End Feb sap hauling

[CTsugarMan]

Anyone seen a slow down in sap the last few days? We were pulling it in like crazy for a while, now taps are very slow drips... Was it that 70 degrees day Weds? Looking for what anyone else is seeing.

Thanks

[Cjadamec]

Yep mine have pretty much stopped since it got warm. Nothing below freezing on the 10 day to start things up again either.

[BSD]

chance of dropping just below freezing tonight, tomorrow night we'll drop below, questionable for tuesday night. i was really hoping for another good week of sap before the season ends. hopefully we get it before the taps dry up.

[DaveB]

Mine are all still running very well. I tapped another 50 yesterday and it was flowing very well. I also collected another 350 gallons between Friday and this evening off one of my bushes with 150 taps. I can't speak for the others but they are in the same area as the 50 I tapped yesterday and were flowing well. FWIW, I tapped 2-3 weeks ago. Not sure if that makes a difference. Then again, I'm at 750' near the Mass. line so my climate might be a little colder than where you guys are.

[markgm]

Even though the temperatures went below freezing here in Plymouth after the summer weather, the sap has basically stopped flowing.

[hodorskib]

Sap is still running on my 90 taps on 3/16" tubing with check valves but ones with traditional spouts and bags have stopped. Sugar went from 1.5ish to 1%. Collected 140 gallons yesterday and another 70 today.

[mhovey]

I collected on Thursday as my buckets were overflowing. Barely anything in my buckets since then and the little bit that is in there smells a little sour. I am wondering if the cold weather predicted for the end of this week will turn things around.

[killingworthmaple]

It's not getting cold enough at night to make a good run 27F seems to be the magic number it should come back if we start getting cold nights again but the syrup will be darker.

Nathan

[Gord]

I collected on Thursday as my buckets were overflowing. Barely anything in my buckets since then and the little bit that is in there smells a little sour. I am wondering if the cold weather predicted for the end of this week will turn things around.

Accuweather's long range forecast, in my area of CT, shows nights in the low 20's and days in the 40's between 3/4 and 3/25.
Is this too late to tap some new trees for this period of time, in the event my present taps dry up? I'm on buckets, not tubing.

[Calycanthus]

it seems we go through this every year, but that's what qualifies for water cooler gossip with this crowd. Me too, I been poring over every possible mid and long range forecast I can find for a while now.

One guy just up the street just had the shortest season on record, he tapped just before the president's day weekend and started pulling mid week.

Locally, low temps flirting with the high side of freezing for at least the next week. Long range does have some cooler temps in the second week of march, but that far out...

last year, much the same discussion. If you stayed in, the last boil was still end of march or first week of April. For all the frustration of the weather today, there's a reason the average is the average, because most times, it'll even out.

on a very much related but somewhat related note...anyone have a good handle of statistics? I'd be very interested in attempting to develop a degree day forecasting/measuring model for maple production...but my grasp of math ain't that good.

[Mike Van]

Accuweather's long range forecast, in my area of CT, shows nights in the low 20's and days in the 40's between 3/4 and 3/25.
Is this too late to tap some new trees for this period of time, in the event my present taps dry up? I'm on buckets, not tubing. You can tap more trees for sure, just make sure you use clean taps in them, not the ones yopu just pulled - I may be doing that too in a week or so.

[CTsugarMan]

I've never retapped before, was thinking about it I'm just shy of 3000 liters .. why clean taps in the new tapped trees? Even if just tapping same tree other side?

[Mike Van]

Look about 12 topics down the Ct page & find my thread from last year [lesson learned] it's all there.

[CTSap4Maple]

Pretty much dried up here. Are we getting another run this week with the overnight freeze each night?

[BSD]

Pretty much dried up here. Are we getting another run this week with the overnight freeze each night?WX looks good this coming week. my big property is pretty much dead. one line running ok, another running about half the trees, and the rest are just flat-lined. i drilled a new tap hole in a large tree the other day and nothing ran when it should have been, given the weather. really disappointed. i really wanted to boil another 1500 gallons this year.

[merryall]

absolutely nothing here all week. Flows have been erratic all season and sugar content is about 1.2%

[SkunkWorks]

Last batch was super dark. I think we’re done for this season.

[mspina14]

taps and tubing have been dry for about 4 days now.

I'm hoping the upcoming colder weather gets us one or two more runs this year.

Mark

[hodorskib]

Made a batch today from sap Thursday-Saturday made some very dark syrup. Brought all the tanks back to the house scrubbed them out and temps just hit 27 so hopefully the season will continue.

