Tapped in the Berkshires

[berkshires]

Played hooky and got all my taps in today. Many of the taps were already dripping. My one gusher of a tree was, of course, gushing. Everything in tapping went fine this year except... found my stovepipe had fallen off the back of the sugar shack. Thought it had just gotten blown off in a storm, but when I went to seat it back on, found it was actually all rotted out. Didn't have more stovepipe on hand (or the time to get it and install it). Have a bunch of other small things I didn't get to that I need to deal with too. So I guess I'll have a very long day for my first boil this weekend.

Anyway, excited to have finally pulled the trigger!

GO

[berkshires]

Played hooky and got all my taps in today. Many of the taps were already dripping. My one gusher of a tree was, of course, gushing. Everything in tapping went fine this year except... found my stovepipe had fallen off the back of the sugar shack. Thought it had just gotten blown off in a storm, but when I went to seat it back on, found it was actually all rotted out. Didn't have more stovepipe on hand (or the time to get it and install it). Have a bunch of other small things I didn't get to that I need to deal with too. So I guess I'll have a very long day for my first boil this weekend.

Anyway, excited to have finally pulled the trigger!

GO

First boil today. That "gusher" of a tree put out over 9 gallons of sap in three days. In Feb! That tree is awesome! And my sugar levels are really good this year. I have one tree that puts out higher sugar sap than the others, but never seen it like this before: 4.7%! I had to taste it to make sure i wasn't misreading my hydrometer.

Anyway, 52 gallons of sap since tapping on Weds makes a gallon per tap per day. Great start to the season! Looks like we're in for a cold spell for the next week. I didn't boil quite enough to draw off my first syrup, but i think it's sweet enough to be okay in the pan for a week.

GO

[Aaron Stack]

Nice sugar content Gabe! I haven't tested yet my sugar content yet but going to in the morning.

[berkshires]

Nice sugar content Gabe! I haven't tested yet my sugar content yet but going to in the morning.

I'm surprised considering how rainy it was all summer. I know my yard trees at home did not like it. They all got fungus that caused a lot of leaves to fall off.

GO

[berkshires]

Had to collect yesterday. All the sap was pretty frozen solid, so I just chopped it up, threw away some ice where I could tell it was low sugar, and I'll deal with it after it melts out.

One rather nasty surprise: You know I mentioned I have one tree that is a super-producer. It has three taps on it, and it produced 4.7% sap the last time I tested it. Well that tree has its own collection barrel on it. So yesterday I went to collect two weeks worth of sap from the barrel, and at first I was excited, walking up to the barrel I can see that it was completely full, the ice was lifting the lid up off the barrel. But after chopping through the ice at the top I discovered... the barrel was empty. There was a slow leak around the bulkhead fitting at the bottom of the barrel. So it filled up all the way, froze, and then slowly all the concentrated sugar sap dripped out around the bulkhead fitting, leaving a couple inches of pure ice coating the inside of the barrel.

I repurposed one of my storage barrels as a collection barrel on that tree (it has no bulkhead fitting, so if it fills up I'll just have to scoop it out) and brought the collection barrel home to fix that bulkhead fitting. What a bummer, though, to lose two weeks (25 gallons) of my best sap.

It's hard to get that **** bulkhead fitting to sit really well because of the shape of the barrel, but I'm doing my best to fill in ridges in the barrel with silicone.

GO

[Pdiamond]

Why don't you replace it with a metal barrel?

[berkshires]

Why don't you replace it with a metal barrel?

Not sure what you have in mind.

GO

[eustis22]

I have found that these:White Silicone Rubber Sheet, 60A Duro, 1/16 x 9 x 12 Inch, Food Grade
cut to fit, work really well to seal bulkhead fittings. from Amazon

[berkshires]

I have found that these:White Silicone Rubber Sheet, 60A Duro, 1/16 x 9 x 12 Inch, Food Grade
cut to fit, work really well to seal bulkhead fittings. from Amazon

Do you think that would form a seal between the flat rubber gasket and the plastic ridges of the barrel?

Here's a photo: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9r9XU7k8uiEYNph69

GO

[eustis22]

might need to double them up for that gap

the earlier poster was referencing food grade steel barrels for collecting

[berkshires]

the earlier poster was referencing food grade steel barrels for collecting

Looked around a little online. Those things are expensive! Not worth it for my hobby. Anyway, I fixed the barrel and it is back in business.

