Croswell - Sanilac County - East between Sandusky & Port Huron - Is it time to tap??

[Lisa102]

Hi there everyone. This is only my 2nd year tapping trees. I wasn't sure what area to call myself. I didn't see many posts that people tapped yet this year but I'm overanalyzing the weather forecast and I don't think it's too early? I'm small scale compared to many of you. Last year I tapped 5 trees. This year I might do 10 at the most. These are the high/low temps for the upcoming days. Should I tap some trees today or wait a bit?



Today - 46/16
H 36/18
F 39/27
Sat 46/28
Sun 48/27
M 32/16 (March 1st)
T 36/28
W 34/20
H 36/22
F 35/21
Sat 37/26
Sun 41/24

[Ed R]

I am south of you in Monroe county and I am not tapping until next Monday or Tuesday. The weekend highs down here will be in the 50s , not freeze at night, and possibly rain. With it freezing every night and only being in the 40s I would tap if you are ready and can get to your trees with the snow level in the woods.

[Lisa102]

Thank you Ed. I thought the temps were right but I was still questioning myself. I can get to the trees in the woods but only because I have a pair of rain boots from Tractor Supply and a dog that needs to run more than other dogs. We've been out there 3x since the huge snowfall. It's a hell of a workout. The woods where I go are behind my uncle's house a few miles away. 2 of the trees are in his yard. It feels like cheating a little bit (Lol) but it got me started last year & it was easy to collect sap when I could drive up next to 1 of them. I still have some trouble identifying Maple trees but I drilled 3 more on my own last year & sap came out if all of them so maybe I'm doing better than I think.

[DeciMaple]

Hi Lisa,

I am over near Lapeer, and I am planning on tapping next week but first what I do to test the flow is pick one of my maples that gets the most sunlight and put a tap on the south side because that will be your first tree to run. If that isn't running good then I know to hold off on tapping the rest of the trees till it does.

[Pdiamond]

go for it. I plan on tapping this weekend. I follow the accuweather forecast. According to them we have good weather all the way thru mid April, if you can believe it.

[jimmyd]

I'm also near Lapeer and I'm going for it this weekend. I'd rather be a little early than a little late.

[dadtkm]

Tapped 30 trees two days ago , not much sap but it will happen.

[Lisa102]

Josiah & PDiamond, I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. Technical difficulties, lol. A few days ago I tried responding 3x that didn't go thru & walked away from my phone, data issues or the fact that I have almost no connection where I live.

Thank you all for your conversation. This is a great little community space. I got a few taps in that day and a few more the next. Sap was flowing from all my trees as soon as I drilled. I only have 6 tapped right now & I've gathered almost 10 gallons. Dadtkm, Im guessing yours started spilling more today with how warm it got outside.

Josiah, sometimes the obvious escapes me. I read your response & laughed at myself for not thinking of just testing 1 of the trees. My biggest tree sits out by itself in the sun. More than a gallon a day is trickling out.

Anyway, I found out it wasn't too early ...and if this season goes until April it sounds like a long season this year.

I'm really excited for the end product. Last year I boiled too long & had a lot of crystallization in the jars. I have a better thermometer this year & I'm going to be more careful not to repeat that.

Do you all buy supplies anywhere locally or does everyone shop online? I'll probably just order tomorrow online but thought I'd ask because I'll be in Flint 1 day this week & I need to drive somewhere Detroit-ish soon too so that seems to cover most of the ground for people in this conversation. I still need glass bottles & I might get a few more spiles, I dropped 3 in the woods somewhere:) Last year I used canning jars but I have all these creative ideas & wanted to use either a small wine bottle called a bellisima bottle or a marasca which is square. I looked up a winemaking store in Port Huron but haven't been there yet.

[Pdiamond]

I use mason pint and quart jars, good luck finding any this year. I have a maple supply store just down the road from me about 6 or 7 miles. And I order from some of the maple supply places online.

[Lisa102]

I used pint jars last year too. I might have enough for this year but since you mentioned they might be hard to find I won't wait until the day I need them...which is what I'd typically do:)

[Cobra427]

I get a lot of supplies from Sugarbush in Okemos, just before Lansing just off of I-96.