What are NH sugar makers up to

[white mt]

Just thought I’d start a thread looking for overall updates about tapping status and overall talk for us NH guys .

[white mt]

Most likely starting to tap this weekend . Using leader check valves . Think I should be ok no warm up in sight but better a bit early than late .

[Wingo87]

I got my small vac system tapped in this week. Sun was out yesterday and I got enough sap to clean my lines out and started collecting at the end of the day. Temps look good only for the next 2 days but we will see. I have some roadside tree that I will probably wait on.

[n8hutch]

Going to Repair Some lines and put a few Taps out this weekend. Looks cool for awhile, my woods faces East and doesn't thaw very quickly. I'm also using CVs about 600 of them. If I get tapped out and it hasn't warmed up I may run another couple hundred taps.

[CaptT820]

I also face east, so we are debating on whether or not to tap this weekend or next. The weather looks really good starting on the 22nd, so I may have to tap in this weekend to catch that. 84 taps this year almost exclusively on 3/16", just gravity.

[BAP]

Just about ready here. Going to wait to tap until it looks more promising sap weather.

[Dill]

I'm tapped in. Turned the pump on yesterday. It was reading 25in but I'm guessing I still have lots of ice in the lines. So tomorrow's job will be walking and fixing leaks when it warms up. Trying to figure out where to run my next mainline. I have the start and end point but haven't figured out the middle.

[LMP Maple]

Going to wait one more week here inHudson. All buckets for me. Looks cold next week. Going to go for it next Saturday!

[Russell Lampron]

I got about half of my taps in last Sunday. I'm hoping to finish tapping tomorrow but I can finish Sunday if I don't. After I get the taps in I'll set up my releaser and wait for the sap to run.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

I’m up to 200 tapped in Merrimack. Got about 200 gallons this past week. Hoping for a good season and got 100 more to install on a ShurFlo pump.

[Asa Matras]

Got our vacuum bush's tapped (1150). Got em mostly leak free last couple days, also gonna check em out tomorrow if things thaw a little. Gonna wait for some real sap weather to finish the gravity tubing and buckets. Just need to get the membrane put in the new cdl 600 on the sugarhouse end of things.

[Asa Matras]

I'm tapped in. Turned the pump on yesterday. It was reading 25in but I'm guessing I still have lots of ice in the lines. So tomorrow's job will be walking and fixing leaks when it warms up. Trying to figure out where to run my next mainline. I have the start and end point but haven't figured out the middle.Hey Alden, How many taps you up to?

[white mt]

Started the process today tapped about 500 . On snow shoes in my area of campton lots of snow in the woods . Shooting for 700 taps tomorrow .

[Russell Lampron]

I finished tapping today. I've got some repairs to do which I'll do tomorrow. It's amazing how fast some of the trees grow, I've got several that will take two taps now. It looks like the sap will start running here on Thursday so if I'm lucky I'll be boiling on Sunday. Good luck everybody!

[BAP]

My trigger finger is very itchy to tap this morning. Strongly considering going out later and start tapping, especially the steeper stuff before we get more snow this week. Pretty good walking right now and if Wednesday’s storm gives us a lot, it will be nice to be already tapped out.

[n8hutch]

I went out yesterday and packed down some trails, checked out my main line and laterals, the snow is Deep, Very Hard going especially in the deep stuff. Theres no crust really in the woods and even with snow shoes once in awhile you'll go over your knee deep. I'm going to cut a trail or 2 in the summer so maybe I can get up there on a sled. I'll keep plugging away at it, I've got a couple weeks anyway I'm certain.

[BlueberryHill]

I've got over 500 taps in and ready right now. Thinking about trying to add more and maybe get up to 600 before things start flowing.

[Russell Lampron]

I got my releaser set up today and made the repairs and added the taps that I wanted to. It was a beautiful sunny day to be in the woods. I was able to run the vacuum pump for a couple of hours and pulled in a little sap even though it never got above freezing.

[Asa Matras]

Yesterday we got the vac bushes all set and leak free (at the moment). Ran better than we thought, still not enough to boil tho. Hoping for some good runs this weekend to reap the rewards of all this work!;)

[UB29]

Set 44 taps on Saturday. 30 on 3/16 tubing, 14 on buckets.
Both 3/16 tubing runs running right out of the gate. Both on gravity...........25" vacuum on one.......20" on the other. This 3/16 stuff really works !!
Buckets almost next to nothing; will hold off another week or so on remaining buckets. 3/16 tanks looked like about 50 gals. last night.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Spent the weekend up at Sebago lake Ice fishing in the Derby up there. Came home to about 200 gallons of sap in my collection tanks and my 30 trees with Sap Sacks all had at least a gallon in them. Planned on collecting it all tonight but most of the sacks are frozen up. Still may collect from the tanks and run them through the RO and sweeten the pans some more. Just not sure how frozen the tanks will be. Was hoping to get above freezing today here in Merrimack, but doesnt look like thats going to happen. Later in the week looks great.

