Tapping Early and Vacuum Turned On

[Amber Gold]

I'm looking to replace drop lines this year. For efficiency, I was thinking of tapping trees at the same time and starting say next weekend, working 1 to 2 days per weekend. Say it takes twice as long to tap, it's going to take say 8 days to get all 900 drops swapped out and trees tapped. So the first taps would be put in next weekend with the last ones done by mid-February (which is when I generally start making syrup)

For the guys that are tapping early, do you leave the vacuum pump on 24/7 once you start tapping? That's what I do, but I'm tapping at the last minute when I'm guessing the season to start. I haven't tried tapping early before, so I wasn't sure that if once you have trees drilled that vacuum needs to be on 24/7.

Thanks for your input.

[VT_K9]

I wanted to tap "early" this year as well. We have never made syrup after April 15 and most times around April 10. We often tap around February 20-25 when temps are more consistent above freezing since we are a more west-northwest facing slope for our tapping area. I don't believe we slow or stop running due to holes sealing, but due to changes in the trees...we boil until the infamous sweaty sock odor starts.

I wonder if we started tapping the end of January would the holes still produce well on April 10. We have a neighboring bush who started tapping mid-December and they are hauling sap nearly every day now (20K tap bush there).

We use a tap that does not seat well on our tees (we also switched tees to a post style), we cut the taps off in the spring when we pull them and park the line. In December we put new taps on, maybe even when the snow has not started to accumulate. Our new taps are hanging, and the system is not remotely sealed so vacuum would be a waste. We drill, install the new tap on the line and then into the tree. In the past we had tapped under vacuum, and I cannot say it was more efficient. The ideal circumstances once on the vacuum stays on until the season is over or the trees are frozen. We have had experienced some micro leaks which cause ice above freezing. This is way it is important to have a tight system. I find I spend less time dealing with ice if I shut the system off when it freezes and turn it on when it is above freezing. We have a monitoring system and if we added a I/O controller we could turn the pumps on/off remotely or use temperature sensors to do this.

I think turning vacuum on/off when sap is running would increase tap hole production issues.

Mike

[loganl]

Last year I tapped over my Christmas vacation. I thought it was early but I didn't have much choice when it came to timing due to work. This year, my taps are not in yet but probably will be going in this weekend (2/3). I've upgraded vacuums and plan to leave it running anytime the temp is fluctuating. If the temp will be below freezing during the day I plan on shutting it off. I'm always open to suggestions.

[Amber Gold]

This weekend, I need to finish getting the new pump shed set up, and then go skiing with the family on Sunday.

Next weekend, I'm going to spend Sat/Sun swapping drops as I tap trees. I think I'll have two people, each with a 2-handed tool swapping out drops as I come in behind tapping trees. I'm thinking this way, the "tapping in" won't take much longer than normal...usually 4-days start to finish getting trees all tapped with vac. on. Once the pump shed is going, and enough trees are tapped, I may just leave the vac. on 24/7, and just turn it down.

Good luck this season.