[DaveB]

Taps have definitely slowed down here but I still managed to collect about 200 gallons off 200 taps yesterday from the last few days. The weather this week looks good and continues beyond that so hopefully things pick up. I doubt we are done, particularly in the northern tier of the state.

[Gord]

I put out 12 fresh taps on new trees over the weekend, and they just started to run. Things look pretty good here in the North East corner of the state, for the next few weeks.

[DaveB]

I put out 12 fresh taps on new trees over the weekend, and they just started to run. Things look pretty good here in the North East corner of the state, for the next few weeks.

21° for me this morning off a high of 41° yesterday. It's 44° today. The rest of the week is cooler (storm tomorrow & Thursday) so I think you're right.

I wish I had my sap cam up and running to see how it's running today...

[SkunkWorks]

Any recovery in Lyme?

[sr73087]

I noticed the buds on some of my reds starting to swell. I haven't gotten much at all the last few days. Since the warmup it has been very slow. Will the cold wake them back up?

[DaveB]

Things are running slower up my way but the sap is definitely responding to the cold nights and warm days. For example, instead of 400 gallons every 3-4 days off 150 taps I'm getting about 300 gallons every 7 days. The next 7 days looks like the weather trend continues so hopefully you guys get better flows as well.

[Mike Van]

I noticed the buds on some of my reds starting to swell. I haven't gotten much at all the last few days. Since the warmup it has been very slow. Will the cold wake them back up? I wouldn't count on it, once those holes start sealing off [warm weather really accelerated this] they've pretty much had it.

[mspina14]

Any recovery in Lyme?

Sap just started flowing yesterday after about a 10 day hiatus due to warm temps.

Buds are swollen but still tight. I checked my buckets this morning and they are about 1/2 full and sap is following well.

Weather looks favorable over the next 3-4 days, so hope we get a nice run out of it.

Mark

[BSD]

In Ridgefield. my trees took a long break after that big warm spell, but they perked up and are producing well again.

[CTsugarMan]

Well my 100 line taps are flowing like mad, pulled the 40 pails those holes shut down for good. The week with this snow storm looks promising... Anyone else seeing a improvement in flow?

[hodorskib]

I have 88 on 3/16" lines and they are running strong my 12 on traditional taps and bags have also picked up. I didn't tap out until President's Day weekend though.

[Gord]

Same here. The 12 new taps I put out are running well. And what I boiled yesterday turned out lighter in color than what I was getting the previous 3 to 4 boils, from the trees I tapped in January.

[runmca]

I had a good run this weekend and did my last boil yesterday. Ended up with about a 70 to 1 gallon ratio overall for my three boils this year. Wishing everyone the best for the rest of the season!

[DaveB]

When I was boiling last weekend the sap was boiling like it was the end of the season but this week was totally different. The sap has been flowing nicely for me and I'm producing lighter syrup as well. The cooler weather looks to continue at least towards the end of the month but there will be one warm-up. Hopefully that is not too long. This season is shaping up like last season. There was an early start (which I skipped) and I tapped like normal in mid-February and it's looking like my season will be ending like normal at the end of March.

[DaveB]

It's been a good week here in the NE corner of the state. Despite the storm I've collected about 800 gallons of sap. It was flowing pretty good but I suspect that things will be frozen this weekend just as they were last year. Temps look below normal through the end of the month and we might get a warm-up but that's just too far out to tell. I think all this melting snow and temps just about right for the foreseeable future is good news. I hope everyone is having as good a season!

[Mike Van]

Most of the hundred plus trees I tapped in mid January have stopped, they really slowed after that 75+ degree day back in Feb. I got some 30 or so i just did in the past week, about 30 gal / sap a day right now, not a lot but will keep me going until the bitter end - whenever that is -

[Gord]

The new trees I tapped after that warm up week are running well. Feels cold outside, but when I go check my buckets, the sap is running just as it did at the beginning of the season. The sap is frozen in the morning, but by 4:00 in the afternoon, it has thawed out. I'll run out of wood if this continues, but I don't mind. There's always more wood to cut.

[CTSap4Maple]

Hoping for one last run here next two days. Looks like it’s warming up with no overnight freeze in sight.

[mspina14]

Emptied 15 buckets today and collected about 30 gallons of sap.

Sap was crystal clear but most trees were not running. A few were running very slowly.

My Reds on vacuum have all but stopped.

I think the end is near....

Mark

[Gord]

Agreed. Last Saturday I boiled 36 gallons. This past Saturday I boiled 30 gallons. Trees are running well here. And the sap is crystal clear.