One bit of frightening news: I heard my first peeper when I was boiling yesterday. I can't believe it, a peeper on March 3rd in the foothills of the Berkshires! Normally I can't recall hearing them until middle or end of March. I hope that doesn't mean the end is nigh. I guess it's good I got an early start.

GO

[berkshires]

Sheesh. My one yard tree has dried up after only four weeks. I think this probably has to do with several factors:
- Tree gets full sun all day
- February was the sunniest and driest I've seen in years (good for our solar panels!)
- Hanging bucket with open tap

I know tubing systems last longer than buckets, but I do think that drop tubes to buckets give you some of those benefits. Even with brand new plastic spiles, I have generally found that the open ones dry up faster than the drop tubes to a bucket.

I wonder if Dr Tim and his group have ever done any studies on the difference in collection volume between drop tubes and open taps.

GO

[berkshires]

I plan to take Weds off and if there's any sap that hasn't spoiled, I'll boil that and pull taps. Very very early for me to be pulling taps, but too much warmth, even if we get another run toward the end of March, I just can't keep sap good between visits to the sugar bush with these warm spells.

GO

[Aaron Stack]

Hope you get a good last boil in Gabe!

Same plan for me as well. Whatever I collect through Wednesday will probably get boiled on the propane stove with the sweet. Couldn’t get into the woods today with the wild winds but got about two gallons from the yard trees. Earliest season end for me but with the sweet I should hit my goal.

[berkshires]

Hey Aaron. How'd the end of season go?

Did my final collection and boil yesterday. One bucket had to get dumped - had two critters in it. And my yard tree has been done for weeks now. Everything else had a great run this week. Pulled taps and did a final boil.

But I'm kicking myself now, because the forecast has changed. It froze last night, which was not predicted. And the next week, which was supposed to be all warm with no freezes, has good hard freezes every night for as far out (Weds) as they can predict. So I blew it on pulling taps too early.

Oh well. I still ended at over 18 gallons of sap per tap, which is my second best year ever (last year's sap tsunami was offscale at over 27 gallons of sap per tap).

BigSchuss, you should have a great week coming. You must be swimming in sap right now!

GO

[Aaron Stack]

Turns out my last boil was March 4. Got 27 gal of sap that day and boiled it but the best day since was 5 or under and hot. Pulled the taps and rinsed the buckets today. Visiting sugarhouses tomorrow for Mass maple day. 5 gallons of sweet in the freezer to boil down soon

[bigschuss]

BigSchuss, you should have a great week coming. You must be swimming in sap right now!

GO

Hey Gabe....it was insane here last week. Couldn't keep up. At my elevation it froze every night and I had full buckets every day. This has been my FASTEST and best season in 20 years. Tapped on Feb. 26 or so and pulled taps on Friday. I am way over average season totals over a very short 3 week season.

I could certainly keep going for the next 2 weeks, but without snow my forest trails to the sugar bush are a bloody quagmire and I just don't want to tear then up anymore.

Sounds like you're done too. Last year I had too much snow after that 42" dump on March 14th shut is down completely. This year...not enough snow...but I'm happy as the sap has been running like crazy.

Aaron...sounds like you finished up too a few weeks ago.

Hope you both had good seasons.

Blair

[berkshires]

Hey Gabe....it was insane here last week. Couldn't keep up. At my elevation it froze every night and I had full buckets every day. This has been my FASTEST and best season in 20 years. Tapped on Feb. 26 or so and pulled taps on Friday. I am way over average season totals over a very short 3 week season.

I could certainly keep going for the next 2 weeks, but without snow my forest trails to the sugar bush are a bloody quagmire and I just don't want to tear then up anymore.

Sounds like you're done too. Last year I had too much snow after that 42" dump on March 14th shut is down completely. This year...not enough snow...but I'm happy as the sap has been running like crazy.

Aaron...sounds like you finished up too a few weeks ago.

Hope you both had good seasons.

