Weather effect on this years sap production(Southern IN)

[PoseyCoMark]

Trying to figure out what to expect this season with how the weather has been. Considerably warmer temps around Evansville area. Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Weather during season will be the main effect. Weather now has little correlation to spring sap flow

[MunsterMapler]

Yeah I'm curious as to when people are planning on tapping, the weather up here in nortwest Indiana seem like they are ideal right about now, but I'm nervous to tap this early

[Mitchell tapper.]

i have 30 taps in the Mitchell,IN area. Put them in 3 days ago and it’s not running well at all. The lines are 3/16 tube with a diaphragm pump. I think I’m going to not run the pump and let the lines gravity flow till it improves.

[PoseyCoMark]

Yeah, I'm hoping for a little consistancy with weather during time sap starts flowing. Your right, Mr. Thompson, I'm just getting antsy. Last year didn't tap until the 19th and had one of our best seasons. Like you, Mitchell tapper, we have it all on 3/16". All gravity though.

[kharper]

So, my big question. How long will the trees accept the perfect temps without starting to run and bud? I would think they would start budding before long

[MunsterMapler]

That's my dilemma too. I tap all silver maples and they always bud early making my season typically only 2 weeks long. I guess we'll see what happens

[Andrew Franklin]

I have 150 taps on 5 3/16" runs near Bloomington. I went down to just check things out last weekend, but now thinking I should maybe tap soon. So much work to do...critters chewed through lines everywhere and each run is about 700' long on a 300' steep hill, so just walking the lines is a workout. I found one tap that didn't get pulled at the end of last year and it appeared to be collecting some sap in the line. Scary...we are normally in a deep freeze now. The next 10 days look like perfect weather for sap, but I have to think we will have a couple of weeks of colder weather coming after that. With splicing lines and putting in new drops and taps I won't be ready till then anyway. Leads to this question...any harm in putting in the new drops and taps in the fall? I'd be a lot more prepared if that's ok.

[bmbmkr]

I Leads to this question...any harm in putting in the new drops and taps in the fall? I'd be a lot more prepared if that's ok.

This is only our third season, so take my input with that in mind. I put up my first tubing in the fall of 16, 125 taps on 3/16 and expanded last year- 240 and this year- 450+. We started out tubing work in October/November every year. In the last month I've added another 75 drops in my woods here at the house, and ran another mile+ 3/16, 175 taps, in my Dad's woods a mile up the road. Last year between Oct & Jan the squirrels did hit a few places, chewed laterals, drops and even the tee's on brand new material. In every instance it was where tubing touched a tree This year I haven't found any damage to the new lines, and only a few on the old laterals- I've already been in and replaced spiles on the old drops. I'm using 5/16 drops on 3/16 laterals, and CDL 3/16-5/16-3/16 tees, they have a nice cup that I put the spile in to keep them from dangling and having coyotes chew on them. I haven't had a problem with my spiles being in early- using clear CV and regular from both Leader and CDL. We've had several 2 Gal per tap days, and last year even though we shut down in Feb, had a tree I missed pulling the tap that was still running March 26 was tapped Jan 15th. We are going to be tapping within the next 5 days, I have a few things to finish up in the new woods, and building cribbing for two of the three woods tanks. Good Luck to all my Indiana brothers and sisters from southernmost OH! Ben

[Andrew Franklin]

Good luck to you, and thanks for the input!

[dsaw]

I’m holding off a bit hoping for a cold spell; but may end up regretting it. I’m heading out this weekend to inventory and start replacing drops.

[DougM]

Last year I came across some examples of using Growing Degree Days to estimate the end of syrup season. (Not helpful for estimating the beginning). I'm no scientist, so what you see is what you get, but as far as when you can expect trees to bud there is some information that may be helpful here: https://primalwoods.com/revisiting-the-end-of-maple-sugaring-season-based-on-growing-degree-days/ and in the links he includes in the blog.

Good Luck

[dsaw]

Finished replacing taps today in the rain. Added a few, up to 155. May add another run, we’ll see.

[TonyL]

We've got 80 on 3/16" and another 20 on buckets. Ro'ed approx 300 gallons this weekend, boiled approx 80 gallons of concentrate.l Great way to try out our homemade RO. looking chilly for the next few days.