[Wingo87]

I did my first boil yesterday and made a little over a gallon of amber. I only have about 75 trees tapped, looks like this weekend I’ll put the rest in. Hopefully get enough sap to try out my RO this weekend too.

[white mt]

Taped in the snow all day today up to about 1500 taps in .

[white mt]

15 day forecast looks cold . Still lots to do so that’s ok .

[BAP]

Was supposed to clear out yesterday and be sunny in the afternoon. That never happened so even though it warmed up sap didn’t run. Today was supposed to be sunny and upper 30’s, cloudy and 33. Walked some lines this morning checking for leaks. Hoping it warms up a little more sap runs a little to make leak checking easier.

[CaptT820]

I barely got any sap on Saturday, a bit in the rain on Sunday, and things shut down on Monday. Looks like a slow week until at least Friday/Saturday when things might pick up a bit.

[UB29]

Froze up solid here in Wilton. 7 degrees this AM. 3/16 tanks have about 3" of ice; and 5 gal. buckets frozen right down to the bottom. Normally I toss the ice in the buckets, but frozen all the way means 2% sap is in there too.

[BAP]

Waiting, Waiting,Waiting for it to warm up and run. Doesn’t look like it is going to be running much anytime soon.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Looks like a really tough 2 weeks ahead. Patience!!!

[MapleCamp]

Going to wait another 10 days to tap here in Lancaster unless a change in forecast happens. Im in a cold spot and only have 300 taps that I can do in a day. Everything else is mostly ready. I built an RO this past off season so there will be some start-up adjustment. In the mean time pruning apple trees. Good luck all

[n8hutch]

I'm trying to get New Gear together, finally Bit the Bullet and bought a gas powered Airablo Vacuum Pump and a Releaser from the Fullers in Lancaster, also I got a 1000 gallon Bulk tank I need to get over 2 the woods and get that in place. Still haven't tapped many trees but I guess I'm not missing anything.

I got my Firewood done last weekend 2 cords of Ash. I know I know firewood in February. I'm going to be ready when the sap flows but not a day early.

[Russell Lampron]

I went to MES in Henniker and bought two new 4" membranes for my RO. They were only $215 each. Lapierre wants $465 for one NF90 membrane. When I did the math I saved $500! If you are in need of membranes or any other maple supplies check out their website. The lady that helped me out was a real pleasure to deal with.

[Asa Matras]

Got our first boil here at Matras Maple on Sunday night. Managed to get 725 gals from the weekend runs, sweetened the pans and got a couple gallons of syrup (amber). Maiden voyage on the new ro was awesome:) Now got to fight the ice in the evap for the next 2 weeks...:(

[UB29]

Went through the not too much fun task two nights ago, of collecting/banging/chipping (40) 5gal. buckets of almost solid ice. Filled up (3) 40 gal. barrels down by the woodstove. Payoff is today..........almost completely defrosted. Looks like about 70 gallons of 2% ready to hit the evaporator. And with a little help today from Mother Nature; should get things flowing again for the weekend.

[carusoat]

We tap woods in Amherst and Warner. Got 49 taps in Amherst 2/16 on 7/16 old school buckets. Tapped 18 in Warner 2/22 on 5/16 lines.

First boil last weekend, made a gallon. We have about 56 gal from this week but it's frozen and honestly that's a short boil so we're skipping this weekend hoping to have 100+ next weekend.

[Russell Lampron]

I'm driving up to Swanton VT tomorrow to bring back the defective recirculation pump that I got from Lapierre USA in the fall. I'm picking up a rebuild kit for my original pump and buying a second tower for my RO machine. They're discounting the defective pump off of the total. After it's all put together my RO will be a 250 and I'll have to change that line in my signature.

[Asa Matras]

We managed to get 300 gals. with yesterdays run. Kind of a piddly load to put through the ro but we werent leaving it in the tank or dumping it before this next freeze up. Squeezed it down to 75 gals. of 9% and got 5.5 gals. of liquid gold. The seasons gonna start in earnest starting this wknd folks.

[white mt]

Completed tapping yasterday7days on snowshoes. Now for fixing the line issues than fire up the pump next week looks good.

[Russell Lampron]

I added a second tower to my RO and it's almost ready to go. I ordered a plug for the second membrane today. The hole in the nipples on the MES membranes is larger than the hole in the nipples on the Dow membranes. My original plug is too small so I gave Lapierre a call and am getting one shipped down. I had the plug that I need in my hand when I was at Lapierre on Saturday. I should have bought it then but didn't know that I would need it.

[UB29]

Was also surprised to see some flow late Sunday into yesterday. Decided to collect whatever I have before going back into the deep freeze for the next few days, and picked up 40 gal. of 2-1/2%. Also bottled up Sunday's boil last night, and ended up with 3 gal. of the sweetest Golden I have ever tasted. Already falling in love with my new Mason 2x4 XL.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Thats awesome!! Good luck the rest of the way!

[BAP]

Still Waiting. Now up to a 2/3 tank block of ice from drizzling a little bit a few days in the sun. Did manage to thaw out enough mid afternoon Sunday to check for leaks,

[Hop Kiln Road]

Ditto. Got 3 gpt field storage now about 1/3 ice. Trees at 1000' elevation trying to go in bright sun and 21F. Could get interesting.

[Russell Lampron]

Already falling in love with my new Mason 2x4 XL.

I bought a WF Mason AOF/AUF arch for my 2x6 pans last season. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with it either. I concentrate to 14% and I went from drawing off 5 gallons of syrup in an hour to drawing off 8. What's not to love!

[68bird]

Got my new Creekside Welding 2x6 set up Sunday night! Did a test boil with water. Thing cranks!!! have about 200 gallons of sap that's frozen solid. Can't wait for the big thaw!

[UB29]

It's coming bird............starting this weekend.

[Dill]

What have I been up too? Well I spent feb vacay skiing rather then sugaring that was a change. Thought I'd push and boil on monday. I had some liquid in the woods tank. So I shoved my well pump down in there and pumped up. Duh all that ice that was on top of the sap is now on top of my pump. So I'm guessing that's going to freeze and bust. Then I fired up with whopping 100 gals of sap. And about an hour into it noticed the steam away float box was froze up and not flowing. Had to rip the steamaway apart, and with a lot of cussing and torching and a bit of blood I just barely kept my flu pan from getting dry. Man that was hectic. Still no syrup either. And my RO drain lines are all froze up and under snow. Really digging this season so far.
But on a good note, I ran another 1k ft of mainline last weekend, currently at 875 taps and I think I should get another 100-125 on that branch. So I should cross the 1k line again. Since I'm not tapping in Northwood anymore. And I've still got 3 more branches to run here at home.

[CaptT820]

We could sure use a big thaw. We've only been sugaring about 5 seasons. Anyone remember a season when it was this cold for this long to get going? It was -4 in the bush this morning at our place. Kinda hard to get anything moving with those temps and 14" of snow on the ground.

[n8hutch]

We could sure use a big thaw. We've only been sugaring about 5 seasons. Anyone remember a season when it was this cold for this long to get going? It was -4 in the bush this morning at our place. Kinda hard to get anything moving with those temps and 14" of snow on the ground.

Lol 14" of snow, I'd sell my soul to the devil if we only had 14" of snow here I've got laterals under the snow that I'll be ducking under when I pull the taps.

It has been too cold though, I'm not even sure a couple days in the 40s world get things going around here.

[Sugarmaker]

Got my new Creekside Welding 2x6 set up Sunday night! Did a test boil with water. Thing cranks!!! have about 200 gallons of sap that's frozen solid. Can't wait for the big thaw!

Bird,
Hope you like the new rig! I run pans made by Dave and they really do a nice job. (I am only about 5 miles from him, and had just heard he was in NH setting up a new rig)
Regards,
Chris

[white mt]

We could sure use a big thaw. We've only been sugaring about 5 seasons. Anyone remember a season when it was this cold for this long to get going? It was -4 in the bush this morning at our place. Kinda hard to get anything moving with those temps and 14" of snow on the ground.

I had one year not to long ago the first boil was March 30th . The season was 3 weeks long to the day . That won’t happen this year . Goodluck . All

[n8hutch]

It was a nice day today, got my new vacuum pump and releaser setup today. Seems to work good, it's much quieter than I expected. Tapped about 25 trees but I had enough bye 6:30 , called it a night, the snow is still powder in the woods, and near as I could tell every tree was frozen. You hit your head on limbs from above because the snow is still so deep. It's about 40" deep, I think that I'll be able to get about 400 tapped tomorrow. And maybe bye Friday I'll see some sap.