Blair

Nice! Congrats on a good season. Yeah, this was one of my shortest ever too. But still a great one, despite pulling taps early. Honestly, it would have been logistically very difficult to get this week's worth of sap, as I would have had to drive out over the weekend just to dump the muck out of the buckets and rinse them. Would have taken six hours, which I can't afford, as I have a lot of other spring projects now to do. So I am trying to be forgiving of myself for missing this coming week. Hearing that you've wrapped up too makes me feel a little better. I'm going to wind up with about 5.15 gallons of syrup, which is not bad considering I only did five collections, four boils, and I lost all the sap from my three best taps for two of my collections. Oh well, there's always something to improve for next season, and 0.31 gallons of syrup per tap is nothing to sneer at. Looking on the bright side, by not doing another boil, I start next season off with a bunch more nice dry split wood in the wood crib! That saves me time not having to split as much!

Aaron and Blair, what are your final tallies for the season?

GO

[bigschuss]

Nice! Congrats on a good season. Yeah, this was one of my shortest ever too. But still a great one, despite pulling taps early. Honestly, it would have been logistically very difficult to get this week's worth of sap, as I would have had to drive out over the weekend just to dump the muck out of the buckets and rinse them. Would have taken six hours, which I can't afford, as I have a lot of other spring projects now to do. So I am trying to be forgiving of myself for missing this coming week. Hearing that you've wrapped up too makes me feel a little better. I'm going to wind up with about 5.15 gallons of syrup, which is not bad considering I only did five collections, four boils, and I lost all the sap from my three best taps for two of my collections. Oh well, there's always something to improve for next season, and 0.31 gallons of syrup per tap is nothing to sneer at. Looking on the bright side, by not doing another boil, I start next season off with a bunch more nice dry split wood in the wood crib! That saves me time not having to split as much!

Aaron and Blair, what are your final tallies for the season?

GO

Sorry for the late reply on this Gabe. Yeah...I hear you. Whenever I start thinking about "have to's" and "should haves" I always remember this is just a hobby for me. If I get sick of it half way through and want to call it quits despite more good runs I just call it quits. I never want it becoming a burden.

I drained my pan last weekend and finished the sweet and ended up with 7.5 gallons of syrup over a very short 3 week season. Boiled right around 380 gallons of sap.

Blair

[Dusty Road Maples]

Just new to this and wondering if I am not getting it? So far no buds on trees and I don't hear peepers at night. Weather looks favorable through the weekend. In early February I purchased an evaporator 2'x20 with Dauntless Arch from Smokey Lake. I have about 2 inches of sweet in the pan and I am hoping for some more sap in the next day or so, will possibly boil on Thursday and I think finish off with about 1.5 -2 gallons of Syrup. Temps look ideal over next weekend. Is it too late in the season or can I expect some decent medium to dark amber? I have not had fantastic sap flow so far, it has come in waves with periods of little productivity. 1st Boil 5/12 pints of beautiful golden syrup, 2nd boil 1.7 Gallons of light amber that is just a bit cloudy. ( I tried using some DE when I filtered and it did not seem to go well, clogged my new coffee urn vacuum filter that I made.) I would like to end up with about 5 gallons so I am thinking one more week could do the trick. Question is it just too late to hope for quality sap? 26 Taps with 5 gallon buckets, I tapped early Feb 5th ish and I have collected about 240 gallons of sap, avg. 9.3 gallons per tap. Some of the smaller trees seem to be done. In Richmond MA.... A Rookie.
Michael

[berkshires]

Question is it just too late to hope for quality sap? 26 Taps with 5 gallon buckets, I tapped early Feb 5th ish and I have collected about 240 gallons of sap, avg. 9.3 gallons per tap. Some of the smaller trees seem to be done. In Richmond MA.... A Rookie.
Michael

Hi Michael, and welcome!

Is it too late? Well if your trees aren't budding, and the weather is still giving you nights below freezing, then it's just a matter of your trees. At this point it's probably getting close to the end, but there will be a lot of variability. In my experience, open taps, and taps that get a lot of sun, dry up first. Taps with tubes on them and taps on the north side of trees tend to dry up later. If you're still having fun, and the sap is flowing, go ahead and keep at it. I've tapped into early April many years, so that's not out of the question.

Cheers,

GO

[berkshires]

Sorry for the late reply on this Gabe. Yeah...I hear you. Whenever I start thinking about "have to's" and "should haves" I always remember this is just a hobby for me. If I get sick of it half way through and want to call it quits despite more good runs I just call it quits. I never want it becoming a burden.

I drained my pan last weekend and finished the sweet and ended up with 7.5 gallons of syrup over a very short 3 week season. Boiled right around 380 gallons of sap.

