sugar content

[slammer3364]

Last year it 55 took gal to make one gallon of syrup. This year we just finished up it took 45 gallons to make a gallon ,99% of the trees are reds. Is this possible I checked and rechecked and rechecked again this seems almost impossible to me. Was it the cold weather or what any ideas on this it is good but it seems really odd these are the same trees I always tap never really checked this out until last year

[BCPP]

Last year it 55 took gal to make one gallon of syrup. This year we just finished up it took 45 gallons to make a gallon ,99% of the trees are reds. Is this possible I checked and rechecked and rechecked again this seems almost impossible to me. Was it the cold weather or what any ideas on this it is good but it seems really odd these are the same trees I always tap never really checked this out until last year
Very possible, trees can produce sap with different % sugar between seasons or even within a season. If you use the rule of 86 as an estimate it indicates your sugar level in year 1 was about 86/55 =1 6% which seems low for Reds and this year would be 86/45=1.9%. We have mostly sugar maples and this year we've averaged about 2.5% but at the start was over 3% and we have had buckets in previous years over 4%