[Russell Lampron]

With all of that snow it seems like 400 taps would be pretty hard to do unless you have help. It was -1 here this morning and I imagine even colder up where you are. It got above freezing here this afternoon, high of 34*, but the trees were frozen and the vacuum didn't bring in enough to make it worth turning it on.

[Dill]

I’ve had more fittings push apart then any other year. It’s gettung annoying.

[n8hutch]

Russell was correct tapping went really slow yesterday got about 125 in , thought I was going to have some help but it never came spent 10hrs on the snow shoes, I do think I did the worst part of it though . Had some help this morning, ran 3000' of 5/16 went into a new piece of the 80 acres that I'm tapping, found at least 500 large sugar maples, only problem is they are 3-4000' from my tank, guess I need to run some mainline in the spring/summer/fall. I'll have 600 tapped by Thursday Friday, lots of light after work now.

[BAP]

Opened my last quart of syrup for breakfast this morning. Sap ran some yesterday after taking most the day to thaw out. Hopefully I will have enough to boil tomorrow for the first time this year.

[Dill]

That was just me. I filled my table syrup dispenser with the last of my syrup on monday. I need to make some syrup.

[Russell Lampron]

I was finally able to try out my RO to see what it will do with 2 membranes. I'm really happy with the results! It was worth spending the money for the upgrade. I was able to get the sap to 12% in one pass without pushing it too hard.

I sweetened my pans last night and drew off about a gallon of great tasting Amber. The season is finally here!

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Yeah buddy, glad to hear that!!!

[BAP]

Woo Hoo, Finally First Boil of the season. Not a large amount because most of it is still frozen solid in the tanks but enough for a couple hours boiling to sweeten the pans up.

[Asa Matras]

Trees started opening up today. Not crazy yet but it should get there soon

[MapleSaint]

It looks like it’s going to be really warm by the following weekend. What do you veteran sugarers think

[UB29]

Collected 92 gals of 2% last night. Three of my large 36" trees giving up 5 gallons a day.........Nice !!

[Asa Matras]

Got a little haul today. About 800+ gals. Hoping for some more overnight and Friday to have enough for our Saturday open house. Pumps are on tonight...

[Russell Lampron]

I got a disappointing 160 gallons today from my 725 taps. It's not supposed to freeze again until Saturday night so the pump is on for the duration. At 25.5" I should get something I would think. Maple weekend is almost here and I've only made a gallon of syrup so far.

[MapleSaint]

Not much in the buckets today. Just got the new pump on the RO and she is making 8%. So I will run my 100 gal through and boil for the first time tomorrow. Wish is was running better

[Asa Matras]

Boy today was a teaser, midday everything was locked up and by mid afternoon it was running the best yet this season!: Hosing into the releaser.:lol:

[Russell Lampron]

Boy today was a teaser, midday everything was locked up and by mid afternoon it was running the best yet this season!: Hosing into the releaser.:lol:

Same here! It didn't start running until almost 2 this afternoon and was all done by 6:30 but when it was running it came in fast. It wasn't the best run that I've ever seen but it was the best so far this season.

[white mt]

Not so good so Far on my end have yet to boil with a ton of work completed and nothing to show for it . I do have some sap but really want enough to rinse membrane and sweetened pan . Spent the warm up fixing lots of vac leaks than when I caught up it Was just a piddling flow .It was actually too warm with no freez up now it’s going to be frozen for three days . Tough Start . The further you are north I believe the worse it has Ben so far .

[n8hutch]

My trees started to thaw out Friday afternoon, I still believe only the smaller diameter trees have thawed, I was tapping again yesterday and I had a few wet holes in the sun but it was only smaller trees, I've got about 200 gallons in the woods that ought to be frozen solid bye Wednesday morning. I won't turn the pump on until noon Wednesday. Trees are starting to get wells around them. There is still 3 feet of snow in the woods .

[highway]

good morning all,

We collected on Thursday last week. Got just under 400 gallons on 560 taps. Some of my best bucket trees were dry. Pretty disappointing. I was able to run the sap through our new MES 300 RO and was impressed to bring the sugar up to 8%. Spent the morning boiling it Thursday and we drew off a couple gallons. Had to work all day Saturday to fix muddy roads but it didnt run much up here anyway. Started to run yesterday afternoon and hope it will again today. This sure is a strange season so far.
Ed

[NhShaun]

I thought I was way behind this season but after talking to some locals and seeing posts on here, its only just starting ! Managed to get around 200 taps in over the weekend. Aiming for 300 this year, but who knows. I hope everyone's trees wake up today and start catching up.