Blair

I think there are two issues for me that make it hard for me. One is that I was raised not to waste, and I feel like if good sap is running on the ground... And the other is that I feel competitive with myself - trying to have the best season I can. I'd even take that a step further to say that I feel a note of pride when I make a ton of syrup for the number of trees I'm tapping, without vacuum. That comes from hard-won experience about know which trees to tap, when to tap them, etc. So I'm letting myself down if I don't make the best of it.

That said, I can also forgive myself for moving on to other priorities, especially when the wife and kid want to have nothing to do with syruping.

GO

[Dusty Road Maples]

Thanks Gabe,
That is helpful and encouraging, I think I will let it go through most of next week. It looks promising as for the weather and I am using tubes into five gallon buckets. I will start pull some of the light producers and see how it goes throughout the week. I collected 40 gallons yesterday and it was mostly nice and clear. Will do my third finishing boil tonight with any luck. I am interested to see how it grades out, the sweet in the pan is significantly darker than my earlier batches. Definitely having fun with it!
Michael

[Dusty Road Maples]

Wondering: This past week I boiled 120 gallons over 3 boils with a 2 day break between the 2nd and 3rd boil. It looked a little darker while boiling than my earlier batches. I cooked it down to 1&1/2 inches in the pan and let it sit overnight. I finished it the next evening and I got 1.4 gallons of syrup. It taste great but is quite dark and the amount of black sludge in my filter was stunning. The sap went through some hoops before it got in the pan. 60 gallons were frozen for 2 weeks and then 40 were refrigerated for a week at 33 degrees and then I boiled it all over 3 days/boils adding another 20 fresh gallons of sap. Is this just too much to hope for a medium or light amber syrup? I know later in the season it will be darker but I feel like the way the sap was handled as described probably was not the best practice. Why did store it for so long? I tried to sneak a trip to Myrtle Beach in for a couple weeks of golf. So I guess the question is can leaving the sweet in the pan and then coming back to it for multiple boils yield a lower quality syrup. I never reached the draw off stage with this batch of syrup in the evaporator. The hottest it got was 4 degrees or so. My previous one I did draw off at 8 degrees and that syrup was a nice light amber. I had a great week collecting this week and I got 50 gallons on Thursday night and expect another 50 today. I am just going to boil all of this and then finish it and see if I get a better result. It has been bright and clear with no yellow tinge to it.

[Aaron Stack]

Hi Folks, sorry for the late reply, worklife called.

Still haven't boiled the sweet but have 5.5 ready for bottling and will get a bit more than a gallon from that so a little over the .25 estimate. Not too shabby. Finished scrubbing the buckets today (they were thoroughly rinsed already), and lids tomorrow. Then tank and pan before bottling.

433 gallons collected and 6.75 gallons puts me at 64.15 per gallon of syrup in 9 boils. 2 good weeks of sap with 151 and 197, 2 weeks of ice and 2 weeks of hot.

[berkshires]

Wondering: This past week I boiled 120 gallons over 3 boils with a 2 day break between the 2nd and 3rd boil. It looked a little darker while boiling than my earlier batches. I cooked it down to 1&1/2 inches in the pan and let it sit overnight. I finished it the next evening and I got 1.4 gallons of syrup. It taste great but is quite dark and the amount of black sludge in my filter was stunning. The sap went through some hoops before it got in the pan. 60 gallons were frozen for 2 weeks and then 40 were refrigerated for a week at 33 degrees and then I boiled it all over 3 days/boils adding another 20 fresh gallons of sap. Is this just too much to hope for a medium or light amber syrup? I know later in the season it will be darker but I feel like the way the sap was handled as described probably was not the best practice. Why did store it for so long? I tried to sneak a trip to Myrtle Beach in for a couple weeks of golf. So I guess the question is can leaving the sweet in the pan and then coming back to it for multiple boils yield a lower quality syrup. I never reached the draw off stage with this batch of syrup in the evaporator. The hottest it got was 4 degrees or so. My previous one I did draw off at 8 degrees and that syrup was a nice light amber. I had a great week collecting this week and I got 50 gallons on Thursday night and expect another 50 today. I am just going to boil all of this and then finish it and see if I get a better result. It has been bright and clear with no yellow tinge to it.

