late tapping?

[ir3333]

If you tap late or after tapped trees are running have you missed anything?

[gbeneke]

No, you haven’t missed anything until the trees in Stirling bud. Maybe a run or two but I do not know your weather. The trees will wait but not forever. Should be safe to tap now and catch the first thaw and sap run. Hard to make syrup without drilling holes.
Have a fun season!

[ir3333]

tx..just wondering. Last year my neighbours were gathering sap a week before i tapped my trees.We had
a long season and i stopped when the sugar content dropped.My trees ran for another ten days after that.
I guess if it's a short season, gets warm and stays warm all in a couple of weeks it could be a problem.

[DrTimPerkins]

There is a window of time in which the sap from a taphole will run.

Inside the tree, sap will run anytime in the fall/winter/spring when (stem) temperature goes from freezing to thawing. If there is a taphole in the tree, sap would run out. When the temperatures go from thawed to below freezing, water uptake from the soil will happen.

Now superimpose on this the lifespan of a taphole. This imposes another window of time. Under gravity sap flow conditions (buckets, bags, gravity tubing), this window of time may run about 6 weeks. If it is cold throughout this time, perhaps a little more. Maple producers who wish to collect the most sap will tap their trees during the time that the two windows coincide to produce good sap flows while the trees are tapped. If you tap too early, there may be no sap flow because it is too cold. Later in the season, sap flow may stop due to taphole drying (actually plugging up, a natural response to wounds). If you tap too late, you may have missed some sap flows. If you tap really late, your sap may be buddy.

Now if you're tapping with vacuum (pumped or natural vacuum with 3/16" tubing) and are using good spouts/drop sanitation practices, tapholes will remain viable far longer, perhaps 12-14 weeks (or more). Producers who tap early can catch January/Feb thaw flows and make syrup. If you tap later and miss those flows, your seasonal yields will tend to be lower. If your sanitation or vacuum is not so good, tapping early will cause premature taphole drying (at a slower rate than on gravity most likely), and yields will be about the same whether you tap in Jan/Feb/March.

So yes, depending on lots of things, you can miss flows early on and reduce total yields OR you can tap too early and have premature taphole drying and get lower yields. As usual...it depends upon several things.