Tapped my early Trees today

[buckeye gold]

This is later than usual, but I deliberately waited this year. I tapped the 40 trees I usually do for fall today and hope they will run into spring. They're all on 3/16th. I had 5-10 gallons of sap by mid afternoon and actually didn't expect any run until later in the weekend. So maybe tomorrow or Sunday I'll get to start sweetening my pan. I guess it's here for me.

[Pdiamond]

Congrats to you. Keep us informed how it progresses. How is your sugar content?

[buckeye gold]

pdiamomd,

I dumped the first run as it was small ( ~15 gallons) and it flushed the lines. It's Going to freeze up now so my first boil probably won't be until next week. I don't expect any big runs but I'll post what I get. This is just some trees I tap early to make a little bonus syrup and work any bugs out. I'll tap my regular 100 late January

[bmbmkr]

Good Luck this year Buckeye.

I hoped to be tapped by now but the weather hasn't cooperated. We've had some high water down here- I'm runnin an 800' pumpline/mainline across the bottom behind my folks place to get the sap from 300 taps over there, to over here. I don't mind floatin the john boat or kayak over there to turn a pump on & off but not really wantin to haul sap on the boat.

If my floats for my new evaporator come in this week I should be ready to tap by next weekend. I got a "new to me" 2x6- didn't get the floats with it, the seller bought his farm at auction and the evaporator was there- 2009 Maple Pro raised flue that was only used for 2 years. It's like brand new. I got in contact with the original owner and no one knows what happened to the floats. I have added AUF an AOF- new blanket & brick. Can't wait to try her out!

Ben

[buckeye gold]

I was surprised I got a bit of a run yesterday and last night, as it never went below freezing. So I have about 25 gallons of sap. I may build a fire this afternoon and start making sweet, or I may wait to fill the head tank in a day or two. Most likely I'll go ahead and cook this sap for a while and get the sweet started anyway.

Good luck Ben. I bet you are anxious to at least work out the bugs in that new set up. I hope you got your floats in, but I'm sure you can still boil some without it, just keep it deeper than usual.

[bmbmkr]

I tapped a big silver right below the house the day before yesterday and hung a bag on it, nothin yet, it MAY run today. I just want to test the sugar in these silvers, I have a couple hundred of em. They get a lot more sun than the sugars up in the woods, but they bud so early..we'll see. If they are sweet enough, I may tap em next year or the year after.

I got a message from Bascom's yesterday while I was out wiring up another pump line. I called them at 8:01 AM this morning. They have one of the floats I ordered (the second time around), the other they were goin to have to have made and it was goin to take another 2-3 weeks. The lady put John on the phone and he found a used one and they are shipping today with another 2 rolls of 5/16's. My new evaporator is a raised flue, so I need two floats. I did contemplate what would happen if I ran both pans 8" deep.

Headed out now to finish the 800' pump line, we're bringin 300 taps off the hill and at the bottom of the mainline, pumpin it straight up 10' with a shurflo, from there it'll run 800' across the bottom to right beside my folks house. Maybe next year or so I can put a real vac pump and a sap ladder in and not have to worry about flooding. The field I'm crossing was 3' under water 3 weeks ago.

Happy Boiling!!

Ben

[buckeye gold]

Glad to hear you found floats. Push come to shove a local machine shop could make them.

I boiled down the sap I had and the pan is fairly sweet now. I was pleasantly surprised it was 2.2%. I'll take that all spring long. Not much ran yesterday, but perhaps today may run some. I really need to get a freeze and reset these threes. Our lowest temp for several days is 31 degrees and that was this morning.

[buckeye gold]

Had another 25 gallons of sap this morning and pulled a small draw off and finished (1000 Mls or 1quart +). The first syrup of the season was darker than I usually start with, a good rich taste. This quart will stay in the house for our use.

[Maplefarmall]

I think I'm going to start tapping this Sunday looking at the weather

[jdircksen]

Interesting that its darker than usual.
I'm planning to tap on 1/25 once I get back from vacation.

[bmbmkr]

[QUOTE=Maplefarmall;375635]I think I'm going to start tapping this Sunday looking at the weather[/QUOTE



Maplefarmall


I sent you a private message about your Maple Pro


Ben

[buckeye gold]

Had a good run today, 42 gallons off 40 taps. Syrup still running a little darker than usual. Sap still at 2%

[Maplefarmall]

Got in the woods today, allot of clean up trees down got most of that done working in lines and squirrel damage think I might take a day off this week to work on the woods would like to tap next weekend

[MFarmall]

Buckeye, sounds like got a head start tapping on me. Hopefully sap % stays at 2 or bumps up a little this year.
Hoping get tanks and pump out middle of this week, let mud dry a little.
I'm a little behind but looks like start tapping end of the week.
Last couple wind sessions knocked a bunch of dead stuff down.
Mel

[jdircksen]

buckeye gold - how are your early taps doing? How would you rate the quantity of sap you are getting? I'm looking at some of my data from the past 2 years and it seems that early season produced less quantity of sap.