Three things:

1 - Yes, keeping your sap for a long time will produce darker syrup. As I understand it this happens both because the bacteria in the sap eat some of the sugar, resulting in having to boil a larger volume of sap to result in the same volume of syrup (so everything is more concentrated) and also because the bacteria converts some of the sugar to a type that caramelizes more as you evaporate.

2 - If I'm reading correctly, you batch-boiled. That means you keep adding sap to one batch, and it all finishes at the same time. Batch boiled syrup will be darker than syrup that goes through a pan with dividers, has a gradient, and is drawn off on one end as fresh sap is added to the other. This is because you are essentially adding fresh sap to syrup all the time as you batch boil, so the molecules of sugar get boiled longer.

3 - Unless you lost a lot of sap somewhere that you didn't mention, you had almost an 85:1 ratio of sap to syrup. That is very low sugar, and will result in a darker syrup.

All that said, many people (myself included) prefer a darker syrup, so don't feel bad.

Cheers,

GO

[berkshires]

Hi Folks, sorry for the late reply, worklife called.

Still haven't boiled the sweet but have 5.5 ready for bottling and will get a bit more than a gallon from that so a little over the .25 estimate. Not too shabby. Finished scrubbing the buckets today (they were thoroughly rinsed already), and lids tomorrow. Then tank and pan before bottling.

433 gallons collected and 6.75 gallons puts me at 64.15 per gallon of syrup in 9 boils. 2 good weeks of sap with 151 and 197, 2 weeks of ice and 2 weeks of hot.

Nice. Any season where you get over .25 gallons per tap is not bad, especially if you're averaging 64 gallons of sap per gallon of syrup!

I haven't even seriously started cleanup. So many other priorities. Oh man, it's gonna suck. LOL

Cheers!

GO

[Dusty Road Maples]

Waiting for it.... I have made some upgrades this year. I built an RO System, added 3/16th Tubing in our back woods for about 25 Taps. Purchased to 275 gallon IBC Totes to collect and then transfer the sap up the Hill, purchase a gas powered water transfer pump, plus 500 feet of mainline for transfering, purchased 4-55 gallon Blue sap barrels, and have been given permission from the neighbor down the street to tap a nice row of mature sugar maples for about another 20 Taps. So I will be around 75-80 Taps when all is said and done this year. And of course No Sap weather in sight ! Are we all in the same Boat? What do the big guys do? Just wait? Does a vacuum system overcome the cold weather at all or is it just one of those factors you can't control. Sap won't flow until the weather is right, right?

[Aaron Stack]

How does this impact the back end of the season? My seasons end near March 20 or 21 like clockwork. Some of the Sugars are still going, but down to a one-hand count. Should I expect the ending to remain consistent?

[berkshires]

How does this impact the back end of the season? My seasons end near March 20 or 21 like clockwork. Some of the Sugars are still going, but down to a one-hand count. Should I expect the ending to remain consistent?

Do you stop because buds are breaking, or because the trees have shut down? If the latter, if you tap later, and we still have good weather, your trees should still be running. But if your trees always bud then, I guess that's how it goes.

Whenever I run into April, I test all my sap, but I haven't hit buddy sap yet. In 2019 we had a warm up for the first week of Feb (which I missed) and then it got cold and stayed cold - like this year. That year I didn't tap until March 10, which is almost a month after my average tap date. But I still made better than a quart per tap. So who knows. If the season doesn't start until March, and then in late March we have a warm spell, we could be screwed. Only time will tell.

I hate waiting.

GO

[Aaron Stack]

Do you stop because buds are breaking, or because the trees have shut down? If the latter, if you tap later, and we still have good weather, your trees should still be running. But if your trees always bud then, I guess that's how it goes.

Whenever I run into April, I test all my sap, but I haven't hit buddy sap yet. In 2019 we had a warm up for the first week of Feb (which I missed) and then it got cold and stayed cold - like this year. That year I didn't tap until March 10, which is almost a month after my average tap date. But I still made better than a quart per tap. So who knows. If the season doesn't start until March, and then in late March we have a warm spell, we could be screwed. Only time will tell.

I hate waiting.

GO

The buds on the reds usually open first so they get pulled, then the Norway at home and a good portion of the sugars dry up. It's a domino effect once the reds bud. The last couple years that was week 5 of being tapped (starting Feb 5) and I think 6 weeks is what I read for taps with no vacuum so I didn't question. We'll know for sure this year!

