Northern Ontario - 2018

[Fort Wisers]

Although our home is in south eastern we have a camp closer to North (Mattawan).
Anyone tapping up in the north country yet?
Since there was no thread started yet we're going to assume no lol

A local source near North Bay tapped about 40 trees but has yet to collect anything.
Anyhow, figured someone should start a thread, good luck this season!

[lewichuk19]

Pretty sure most are tapped in around here...

[Fort Wisers]

Pretty sure most are tapped in around here...

Sap running yet up there?

[lewichuk19]

It tries to, but the weather is barely cooperating. Had a few nice days last week with lots of sunshine, and around 6 degrees. Lately though it barely gets above zero with pretty chilly nights. When the sap runs it is pretty slow moving and doesn't run for any length of time. I do use 3/16th, so it does help getting it going, and seems to run longer then it should.

[sugarstone]

We're just south of Trout Creek. Our 1150 on vac ran enough late last week for us to process and boil. Sap was at 2.1%. I'am guessing Mattawan Twp would be a bit behind us.

[Fort Wisers]

Thanks sugarstone, good to know.....

[northwood]

I'm in the north end of North Bay and it's not running yet. I typicaly start to tap the end of March. Bigger producers just south of me had some sap during a brief warm spell but I suspect it will be 2 weeks until it opens up for me. Mattawa would be about the same, especially if you have any elevation, as I do. I'll keep you posted when it starts in my area.

[Fort Wisers]

I'm in the north end of North Bay and it's not running yet. I typicaly start to tap the end of March. Bigger producers just south of me had some sap during a brief warm spell but I suspect it will be 2 weeks until it opens up for me. Mattawa would be about the same, especially if you have any elevation, as I do. I'll keep you posted when it starts in my area.

That's awesome, thanks Northwood!
Yeah we're up a fair bit higher then the town of Mattawa proper....

[northwood]

Well if you believe the weather predictors from well known networks, it looks like from Sunday through all next week will be ideal sap producing days.;) Cordless drill is all charged and ready. Pretty much 2 weeks later than last year.

[northwood]

I put out 30 buckets on Sunday afternoon and all were dripping slow. looks like good weather through the week so I'll get the rest hung ASAP and hope for our first boil this weekend.

[Fort Wisers]

I put out 30 buckets on Sunday afternoon and all were dripping slow. looks like good weather through the week so I'll get the rest hung ASAP and hope for our first boil this weekend.

Thanks for the update Northwood!
Good luck with your season....

[Someclown]

Woohoo, somebody opened the flood gates yesterday, the big trees in full sun have thawed and produced and looks like a decent couple days to come.
Although next week's night temps. will be back to the deep freeze.
Always works out great when ice fishing season ends just as sap season begins.

[Someclown]

Well winter is back in the north but at least I was able to get 2.25 litres of niterless non filtered sweet gold before thìs 20+ cm dumping of snow and -15c nights.
18457

[northwood]

Yea, the weather has been less than perfect to say the least. We also got hit with a about 15cm of snow and some pretty good drifts, as well as a -20 dip last night. Needless to say I won't be collecting any sap until maybe after the week end. I haven't had enough sap yet to fire up the arch.

[Someclown]

Looks like we're going from winter to summer up north so we'll see how the flow and budding goes in the upcoming weeks. Still a pile of snow that refuses to melt due to the layers of ice mixed in.
Northwood are you going to fire up or give up?
I have taps in West nippissing area very close to the lake and some in the Sudbury area and it seems that the trees are thawing at around the same rate as of last night's collection,
Imanaged to get 27 gallons over the past week to boil down on my small operation today in the +14*C temps today.
My trees at home in clay mix soil full all day sun have just started to thaw and run whereas my trees 3 kms away in sand and and on rock in full all day sun have been producing since late March, clay really prolongs things but the trees seem to grow really well in it

[lewichuk19]