[buckeye gold]

Hey Mel, good to hear from you. Glad your getting close. I think my regular taps (75) are going in next weekend and I'll still have the 40 early going. So I'll be all in at 115 taps. If sap flows good It'll be a lot of boiling since I still only have the small pan and no RO. This is my highest tap count since I was a kid working with dad 50 years ago(~300 taps then).

jdircksen, I haven't had many runs, but they been good at ~1 gallon per tap and good sugar at 2%. Typically the early taps do run less and 1/2 gallon per tap is a good early run. Sugar is usually lower too. I finished as much sweet as I was comfortable with last week and drained my pan and took the remaining sweet to the spare refrigerator. I also washed the pan and all my tanks, so I pulled the lines out of my collection tank and any sap that ran went on the ground, it was just too warm. I put the lines back in last night thinking I'll get enough to boil today. After Sunday it looks like a cold week and no runs. I have commitments on Tuesday & Wednesday so that's ok and I'll be going to Maple day in Morrow County Thursday. I always like talking with friends there and getting the new information. I also pick up my bottle order from Sugar Bush Supply and the savings on shipping pay for the day.

[MFarmall]

Dana, got everything tapped Sunday. Ditch washed out bad in part of the woods so can't get to some of the trees this year. Got 225 in though.
Checked vacuum pump, holding around 22-23".
Glad getting this cold stretch. Would be nice for another one later.
Hopefully we are both busy end of this week. Will see how sugar % is this year for me.
Mel

[MFarmall]

Forgot to mention, I took early retirement end of March last year. Now can concentrate on important stuff, syrup and getting farm house and buildings fixed up.

[buckeye gold]

Good for you Mel, I hope your retirement goes well and is enjoyable. It's nice to have the time, but you'll fill it up with all kinds of new work. I do think that the end of the week will bring some sap. I'm going to Maple day Thursday, and I plan to tap the rest of my trees Friday. I had a small run night before last, but not enough to fire up the evaporator so I reduced it on the wood stove and set it up to make Maple vinegar. My daughter has been wanting some. This is my first attempt at vinegar, but hey I usually make a hole pan of it when I let the last sap of the year ferment to clean in the pan. My guess is we'll have a pretty strong early season then it'll be a fight with warm temps by the end of February. The trends seem to point that way. I usually quit when that happens as it's just too hard to keep everything clean and I don't like fighting spoiled sap and sweet.

[bmbmkr]

We got 250 in last Friday. It didn't start flowing to about 4. I let it run out to flush the lines. I tapped another 150 yesterday, hope to get the last 200 in today then finish my float regulators and plumb the AOF/AUF. Looks like it should start running Wed afternoon. Hopefully we can boil Thursday. I'm excited to try out the new evaporator. 20573

[buckeye gold]

bmbmkr -You guys on the river ought to be in full swing by next week. I hope you have a great season. The evaporator looks pretty good, I bbet you'll like it once you get all tuned in.

[MFarmall]

Dana I'm getting same feeling about temps. if believe forecast for 7-10 day not seeing another real freeze up for a while. Seems the mid February freezes getting few and far between.
Oh well have to take and enjoy what mother nature gives us. At least last couple years getting the potatoes planted early. :D
Had to replace some of the new drops already, squirrels had got them even before got tapped. Had .22 with me so 3 will be in the frying pan instead of chewing lines.

[buckeye gold]

Mel, I 've had good luck deterring squirrels with sriracha sauce on the trees

[MFarmall]

Will have to try that. They seem to love to chew an inch or 2 each side of tee and 4-6" up on drop.
Can you spray it or need to brush it on?

[buckeye gold]

It's kind of thick so you can brush it on, but I get the bottle that has a twist top and just squeeze some out . It last a long time and will withstand a few rains

I tapped the rest of my trees today, 118 total taps

[MFarmall]

Thanks, will get a few bottles and give them something to think about. :lol:
Looks like might get sap started some Thursday, then good for a few days of sap. Woods still froze up today after last night.

