in a row that does not get close to freezing. Are you saying that will end the season for the currents taps?

Joe

Sorry I am late on this reply. Without sunshine I am losing energy fast. These last three days of rain have zapped my super maple syrup powers. I have been sapless for three days. I have had red maple trees completely dry up in the past with three days of warm weather. Sugar maples are better at recovery after a warm spell. I am hoping Tuesday the sap is in the sacks again. The sugar % has dropped to 1% on some trees and I do not boil 1% sap. Costs me too much money and time. I have 4 taps on Black Maple that were 3% to start and at last haul were 2.7%. Hoping they restart also. I have two gallons of syrup in jugs so far.
Ross

[Evets]

I'm done. I checked my buckets this morning and found basically no sap. Some of them were kind of nasty looking inside, so I just pulled all my taps. I've all my spiles and short tubing soaking in an acid bath in my pan for a day or two. I rinsed out the buckets but I'm thinking about replacing them all for next year. I made about 4.5 gallons of syrup this year from 15 taps. That's pretty good for me. No complaints.

[Plutoman15]

I pulled my buckets last week but I see freezing temps coming this weekend. Silver maples are popping around here but I am hoping the norways hold on for next week. I will check buds before collecting again. Might be too late, we will see.

[Plutoman15]

Suppose to freeze the next 3 nights. Whats the chances we get one more flow? Norway buds don’t look plump yet.

[sticknstring]

Good luck plutoman!!

[Plutoman15]

Looking at the wind that is suppose to come, I am afraid my buckets might blow away :o

[sticknstring]

If the wind is outta the south and they make it thru chambersburg to my work in green village, i will pick em up for ya!

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Untapped (3/1/18) in Elizabethtown Lancaster County. Add three gallons of syrup to the PA total. That was a fun February!

[Plutoman15]

If the wind is outta the south and they make it thru chambersburg to my work in green village, i will pick em up for ya!

That's funny. Let me know how much sap was in them ;)

7/8 days are at 32F or colder. I think I will put a few out (with bricks on them) and see what happens. All open Norways that don't looked budded out yet.

Joe

[Plutoman15]

Forecast is getting better and better. I tapped some more open Norways today. Nothing flowing yet. I don’t think it got cold enough last night. Suppose to get into the mid 20’s the next 5 days or so. Hoping the warm weather didn’t shut down the trees. Buds are still firm on Norways.

[TPosey]

Tapped 425 trees Friday night and Saturday mourning and by 3:00 Saturday afternoon had over 200 gallons already and was running really good . All on 3/16 with anywhere from 10 to 25 inches of vacuum @ 3%. Looks good for the rest of the week.

[Plutoman15]

How much drop do you think you have?

[Plutoman15]

One tree gave me a gallon of 2.25%. All others nothing. New trees I tapped yesterday have budds that are looking suspicious. Supose to be colder tonight but today was not encouraging.

[TPosey]

I have 25 to 30 taps on each line. I only had put 4 vacuum gauges on the lines I had the most drop. I would say from my last tap to the main line it would be anywhere from 10 to 30 foot drop that I got those numbers. From my first tap it would be around 100 foot drop. This is the first year I ran 3/16 on natural vacuum. I have some lines where I only have about 5 foot of drop and they were running good. I will check the vacuum on them this weekend when I get back up. Had the neighbor at our camp check yesterday and it was not flowing as good as it did saturday. We our on the north side of mountain and I don't think it got warm enough for it to run good. Hope to get enough to boil this weekend.

[Evets]

Anyone looking for a nice oil tank arch with a home made ss 3 section continuous flow pan and a bunch of extra stuff?

[sshirk5573]

possibly - very interested

[Plutoman15]

Sap started running today. My high volume low sugar lines did not run but my 2% trees did. Freezing again tonight so hoping for more tomorrow.

The one tree has buds looking suspsicious but the sap was clear and tasted ok.

[Plutoman15]

I think we are at the end for south central Pa. Trees that ran great last week have slowed way down dispite a good reset the last few days. I am guessing tomorrow is my last collection day.

[PHSINV]

First year tapper. Wondering about timing and when people plan on tapping. Looking at the forecast, after the polar vortex moves on, it's supposed to be in the 50s for a few days.It's not supposed to get down below freezing at night so I'm guessing that's not ideal to tap. I don't want to jump the gun, understanding that if anyone could predict the weather accurately they probably wouldn't be tapping trees. :-) Thoughts?

