Slow Start to 2021 - why?

[Cote_in_Colchester]

Hey guys, first post in a long time. Tapped here in eastern CT on February 15. Mostly reds and a few sugars, about 75 taps out this year. I have been checking daily and collecting every 4-5 days. So far only 40 gallons collected! And all about 1% which is normal for me, but man, where is the sap???

Had some weird temperature days - a few really cold nights intermixed with some random warm days. Maybe that's it?

What are you guys seeing? Am I the only one?

Granted I haven't tapped in 3 years so I don't remember what's "normal" for my sugarbush!

I bought an RO bucket and have barely been able to use it yet!

(I am using 5/16 maxflow spouts and drop lines into buckets btw)

[NhShaun]

I think it's just the weather, the trees haven't really thawed out yet. Next week looks promising to help get the sap flowing.

[CTguy923]

i,m up in Litchfield county and its the same here, only have gotten like 70 gallons so far, just a wacky year for the weather but i beleive we'll see some big runs coming

[TheNamelessPoet]

I am in Tolland county, and trust me it is about the same. I have no sugars only silver and red. I'm also at about 1%.

I have a total of 16 legit taps' and I also tapped 2/15+16th, and I have yet to hit 20 gallons. going to be a sad maple year I feel.

I'm going to freeze a couple quarts each day and throw it into my 2 sad buckets of 1%ish to try and make it through next week's hear wave and hope March gets cold again.

[Sugar Bear]

Hey guys, first post in a long time. Tapped here in eastern CT on February 15. Mostly reds and a few sugars, about 75 taps out this year. I have been checking daily and collecting every 4-5 days. So far only 40 gallons collected! And all about 1% which is normal for me, but man, where is the sap???

Had some weird temperature days - a few really cold nights intermixed with some random warm days. Maybe that's it?

What are you guys seeing? Am I the only one?

Granted I haven't tapped in 3 years so I don't remember what's "normal" for my sugarbush!

I bought an RO bucket and have barely been able to use it yet!

(I am using 5/16 maxflow spouts and drop lines into buckets btw)

Sap is not flowing well this year.

Today seemed to have the best all around flow of the year for me. I have a 5/16" run with 7 taps ( high quality sugars ) on it and a gauge at the top of it this year measuring low pressure. Today was my highest reading so far this year on it with 11 inches of mercury and that seems to hold well into the freeze of the night. The writing about vacuum is definitely on the wall for me this year. Decent sap flow today was a bit of a surprise considering temps and wind.

If your tapping Reds with drops to buckets it can be hard to do well with them. They never even in a good season seem to run as well for me. I imagine they need some vacuum encouragement. However I put in 4 taps with drops on Reds today and to my surprise they ran fairly well. Almost looked like they were sugar maples dripping away on a good day.

I have a feeling we will see some good sap flow at least the first part of next week, even with the warm up and nights not falling below 32. Hopefully the tap killers won't come out by the end of the week.

[maple flats]

Mother nature can be fickle for sure.

[Kamina]

I originally tapped ten reds two weeks ago. A week ago, I tapped an additional ten.

All-in-all I have collected 7 gallons of sap....TOTAL.

Echoing what others have said here, I am hoping for a good run next week when it warms up...I am also hoping that it doesn't get warm enough for the buds to pop and end the season.

[ecolbeck]

A lot of my trees get a lot of afternoon sun. We've collected probably 240 gallons of sap from 60ish taps. That's probably 40% of season total. Hoping for one giant run next week.

[wlatrout]

Here in ind. I have 106 taps on 3/16 lines on sureflow vacuum. All soft maple , all smaller trees, they are at 1 1/2 % and have been running well. I also have 20 taps on large sugar maples, on buckets, they have barely started. Not a bad thing as it has given time to work the bugs out before I get flooded with syrup. Had a reaction to my second shot so that slowed me down. Back to normal now so ready for the rush when and if it comes.

[Cote_in_Colchester]

This week are jumping from day/night temps 39/27 Monday (perfect) to 55/28, 52/39, 59/48, 61/37!!

I am worried the trees will go straight from frozen to budding lol!

[DrTimPerkins]

A slow start to sap flows early in the season is not uncommon.

1. Trees take a long time to thaw out. Air temperatures may rise above freezing, but tree trunks are like huge ice cubes. Takes a while to get up to temperature.
2. Tree branches transpire a bit during the winter. The stem and branches get depleted of water. So there may not be a lot of sap to run until the tree goes through a thaw cycle and another good freeze to recharge the stem.
3. If there is snow packed tightly around the base, recharge water cannot be taken up to replenish that lost by transpiration (the lower stem remains frozen even if the top is thawed out). It can take a few warm sunny days for the snow to melt back from the bases to allow recharge to occur.

[red dorakeen]

Well the bad news is it's so cold the sap ain't running.
The good news is it's so cold the sweet in the pan is frozen.

Looks like it's going to be hot this week, so I'll be boiling in hot weather again this year.

There's threads about folks thinking of insulating and heating their sugar house.

These last few years I've been thinking an air conditioner might be more appropriate.

I may try boiling at night.

[DrTimPerkins]

3. If there is snow packed tightly around the base, recharge water cannot be taken up to replenish that lost by transpiration (the lower stem remains frozen even if the top is thawed out). It can take a few warm sunny days for the snow to melt back from the bases to allow recharge to occur.

Good example of what I was referring to with #3 above. A few days ago the snow was tight around the base of the tree. Today (a few warm days later), there is a nice melted circle around the tree. Now, when temperature (wood) conditions are right, the sap can run.

22219

[Someclown]

Mother nature can be fickle for sure.
That's for sure and two of the best ingredients in maple syrup, mother nature and time

[Mvhomesteader]

Good example of what I was referring to with #3 above. A few days ago the snow was tight around the base of the tree. Today (a few warm days later), there is a nice melted circle around the tree. Now, when temperature (wood) conditions are right, the sap can run.

22219

If you have a small bush, does shoveling help? Or let nature do it's thing in its own time?

[DrTimPerkins]

If you have a small bush, does shoveling help? Or let nature do it's thing in its own time?

Shoveling will certainly help, but you need lots of training before you should attempt it. Come to my house next year after each snowfall from Dec-Mar and I'll make sure you know the proper way to do it. :D

Seriously though....snow is a good insulator and helps prevent freezing of the soil in the woods. Shoveling would probably just expose the roots and ground and let the frost penetrate deeply, so you'd be no further ahead.

[Cote_in_Colchester]

So I finished the season out yesterday with 172 gallons of sap collected and only 1.9 gallons of syrup made! That's about a 92:1 ratio! Eeek.

All on about 130 taps, mostly reds, 5/16 maxflo spiles and drop tubes with buckets. My sugarbush is really flat and mostly residential so permanent tubing isn't ideal.

Obviously I need more sap to make more syrup (luckily I had an RO this year).

But how do I get more sap? Vacuum? More trees? Buehler? :lol: