Anyone tapping way early?

[jdircksen]

Seems like the whole past month has been freezing at night and warm during the day. I look at the forecast and aside from the name of the month, it looks ideal for making syrup. The picture below is for December, but I would be super excited to see this forecast in February.
I know it's been discussed before (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?33754-The-mystery-of-when-to-tap&p=363457#post363457) but it is still tempting to get started early. Am I alone here?

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/westerville/43081/december-weather/340047

20381

[Chickenman]

I will be here in a week or so with a ten tap tubing run. I've been playing with early and traditional tap times and methods on these trees collecting data. It seems that lately the traditional tap time is late and I'm missing some good runs. Since the trees are large enough for 2 taps I do 1 early and 1 in Feb.( normal time) on buckets for a comparison of different methods.

[buckeye gold]

jdierksen,

I'm about 70 miles due south of you. I have done some December taps for several years now. Most years it doesn't yield much, but this year reminds me of a year about 5 years back when I tapped on December 18th (about 1/3 of my normal taps). That year I made over half my syrup in December until January 8th. The usual spring season sucked that year. Most years the runs are smaller and sugar content less, but you can make syrup. I usually do about 40 taps in December to make some Holiday fresh syrup and then do my usual 100 in late January. I can tell you it's a loooonnnnggg season when you start this early. Hey with only a few taps go for it.

[jdircksen]

Yeah the wife is against me starting this early but with time off work around the holidays, I think it would be less burdensome than my normal boiling every evening. Last year was incredible for me (30 taps -> 14 gallons of syrup) and I am hoping for a repeat.

[Sugarmaker]

No and No!:)
Keep boiling!
Regards,
Chris

[DrTimPerkins]

We've been tapping each fall for the past 3 yrs as part of a research project on taphole longevity and taphole rejuvenation. Sugar content is typically pretty low (but not always). Sap yield varies quite a lot with the season (more so than in the spring).

Probably the biggest difference is...we don't make it into syrup. All the sap is dumped on the ground :o That's actually the case with several hundred of our taps each year. The value for us is in the research, not the syrup. If we have a good way to collect it we will. If not...on the ground it goes.

[jdircksen]

Thank you for the reply. I saw your reply in the other thread about reaming out the taphole after the flow stops. If that worked then I could have a longer season. Mine is already short since I'm in Ohio, and in particular within a city where it doesn't get as cold as rural areas. The goods new is that Ohio State hasn't starting counting down to the silver maple bloom date. At least their growing degree days website hasn't been updated yet: https://bygl.osu.edu/index.php/node/976