Weather near the soo sucks too!!..went from too cold to almost too hot in a hurry. Here is hoping the 2' of snow still in the bush holds the trees off from budding. Forecast I have shows we gotta get through 5-6 days of 12-13 degree weather before we get back into a bit of cooler weather. Of course that forecast is subject to change...haha

[opinionated]

Finally had my first "real" boil today. I made probably two quarts just on the stove a couple weeks ago, not enough sap to even think about firing up the arch until today. Past 3 days I've probably collected 250l from 33 taps. Some trees ive never seen run that hard. But like you said, gonna be too warm next few days, and I've been tapped in for 6 weeks now too. My bush floods so I'm hoping that holds off at least to let me get one more boil in..if I get enough sap. What a year.

[northwood]

Just had my first boil. (April 21) Almost a month behind. I only put out 50 taps this year thinking that I would add more as the weather became favourable. Well we had two days of good weather and then summer hit. We literally had two snow storms last week and then +12 all weekend. Everything frozen one week and then t-shirts and sunburn. Looks like i'll end up with about 4L of amber early/mid/late season syrup. That would bring my average yield to about 0.1 L per tap. (insert sarcasm here):-|

[Run Forest Run!]

The season wasn't great for me, but what you have experienced up north is the pits. At least I was able to get some sap during a couple of thaws and saved it up until I had enough to boil. The weather was not our friend this year. I can't imagine how disappointed all of you must feel.

[northwood]

Disappointing is right, the day starts out sunny and perfect, the trees start to drip and by 11:00 am the temps are +10C and the trees just shut down. I guess i'll wait until the weekend and then pack it in. Can't imagine making syrup in May. What really get me is, the set up and then clean up is the same whether you get 1 bottle or 50. Also need to consider the sap buckets hanging in the hot sun all day growing bacteria.
Love this hobby!

[Run Forest Run!]

I know what you mean northwood, the set up and clean up is the same amount of work no matter how much syrup you make. I'm starting to clean up things today. This is the part I hate.

[Someclown]

Just might get five more days out of this season and they may be good days, fingers x.
I'm now up to 1.7 imp. gallons of syrup on 31 taps since the last week of March, with enough sap collected today to get well over the 2 gallon mark and all light amber, just like liquid gold.
First batch was nitreless second was nitrefull
My goal is 3 imp. gallons so if things don't go well this week somebody's Christmas will be ruined bahahahaha
And I'm not just clowning around

[Fort Wisers]

What a weird year you guys are having up north.......
Our fingers are crossed for a good tail end to the season for you!

Cheers

[northwood]

The season has ended for me. Had a decent steady run on Sunday and Monday. averaged just over 2 gallons of sap per tap over 2 days. Pulled the 50 buckets on Tuesday, most were still dripping really slow but at 14C was cloudy. now the dreaded cleanup. The 2 feet of snow pack from 2 weeks ago has nearly disappeared and is overflowing the banks of area creeks and rivers. I put out 60 taps late March, had my first boil on April 21st and my 2nd/last boil April 30. Technically I was making syrup May 1 because I boiled into the wee hours. probably end up with about 12 liters of syrup. Good thing I have some 2017 reserve. Time to move on to Summer projects.

[Run Forest Run!]

Northwood, sorry to hear about your mediocre yield for 2018. This is when we are grateful for the 'private stash' that we keep to tide us over when the trees and weather don't co-operate. I still have some snow/ice against the house from the ice storm as well. What weird weather we had this year for sugaring. By the end of today I should have all of my sugaring equipment cleaned up.

[Dlee]

Well its been a slow start this yr just collected my first 30 gal of sap with any luck might be able to have a boil on the weekend. Weather here doesn't look real good till the last week of March it could be a real short season . Might be glad that I have some left over from last year:).Hoping the weather man is wrong and next week is good :D

[Dlee]

Well we boiled yesterday ended up with 6l of yummy syrup and the weather is not in our favor for three days but that could change. Anyone else in the north getting much sap?