[white mt]

No big runs at white Mt maples in Campton . Closing in on the second latest start in 15 Years for us . Hope the trees wake up soon . Nothing really to talk about yet very modest flow of sap .

[JigsDigs]

Yes I hope the trees wake up. I had enough sap last Saturday to sweeten the pans. My fence line pipe has been the only line running steady. Snow is deep up on the hill.

[RedMapleCreek]

Really got nothing to speak of today in the northern lakes region, even though it got up to 45*, but down to 12* this morning ,plus my trees are on a north facing slope and still 2 ft of snow in the woods. Hope it starts soon.

[n8hutch]

I might have gotten 100 gallons today on 550 taps, tapped another 75 tonight, kind of a nice afternoon, maybe things will start moving tomorrow. I got the Vacuum up to 24" today that's about the max for my pump so hopefully I can keep it there.

[MapleSaint]

Well I don’t feel that bad then. I got 35 gal out of 100 buckets. Very weird season. I have almost 32 here so hopefully it goes below freezing and we get something going tomorrow before the storm. Can’t wait till new shack is built so people can hangout inside

[NhShaun]

Can’t wait till new shack is built so people can hangout inside

Having a roof over your head while sugaring is so much better , especially with company. Are you still looking for a sugar Bush in deerfield? I may be able to connect you with someone who has a good little section of sugar maples all on a good hill for easy collection and tubing runs.

[MapleSaint]

Definitely interested. NHShaun, I tried to send you a private message but I’m not sure it went through. Let me know thanks a bunch.

[UB29]

80....82....85. Running a steady 1 gpt daily rate here in Wilton this week. Forecast doesn't look good though for the weekend.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Ive been having a great week, got over 200 gallons each day this week so far, with yesterday giving me a completely full tote of 275 on my 275 taps. Looks Like I should be ok to boil for the weekend. Saturday doesnt look good for people getting out, cold and 25mph winds, but Sunday hopefully lots of people.

[Asa Matras]

Its startin' to open up folks. Had a nice 1600 gal. haul yesterday. Made 36 gal. last night. Finally cracked 100 gal. total up to date of liquid gold. Runnin' crazy today, some buckets are 3 times a second.

[Dill]

We finally cracked 100 gals over the weekend too. Slow maple weekend for us compared to last year. I took yesterday off to ski. Man standing all weekend in the sugarhouse then skiing hard for a day makes for really sore legs. We had good flow yesterday, luckily my neighbor pumped up for an hour to make a hole in the woods tank. Maple weekend was good but numbers were down, saturday way down and sunday still down a bit. I'll need to rethink our advertising. Going to open up again this weekend and hopefully sell more syrup. And I said it last year but spent the upgrade money on a filter press but I really need to swap my single vertical for a big horizontal. My 975 taps are running too hard for it to keep up and I'm lucky to have 22-23 inches of vac during hard runs. I have 24.5 during a slow run.

[Russell Lampron]

We finally cracked 100 gals over the weekend too. Slow maple weekend for us compared to last year. I took yesterday off to ski. Man standing all weekend in the sugarhouse then skiing hard for a day makes for really sore legs. We had good flow yesterday, luckily my neighbor pumped up for an hour to make a hole in the woods tank. Maple weekend was good but numbers were down, saturday way down and sunday still down a bit. I'll need to rethink our advertising. Going to open up again this weekend and hopefully sell more syrup. And I said it last year but spent the upgrade money on a filter press but I really need to swap my single vertical for a big horizontal. My 975 taps are running too hard for it to keep up and I'm lucky to have 22-23 inches of vac during hard runs. I have 24.5 during a slow run.

My horizontal is good for 8,000 taps and I only have 725 on it. Overkill, yes but it works flawlessly and keeps the vacuum going to the woods during the longer times between dump cycles. A filter press is a necessity too though. I don't know which one I would have bought first.

