sap running in the rain

[michael marrs]

my buddy makes syrup, and deals a lot with the amish, he was told by one of them today, sap doesn't run in rain. was he being yanked?

[motowbrowne]

my buddy makes syrup, and deals a lot with the amish, he was told by one of them today, sap doesn't run in rain. was he being yanked?

In my experience from running buckets, usually not. Maybe on vacuum it's a little different. I've seen a good run stop dead in the span of an hour or two in front of a weather system moving in. I've also seen my taps run as hard as they ever have at 31F in the midst of a snowstorm with thunder. That was a really goofy day.

[Russell Lampron]

I've seen it both ways. The first year that I did this we had a dry summer and fall and the trees were thirsty. I got the best run of the season on a rainy day. I've also seen it run good in the rain after a hard freeze.

When you do this long enough you will find that there is no such thing as a normal season.

[maple flats]

I don't recall back when I ran buckets but on 26-27" vacuum, I usually get my best flow days when it rains, but not always.

[michael marrs]

thanks , and that is correct, whenever i think i know what kind of day it will be , i am wrong

[Ed R]

The days that fool me are when its 33-35 and running like crazy.

[BAP]

We used to put out 4-5,000 buckets each year and some of the best runs were in the pouring rain and we were gathering.

[ennismaple]

The sap should run well in the rain because rain happens as part of a low pressure system. Low atmospheric pressure results in more sap being released from the tree. It doesn't always happen like this but I've gathered a LOT of sap in pouring rain!

[Road's End]

Had a great uncle who used to always dump his buckets when it rained because he assumed it was all rain water. When he upgraded to tubing in the 70s or whenever it came out he was shocked to see he had some amazing runs in the rain...smacked himself for dumping buckets all those years...