[ADK_XJ]

Waiting for it.... I have made some upgrades this year. I built an RO System, added 3/16th Tubing in our back woods for about 25 Taps. Purchased to 275 gallon IBC Totes to collect and then transfer the sap up the Hill, purchase a gas powered water transfer pump, plus 500 feet of mainline for transfering, purchased 4-55 gallon Blue sap barrels, and have been given permission from the neighbor down the street to tap a nice row of mature sugar maples for about another 20 Taps. So I will be around 75-80 Taps when all is said and done this year. And of course No Sap weather in sight ! Are we all in the same Boat? What do the big guys do? Just wait? Does a vacuum system overcome the cold weather at all or is it just one of those factors you can't control. Sap won't flow until the weather is right, right?

Love to see someone doing all the same year-to-year upgrades that I have, that is the joy of the hobby to me even more than the yield or the duration of the season. Yep, even the big guys are bound to Mother Nature. They might have caught some earlier runs if they tapped in January but that month was (appropriately) cold, too.

It’s a bit amusing to me that after a number of warm winters people are suddenly shocked by true weather in this climate. It’s supposed to be cold in February in New England! Ha.

[berkshires]

The buds on the reds usually open first so they get pulled, then the Norway at home and a good portion of the sugars dry up. It's a domino effect once the reds bud. The last couple years that was week 5 of being tapped (starting Feb 5) and I think 6 weeks is what I read for taps with no vacuum so I didn't question. We'll know for sure this year!

You probably know this already, but reds put out flowers first, and then leaves. When the flower-buds open, apparently that doesn't affect the sap, it's only later when the leaf buds start, the sap is affected.

As for how long the tree runs, IME it's very variable. Open spiles into a bucket, in direct sunlight, dry up first. If they're north facing or very shaded they last longer. As for taps that go through a 5/16 line into a bucket, I've found they last longer than open spiles. Also, a lot depends on temperatures. Seasons with a few really hot days (60s and 70s) seem to really accelerate microbial growth, causing the tap holes to dry up early. In 2023, the early season was warm, so I was able to start early, and the late season was cold, so the trees were still flowing. I pulled taps 48 days after I tapped, but more than half my taps were still producing well. I'm sure I could've gotten another week, but I just ran out of firewood (many times over).

This year I'm less worried about taps drying up, and more worried about budding, or hitting warm temps where the sap stops flowing. I usually pull taps right around the start of April, but this year that may be three weeks after I've tapped! So I plan to push it as far as I can into April, if Mother Nature allows it. We shall see.

GO

[Aaron Stack]

"You probably know this already, but reds put out flowers first, and then leaves. When the flower-buds open, apparently that doesn't affect the sap, it's only later when the leaf buds start, the sap is affected."

I didn't not know this! I'll pay close attention this year.

[Kmb]

Not surprised by a normal winter, but agree we have been lulled by the calm climate past several winters.

Tapping now, no pump, gives six weeks until buds (if they bud at same time as last year: early April).

[berkshires]

I'm tapping this weekend too. If next week's forecast holds it's going to be a tsunami of a start to the season.

GO

[bigschuss]

I'm tapping this weekend too. If next week's forecast holds it's going to be a tsunami of a start to the season.

GO

Yep, me too. Even in Savoy the forecast looks decent. Normally I wait until the first week of March, but I am going to tap this weekend too.

[Aaron Stack]

Tapping here Sunday. As Gabe also mentioned, if the forecast holds Sapageddon will be upon us immediately.

[buckeye gold]

Good luck to all you eastern producers. If your season starts like ours did here in southern Ohio, you better have plenty of sap storage open and ready. I made a whole seasons worth of syrup in less then 3 weeks. It froze up and reset the trees this past week and I got a chance to rest and move some firewood. I'm expecting round two of the flood starting Monday.

[berkshires]

"You probably know this already, but reds put out flowers first, and then leaves. When the flower-buds open, apparently that doesn't affect the sap, it's only later when the leaf buds start, the sap is affected."

I didn't not know this! I'll pay close attention this year.

I wanted to be sure I got this right, so I tracked down the post by Dr Tim. Turns out, I'm half right. Yes, the silver and red maples have flower buds that open before the leaf buds, and yes this does not apparently affect the taste, but more importantly, apparently the reds simply stop running before the leaf buds open, so buddy syrup is not a concern.

Here's one LINK (http://mapletrader.com/community/archive/index.php/t-35971.html)

GO