[Asa Matras]

We had a great weekend here. Still way behind with only 185 total gal. This week looks good, hope to be well in the 200s by the weekend

[Dill]

I did have a couple groups that went your way first Asa.
And I have to say now I really like the filter press. My usual night is 12-18 gals so it was getting to be way more then I could gravity filter plus I was spilling a lot of hot syrup. I need to add a drawoff tank because I've had some 3.5 gal draws that probably could have been 4 or 5 gals but 3.5 is all my milk can will hold. I'm also circulating the the syrup pan thru the filter press most nights.
Got a 4H club coming thru the sugarhouse tonight. And it looks like major sap thursday. I've still got quite a bit of snow in the woods. My bush is north facing so it only gets sun in the afternoon and I swear we haven't had many sunny afternoons.

[Asa Matras]

I did have a couple groups that went your way first Asa.
And I have to say now I really like the filter press. My usual night is 12-18 gals so it was getting to be way more then I could gravity filter plus I was spilling a lot of hot syrup. I need to add a drawoff tank because I've had some 3.5 gal draws that probably could have been 4 or 5 gals but 3.5 is all my milk can will hold. I'm also circulating the the syrup pan thru the filter press most nights.
Got a 4H club coming thru the sugarhouse tonight. And it looks like major sap thursday. I've still got quite a bit of snow in the woods. My bush is north facing so it only gets sun in the afternoon and I swear we haven't had many sunny afternoons.

Alden, did you have sap enough for the weekend? A filter press is kind of a must at your size and the results are amazingly clear syrup.

[Dill]

Ya I held fridays back and boiled raw sap saturday. Sunday I sqeezed a bit in the morning then finished on raw sap. I expected a better run sunday didn't get much actually. Ran good sunday night into monday. You guys have enough?

[BAP]

Boiling away. Making some Amber Rich that is on the light side about half way to Golden. Sap is running good after getting thawed out from the deep freeze.

[Russell Lampron]

Alden boiling raw sap sucks! I saved everything that I got from Tuesday on. I had 575 gallons to boil Saturday with 275 stored for Sunday. I got an additional 225 Saturday and had 600 for Sunday. I was able to sweeten to 5% Saturday and 6% Sunday which boiled slow compared to what I usually do but was way better than raw. You're going to love that filter press.

[Asa Matras]

Ya I held fridays back and boiled raw sap saturday. Sunday I sqeezed a bit in the morning then finished on raw sap. I expected a better run sunday didn't get much actually. Ran good sunday night into monday. You guys have enough?

I'm glad it ran on Fri. for you, didnt here. Ya we saved since thursday and ro'd it a little. Made it to 5pm on Sunday:)

[Dill]

Alden boiling raw sap sucks!
I'd actually rather boil raw or weak concentrate on open house days. I need to make it last and I have a habit of getting distracted by questions. Last night I had 50 people in the sugarhouse on a 4H tour and I'm glad I didn't get the rig really going til after they left cause I made 2 huge draws that wouldn't have been fun with that many people there.

[NhShaun]

Well the sap finally started running here as well. Currently have about 350gal stored and all my collection containers are full or overflowing from yesterday. Going to be a long weekend boiling almost 500 gal of raw sap on my flat pans! Hope everyone else is caught up. Doesn't look like another run here til Monday or Tuesday

[n8hutch]

I'm still convinced that half of my trees haven't thawed, I've had some lack luster sap flows since sundays decent one. I've made 20 gallons to date and I have got maybe 300 gallons in the woods tank.

[Russell Lampron]

I had 800 gallons for last nights boil and got another 420 in the bulk tank now to boil tomorrow night. I'm at 75 gallons and counting. It's going to be warm and rainy this weekend but the forecast looks pretty good for next week.

[RedMapleCreek]

My red maples continue to be very stingy with their sap. Last Sunday was my best run and that was less than 0.4 gal/tap. Still almost 2 ft of snow in the woods. May get an unforecast freeze tonight, it's 34 at 9PM. If so, hope for a bit of a run tomorrow.

[white mt]

So far 2019 in my area has Ben kind of a dud. Lots of snow still in the woods very marginal flow of sap . The warm up shut it off completely. Not sure what to make of this season other than it’s the season that wasn’t. Some guys haven’t even really started boiling yet hear.

[n8hutch]

So far 2019 in my area has Ben kind of a dud. Lots of snow still in the woods very marginal flow of sap . The warm up shut it off completely. Not sure what to make of this season other than it’s the season that wasn’t. Some guys haven’t even really started boiling yet hear.

I couldn't have said it better myself, I've got 700 taps in as of today and I've made 35 gallons of syrup, if the weather doesn't hold for 3 weeks than in screwed. The guys north of here have made next to nothing with the exception of guys who are in areas that just don't seem to get alot of snow.