[TonyL]

RO’ed another 130 gallons of sap Thursday night. Headed back to boil shortly.

[kharper]

Looks like next Saturday I'll start setting taps. Might a few good days if the sun comes out.

[dsaw]

Tapped 109 today, about 2/3 of my current total; but I'm hoping to add a few. It was barely moving in a few trees, but not much.

[dsaw]

Tapped another 81 today putting me at 190. I think I’ll put in another run next weekend to get to 200. Problem now is it’s too warm. I’m worried sap will be bad by next weekend. It was running pretty good today (2 of the runs had 29” of vacuum). All of mine are on 3/16, but I’m experimenting with a 5/16” trunk line to bring 5 barrels together at one spot. I don’t have all the pieces to tie the barrels together yet, so right now the main part of the trunk is laid, but only to one barrel and the rest still individual barrels.

[TonyL]

Finished off the sweet from our previous boils today, made almost 7 gallons of syrup. Lines and buckets running well, currently RO’ ing another 100 gallons of sap for tomorrow’s boil.

[TonyL]

Collected another 200 gallons since Monday night, all RO'ed and boiled down to almost 5 gallons of near syrup. Will add that to the near syrup from Monday's boil, and finish off this weekend. Closing in on 800 gallons of sap thus far for the season. Still dripping tonight, but slow. Need some colder weather to recharge the trees.

[Ross]

Put in 20 taps on bucket drop lines and 6 on wine bags last Saturday. Have collected 53 gallons as of this morning and added 4 more bags.

This is my first year and I'm having a blast!

[dsaw]

So 2 weeks ago I collected 480 gal of sap, but after RO’ing to about 45 gal, float box stuck while boiling and I had run inside to make the kids some breakfast; burned my pan. Seriously burned it. It had embers in the pan. Cleaned it up (warped as all get out), collected 450 gal sap last weekend. Had a kid event smack in the middle of this weekend, so I just went out after that and dumped about 380 gal of sap. Should have been more, one barrel fell over and squirrels put a few holes in another line. I did get 2 overflow barrels hooked up, so hopefully next weekend will be good.

[TonyL]

We've processed over 1900 gallons so far this season, yielding just over 29 gallons of syrup. The homemade RO we put together has been a real game changer, enabling us to eliminate 75% of the water without lighting a match. I think we may call it quits after this coming weekend, if we get one more good run.

[DougM]

Tony, how is your RO set up, & what's the rate it processes sap?

[TonyL]

Doug, I used Hodorskib’s setup with 5, 150 gpd membranes. I was really worried that it would be too small, but that hasn’t been the case. We’ve been regularly processing 10-12 gallons of sap per hour, with Saturday night’s 160 gallons started at around 6:00 pm, and the sap tank was empty when I got to the sugar house at 8:30 Sunday morning. It left us with 44 gallons to boil, and that’s with sap still flowing into the holding tank when I left Saturday night. We’re boiling on a homemade arch with a 2x3 flat pan, and I while I don’t think our current RO will keep up with the expansion I foresee in our future, it has opened my eyes to the possibilities. After just one season with it, I would hate to go back to boiling raw sap.

[DougM]

Thanks for the info, Tony.
With a system around that size, it seems like it would work, but would probably have to run constantly.
And we'd have to figure out the logistics of processing what we have coming directly to the sugarhouse in tubing, what we collect from the bags and what we collect from our remote location...more stuff to debate while we're boiling :)

[Andrew Franklin]

I did the 4 membrane 150 setup, and then this year added 4 250 membranes. Going through about 20 gallons of sap per hour and getting about 8-9%, Not lightning fast, but a huge time and wood saver. I only have 80 taps this year, but last weekend I had a little more than 200 gallons of sap which I processed overnight and then brought home and just finished on a turkey fryer. Slower than my Mason 2x4 evaporator for sure, but nice to be home and spend some time with my wife and kids. Realistically anything over 30 gallons of concentrated sap I should do on the evaporator, but this weekend for example I had 75 gallons of sap that I ro'd down in 4 hours and was easily managed on the propane turkey fryer.