[sbedilion]

First year tapper. Wondering about timing and when people plan on tapping. Looking at the forecast, after the polar vortex moves on, it's supposed to be in the 50s for a few days.It's not supposed to get down below freezing at night so I'm guessing that's not ideal to tap. I don't want to jump the gun, understanding that if anyone could predict the weather accurately they probably wouldn't be tapping trees. :-) Thoughts?

Tap away this weekend! The trees will run well for 2-3 days during a warm spell before they slow/stop. Looking at the forecast....the freeze/thaw weather cycle looks to kick in right after this 2-3 day warm spell and will reset the trees. Look for the trees to run like crazy when it warms up! Good Luck.

[PHSINV]

Thanks sbedilion!

[Skeller001]

Thanks, I will redeploy my taps this weekend

[Plutoman15]

I plan on starting to tap this weekend. Looks like 2 days to run and then again going into next weekend after 3 days of warm.

[Plutoman15]

Mostly all tapped. 23 taps put in today. Sap was running. Tomorrow should be better.

Sugar was 1.75% so far.

Anyone else tapped?

[PHSINV]

I put in 9 walnut taps today.

[a.clarke]

I put all my 50 ish taps out yesterday. Headed out soon to go see if they have started running and to put the lines into the collection tank. It is looking like it will be great weather here for the next 2 weeks at least.

[Skeller001]

Picked up my sap after work today. Had about 15 gallons out of 14 taps. Not sure how that is compared to other trees and different times of the season. I didn’t think to test the sugar content till after I ran it through the RO twice. Then it was about 5-6%. Again, not sure how that averages. Tomorrow I will test before RO.

Since we only bought the property in December my wife is concerned if all of the trees I am tapping are maples. I think they all are based on remaining leaves, seeds, bark, and opposing branches. Is there any other ways to verify they are maples? Is there any concern if one isn’t? I guess worst cases is I boil it all down and we don’t eat any of it till we verify from the spring leaves???

[Plutoman15]

There are a number of trees that will give you sap like walnut and birch. Course they taste different but makes good syrup. I don’t know that there are bad trees to tap, most just won’t give you any sap.

I have collected about 40 gallons from 23 taps in 18 trees all on a single 3/16 line since Saturday afternoon. I only have Norway maples where I live but they are averaging 2% sugar so far. Off to a great start for my second year of sugaring.

Good luck!

[Skeller001]

Every tree I tapped had at least a gallon of sap in the bucket since Saturday.

[a.clarke]

Steve,

If they have opposite branching then that is a good start. There are only 4 trees that have that. Maple, Ash, dogwood, and Chestnut.

The ash branches are much larger and nobbier than the delicate Maple branches. The chesnut is similar to the ash in that it also does not have the nice delicate looking branches, the bark is also very shaggy looking. The last is the dogwood, it's branches can look similar to maples but the bark on the trunk is very scaley and looks almost like it is bade up of small plates.

Those have been my go to winter identifiers and so far they have served me well when I get the chance to confirm during the summer afterwards.

[Skeller001]

Collected about 6 gallons of sap today. It was about 3% to start, after the first RO pass it was about 5%, and after the second RO pass it was about 7%. I now have about 6 gallons of sap that has been through the RO system twice. It is clear to see that my limiting factor will be fridge space to store the concentrated sap before boiling it off. I was hoping to boil once a week on a weekend day.

[a.clarke]

Nice. 3% is a pretty good starting point. I got about 20 gallons of 1.8% from my 45 taps today. Not all were running quite yet. I think the trees are still thawing out a bit.

[Plutoman15]

19388

My yearly supply is growing! Good start so dar. Next week looks great for sap.

[Skeller001]

Nice. 3% is a pretty good starting point. I got about 20 gallons of 1.8% from my 45 taps today. Not all were running quite yet. I think the trees are still thawing out a bit.

That was measured with a wine making hydrometer. It is a little hard to be sure with it. I ordered a sap hydrometer which should be more accurate

[Skeller001]

Today I boiled off my RO concentrate. Everything went well. I ended up with 3 pints of syrup.

If I am doing the math right.... I started with 24 gallons of sap, down to 6 gallons of concentrate, to get 3 pints. I believe that is a 64:1 ratio.

[sbedilion]

Sounds about right. My trees are worse :). Now you can appreciate the high price for real syrup. Nice Job!