My woods looks like it has 3 weeks left, my calendar says that we have 2. Only time will tell.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

We’re in the same boat in western Maine. It all depends on whether or not we get the cold nights in April. You never know.

[Dill]

The weather kept the customer flow down today. We did decently yesterday. The good news is the vac saved the weekend cause I had enough sap to boil both days was even able to squeeze a bit of water out.
Looks like we've got some freezes coming and hopefully a full week of sugaring left. Did a crazy trip over to western NH the other day. My gear pump died thursday night and I had to gravity filter which sucked. Went to bellows falls, Bascoms and picked some extra syrup pans up in Harrisville man it was quite the frost heaved excursion.

[highway]

It has been a strange season for sure here in Washington as well. We gathered 500 gallons on Saturday and boiled it in after running through the RO. Cranked it up to 10% so I could generate enough permeate to clean. Got that boiled in and the trees just stopped producing. We went for a sugar house tour yesterday and some of the western towns had sap flows Saturday and Sunday while it was raining. They were surprised and said it was totally unexpected seeing as the temps were so warm.

We still have over 200 buckets in our bush and some have stopped running all together. The tubing lots have really saved our but this year. we have only made 97 gallons compared to almost 200 last year. I guess we will have to take what we get.

Ed

[raptorfan85]

Currently having my first April boil ever here in southern NH! Looks like maybe one more decent run this well then it's about over here. No freeze in sight after that.

[Dill]

19938
Well I finally got my first keg full. Got cold last night. Had ice on all the puddles in the woods. Sap was starting to run well tiday but I just did a quick boil to clear out all the sap that’s been sitting.

[n8hutch]

Sap was flowing Hard today at least 80 gallons per hr, releaser was dumping every 90 seconds, best run by far this year, hopefully 10 more days like that.

[Asa Matras]

Ran hard at our cold bush today, bout a hundred gal an hr for awhile. Possibly best run of season there. Our warmish bush ran fine just slowing some. Up to 275 of product. We might get close to last yrs total which isnt saying much seeing we got 575 more on vac.

[Dill]

Got a halfway decent night yesterday the 3rd. But with the wind the evap seemed to be running odd. Only made 9 gals. Today I had ice in puddles out in the woods at 10 when I checked the tank. But we just didn't pick up any sap. Even with temps in the high 40s. I assume it was because of the wind.

[n8hutch]

I got 500 gallons today on 600 taps, not too bad, my woods faces east so maybe that helped with the wind?

[BAP]

Boiled 250 gallons of sap today that I gathered yesterday and today. Went out at 7pm and gathered 150 gallons more in the snow. Snowing hard now and down to 31 degrees. Sugar Snow!!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Gettin some of that sap snow here too but it's 34* and the sap's still running.

[Dill]

Really didn't pick up any sap the last 2 days. And when I pumped the maybe 250 gals up to the sugarhouse, I forgot to swap out sap filters and the old one plugged and spilled half the sap onto the floor. I'm hoping with some sunshine today we get some good sap. I"m planning on putting out the open flag this afternoon, hopefully we can both make some syrup and sell some at the same time. I think my season is about done.

[raptorfan85]

Doing my last boil if the season right now. No freeze in sight and the trees are really slowing down...

[Tmeeeh]

looks like our season is about over. Trees are slowing down, syrup flavor is getting stronger and no more freezing in the forecast. We tapped Feb 2nd and 3rd. 2,300 taps this year. Made 120 gallons of syrup Feb 7th and 8th. then only a few barrels the rest of February. March was also cold with many days where the sap ran for a short time late in the day once the trees and the pipelines thaw. The sap was sweeter than usual. We made lots of nice syrup. So far the yield is just over 1/2 gallon per tap. That is about average for us. New this year is a Maple Experts 3 post reverse osmosis machine. Now we can start the ro machine and start boiling 20 minutes later. We boil 13% brix concentrated sap and the ro can make the concentrate at over 180 gallons/ hour. It just keeps up with our evaporator. The three phase drive on the pressure pump makes it so we can dial in the system pressure we need to keep up with the evaporator depending on the brix and temperature of the raw sap. It also conserves electric demand where our electric entrance is nearly maxed out. Over all a good season but long and cold.

[Dill]

Wow I can't believe you still made 1/2 a gal per tap. I'm going to be lucky if I get a 1/4.

[Tmeeeh]

We are fortunate to be able to take time off our other work to focus on the maple production. Most of our time is spent in the woods particularly in the beginning of the season.