[TonyL]

Andrew, what did you end up doing regarding a pump? Did you go with the procon, or is the 8800 pushing through all 8 membranes.. seems pretty unlikely?

[Andrew Franklin]

Andrew, what did you end up doing regarding a pump? Did you go with the procon, or is the 8800 pushing through all 8 membranes.. seems pretty unlikely?
Hi Tony, Sorry...I haven't been on for a while. I am using the 8800...it seems to have no problem holding pressure at 125, and I haven't even turned it up, which I may do.

[Ross]

Are you guys in Southern Indiana still going or is it over down there?

[TonyL]

Can’t speak for everyone, but we’re done. Sap was still running as of yesterday evening though. We will finish off some near syrup this weekend, then begin cleanup. Fantastic season, could’ve made more, probably still could, but it’s very warm and the trees know it. Started hearing the Spring peepers yesterday.

[Ross]

Spring peepers out here too. And honey bees and lady bugs and cranes flying over. On track to make 10 gallons. I'm happy with that for our first year. My goal was between 5 and 10. We will probably stop sometime next week.

[Mitchell tapper.]

From 35 taps I collected 4 gal of sap this morning. Tonight there was another 4 gal but it had an odor to it. I have been adamant about keeping the collection tank clean so maybe budding sap. I’m not sure. So I dumped it and shut the pump off. I have about 20 gal of sap to boil.

[Andrew Franklin]

Just throwing this out there for you all...keeping my taps in through this next week of cool weather (check local listings). If my sap is off, I take it down to sugar and my wife mixes it with some concoction of coconut oil and something else for a hand scrub that she sells for much more than I make on my syrup. Not that I do it for profit as I lose money every year, but the "off" sap is still good for her hand scrub and people love what she makes.

[TonyL]

This weekend was the official end of our season. We finished off the last of our concentrate, pulled all our taps, cleaned all the equipment and tanks, disassembled and cleaned the RO, and closed up the sugarhouse. The final numbers represent our best season to date, with 2400 gallons of sap collected, 570 gallons boiled after the RO, and 39 gallons of syrup produced. Our sugar content was lower than usual, at 1.5% for most of the season. The homegrown RO was an absolute lifesaver, although I think we may need more capacity next year. I didn't worry about preserving the membranes, as the cost for 5 new replacements is less than $150. We tossed them, and will buy new next year if we stay with this system.

Hope this season was just as excellent for my fellow Hoosier sugarmakers.

[Andrew Franklin]

This weekend was the official end of our season. We finished off the last of our concentrate, pulled all our taps, cleaned all the equipment and tanks, disassembled and cleaned the RO, and closed up the sugarhouse. The final numbers represent our best season to date, with 2400 gallons of sap collected, 570 gallons boiled after the RO, and 39 gallons of syrup produced. Our sugar content was lower than usual, at 1.5% for most of the season. The homegrown RO was an absolute lifesaver, although I think we may need more capacity next year. I didn't worry about preserving the membranes, as the cost for 5 new replacements is less than $150. We tossed them, and will buy new next year if we stay with this system.

Hope this season was just as excellent for my fellow Hoosier sugarmakers.
Tony, that's a great haul! How many taps did you have? Congrats on a great year! I'm hoping to get a little more through the middle of the coming week, and then pack it in.

[TonyL]

Thanks Andrew, we had 80 on 3/16 natural vacuum, and another 20 on buckets for good measure... no more buckets from now on.

[Andrew Franklin]

Thanks Andrew, we had 80 on 3/16 natural vacuum, and another 20 on buckets for good measure... no more buckets from now on.

Wow! I had 80 on 3/16, but I think the squirrels killed me...plus a few downed trees in wind storms. I haven't had the time to walk the lines like I should have. That's great production...probably over 3 times what I'll get unless I have a big haul that doesn't spoil by Friday. I have noticed my trees are in a pretty dense forest that doesn't bud until later than most...fingers crossed. Where are you located? I'm on Lake Lemon just north of Bloomington.

[TonyL]

We’re about 25 miles west of Bloomington. 23 degrees here this morning, good luck on the rest of your season!

We are blessed with some great natural slope, this line was still running when I discovered the tree lying on it this past Saturday. Granted, it was at the end of a run with 26 trees on it.