[jdircksen]

I'm in Columbus with yard trees and put in 14 taps on Saturday 1/18. So far I've collected:
11 gallons on 1/19
16 gallons on 1/24
9 gallons in the morning on 1/25

That's half my taps, and I'll try to get the rest in today. Sap has been 1.9 or 2% but not getting the big runs like last year.

[buckeye gold]

I had a small run yesterday and a decent run overnight. I boiled a total of 115 gallons of sap and made just shy of 2 gallons of syrup. It's still running but slowed up, so I'll have at least a small boil tomorrow, but hope for at least 50 gallons of sap.

[MFarmall]

Had runs Friday and Saturday. nothing today.
Sap running low again this year. 1.5 best so far. Got 5 gallon made so fair, real light stuff.
See "cold " temps this week but thinking be a long shot to get even a few days of way below freezing rest of this season this year. Hope I am really wrong.

[waldo320]

Tapped a week and half ago little to no sap on 36 taps so far in Summit County.

[jdircksen]

The flow has been pathetic over the past few days but the temperatures have hovered around freezing. I expect it to flow this weekend with a high of 40*, and then gush on Monday when the temps are above 50*. I just hope my silver maples don't bud

[fisheatingbagel]

The flow has been pathetic over the past few days but the temperatures have hovered around freezing. I expect it to flow this weekend with a high of 40*, and then gush on Monday when the temps are above 50*. I just hope my silver maples don't budThe weather has been lousy here in Louisville this week. Neither cold nor warm enough. We had a good run last Saturday, but not much since.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[buckeye gold]

Well for all the grumbling about small runs now it's too much sap in a sap tsunami. Had 100 gallons this morning and the lines are all running like freight trains all day so tomorrow I may just drown in sap. I managed to get the 100 gallons done with 10 left for cool down in 6.5 hrs so that's pretty efficient for my little full pint (just shy of 14 gal /hr). Sugar has not come back up though, I'm averaging 1.3 -1.5%. It's making good medium and so far filtering pretty well. It looks like a big sap week and then temps in mid 50s to 60 next week. I may just call it a season if it gets that warm and I have at least 15 gallon made. Sitting at just under 10 now and my pan is super sweet, so tomorrow will be a big day if I live through it.

[Redbean]

So I have 52 taps in 43 trees. So far I made 9.9 gallons of syrup. It's been an ok year! The flow right now is spectacular. Should have another 60 -80 gallons ofsap by morning. Going to be a long couple days.

[waldo320]

Just passed the 100gal mark of sap on 41 taps and having a very low sugar content around 1%. Thank goodness for RO it’s saving me a bunch of time boiling it down. Hoping to draw off next boil and I will see how much syrup I have doubt it will be over 2gal.

[MFarmall]

Well for all the grumbling about small runs now it's too much sap in a sap tsunami. Had 100 gallons this morning and the lines are all running like freight trains all day so tomorrow I may just drown in sap. I managed to get the 100 gallons done with 10 left for cool down in 6.5 hrs so that's pretty efficient for my little full pint (just shy of 14 gal /hr). Sugar has not come back up though, I'm averaging 1.3 -1.5%. It's making good medium and so far filtering pretty well. It looks like a big sap week and then temps in mid 50s to 60 next week. I may just call it a season if it gets that warm and I have at least 15 gallon made. Sitting at just under 10 now and my pan is super sweet, so tomorrow will be a big day if I live through it.
Buckeye I know how you felt. Fired pump up afternoon of 9th. had brought up 600 gallon sap by evening of 11th. got little over 30 gallon syrup so far, sugar at 1.6%. looks like this Sunday thru Tuesday be another long run of pump.
Niter has gotten pretty bad right now.

[buckeye gold]

MFarmall - Did you get those squirrels spiced up :lol:

I had over 100 gallons of sap three days in a row off 78 taps on 3/16th. The biggest day was 130 gallons, but I pushed my little evaporator to the limits and got it all done in daylight hours each day. I finally just give up on the 40 early taps, because the main woods was producing so well. If this coming week does what I think it will I'll call it quits at the end of the week. I'm just shy of 14 gallon now with a super sweet pan that I probably should have drawn off of yesterday. I'm guessing there's at least a half gallon sitting in it ready to draw.

[MFarmall]

Got them spiced up where they are the worst. Have to get back and check if need to do it again after next rain. Must be working, last year could tell with vacuum dropping they were busy. Find holes and fix them. So far vac levels holding where started.

[buckeye gold]

Glad to hear your making some headway against the bushy tailed devils. I had to declare all out war after they eat all my peaches last year and chewed up so much line.