[Dill]

Well I just pulled the plug.....on the woods tank temporarily. Sap was looking cloudy and smelling a bit sour. Figure what the heck dump it and see if we clear up a bit. Its chilly out now, 30 and sleet. Not sure if it will pick up again soon or not.

[CaptT820]

We pulled the plug yesterday. Ended up learning a lot this year, like which runs like the 3/16" tubing and which ones I should've left as 5/16" tubing. Got about 75-80% yield of sap from last year, but higher sugar content almost made up the difference. All in all not a bad year for us, as a little guy making 6.5 gallons of syrup total. This forum is great for learning all sorts of new tricks and techniques that we'll apply next year. Thanks to everyone for helping out.

[Dill]

What an underwhelming few days. Supposed to hit 38 last 2 and 45 today. It’s been 31 grey and cold. Tops of the trees are covered in ice. No sap flow.

[Asa Matras]

A surprising season is what you can call this one. Didnt think of the sap running today but I checked for kicks at 2pm and its dripping out of the releaser! So on went the pumps. Shooting for a decent run tomorrow after todays surprise. Friday should be our last boil. Its gonna smell strong in the sugarhouse.

[n8hutch]

Sap has been running 100GPH all afternoon, Its the best ive seen all season. Trees and ground have finally thawed, with the 6" of snow I've gotten this week their is still 2 feet in the woods. I'm afraid that we are going to lose the cold nights though.

[MapleCamp]

Never thawed out today for me. I'm surprised it ran over your way. Only ran a bit yesterday as well. I'm giving it until friday still a lot of snow I just might beat the mud.

[Russell Lampron]

I don't know what's going on down there Alden, the sap is running pretty good here. I haven't shut my vacuum pump off since the last freeze and even with the snow and below freezing temps it's been pulling in sap. It was snowing like a bastard and 30* last evening when I went to collect. I thought I'd find a froze up releaser but found 175 gallons of sap and my coldest section not running while the two warmer sections were running pretty good.

I'm glad that you're finally getting a decent run Nate, 100 gph will make some syrup.

[BAP]

Boiling again. Sap ran good yesterday and is running some today. Ended up with 1.25 gallons of sap per tap yesterday which is pretty good for this late in the season.

[n8hutch]

I got 2000 gallons of sap in 48 hrs on the 600 taps in my main sugar woods. From 9am yesterday to 4pm my 800 gallon woods tank filled and then ran over for God knows how long.That was the good part, sugar was 1.4% but so far I made 25 gallons out of that run, still have 4-500 that came in last night, and it was running decently at 9am. Going to be a strong finish, last 15 gallons was of the very dark variety, yesterday's run cleaned the lines good, lots of sediment in the bottom of the tank. A few more days.

[Russell Lampron]

I did my last boil tonight and ended with 170 gallons plus the contents of the evaporator. I'll probably be in the 175 range when I finish the evaporator. I made 191.5 last season with 3,000 gallons more sap. It turned out to be a good season after all.

[BAP]

2019 is in the books. Finished with 85-1/2 gallons on 230 taps for 0.38 gallons per tap. Not too bad given the year. Never made any Very Dark.

[NhShaun]

Ran really good the last few days here. Got about 250 gallons in two days but all around 1% sugar. Collected another 160 gallons this morning and it was only .5% so I sadly dumped it. Looks like I'll be right around 22 gallons of finished syrup after today's last boil. Not quite as good as last years 30 gal, but I boiled almost 800 gallons less this season.

[RedMapleCreek]

What a weird season this has been, but it finally came through in the end! Did our last boil today. The last three days we collected 44% of our total sap collection for the season. 83% of our total sap was collected in April. That first 17% was collected in the second half of March, and we tapped starting Feb 22. Still a lot of snow in the woods, but our trees finally really started flowing Thursday. Sugar content was better than last year, a steady 2% until tapering down to 1.5% today. With the sap flow down to minimal tonight and no good freezes in sight we are calling it a season.

[UB29]

Wrapped up in Wilton. Season stats: 1,324 gal sap, 24.2 gal syrup, .3 gal /tap

Made about equal Golden, Amber and Dark.

Love that new Mason 2x4 XL. Now to concentrate on that new sugar shack.

[Asa Matras]

Done in Pittsfield. 360 total. 10 more than last yr, we added vac on 575 taps so we were expecting more but then again last season was a stellar yr. New ro was awesome

[Dill]

Finishing off the pans today. Shut the pump off saturday morning. I'll have to do the numbers but I'm thinking I'll be around 200 which is less then last year, and I added 100 taps this year. Not great that's for sure.