2025 Tapping Season

[bryankloos]

Hi All,
Just figured I'd start the 2025 thread.
Hope you are all well and looking forward to the season ahead.
Bryan

[Mike Van]

Looks like another year of "should I or shouldn't I " It was 0 here a few days ago, going to be 50 in a few days. You could get sap almost any day, the traditional season seems to be a memory, here in Ct. anyway.

[Woodsrover]

Strung my lines up but haven't attached drops or tails yet. Probably get the collection tanks in place in the next week or so and tap two or three weeks from this weekend, depending on the forecast of course. Tapping a previously untapped section of my woods that required running 400' of 1" poly pipe from where I'm setting the collection tank back up to the sugar shack. I have it hanging from 1/8" stainless cable strung between trees and tightened with fence strainers. Hope it works like I'm imagining. Had to find another 600 gallon milk tank which I did just west of the Hudson a couple weeks ago. Also purchased another whack of buckets as my 14 year-old is convinced we're better off on buckets. As long has he's chasing after them....

Fingers crossed for a better year than last!

Good luck to you all.

[bryankloos]

Lots to do here before I tap. I'm hoping for a Feb 1 start, but as we all know the weather is less than predictable here...
I'm going to make a push in the next 2 weeks to get everything ready and then closely monitor the forecasts and then throw my hat to the wind and pick a day.
Lots to do....

[DanielS.]

Excited to try out my new arch for 2025. I think I must be the first person ever to decrease the size of their operation over the years. Most folks seem to start with 50 taps for fun, and by the end of year five they're running 5000 taps with a new tornado evaporator and RO. I've gone the other way. We used to do a few thousand on an old 4X16 D&G arch we had new flue pans made for. Didn't have time to keep that up after my grandfather died and while I was in university, so I bought a used 2X6 setup and kept it down to a few hundred taps. Now I'm married, have a second house in town to look after, and work is crazily busy so I don't even have time to do that. I work as a designer in a fab shop with plasma cutting abilities, so I drew up a 2X6 natural gas arch to use with a 2X4 flat pan I had kicking around with a front finishing section. Probably only good for a few dozen taps. The plan is to keep a gathering tank in the back of my truck and a holding tank in the garage, collect from 50 or so taps right along our road that I pass on the way home every day, then boil down at in town on natural gas. Kind of excited to do things in a little more relaxed manner. Took some finagling of various orifice sizes and air mixers to optimize the flame using the H-style fire pit burners (which I chose for their wide distribution pattern), but it ended up working pretty well. Two 90k BTU burners and two 60K BTU burners, which should be plenty for a small flat pan setup (and about the max I can pull off my home's natural gas line without risking starving out the furnace)

[SkunkWorks]

Big jump from 120 to 160 taps. Any numbers on the 5x400 RO?

[bryankloos]

I only used the 5x400 for the latter half the season, and didn't have it fully dialed in with recirc etc.
I used the 4X150 as in seasons past and then used both when things got busy.
I plan to build up the 5X400 this year per Dan's published plans.
Should have about 175 this year and a handful of buckets to make my son chase..
At least thats the plan.

[therealtreehugger]

If it wasn’t still the first week of January, I would be really tempted to tap already, as the temperatures are doing almost the perfect day vs night swing. I do expect to tap late in January, but we’ll see when we get there. Meanwhile, getting everything ready.

[bryankloos]

Still too cold on my 10-day. Most highs are just flirting with +32F and my woods tend to warm slow during the day.
I'm hopeful for at least another couple weeks, but keeping a close eye on things...

Spent some good time on the evaporator today, with final clean and assembly tomorrow. Then I start shifting my attention to the lines/drops. I have a long list to get through yet...

[SkunkWorks]

Tuesday -1, Wednesday 2, not even close.

[Mike Van]

But a week from now...................maybe?

[Maplecaddie167]

Hello, wondering if I can get some advice please. Moved to a new property and went from 2 sugar maples and a bunch of reds to somewhere between 40-60 mature sugar maples. I wont be tapping all of them due to time and life constraints but 75% of them can handle two taps easily. I have read a bit to avoid tapping the really big sugar maples but it makes it sound like that is more out of respect and concern for the tree, can anyone attest to this or share their insight? I didn't measure the biggest ones but they could be slabbed out to make tables easy. Can i damage the trees, bad sap, bigger trees dont flow, etc? I would never put more than two in a tree and I am using 5/16 hookless spiles on buckets and bags.

Also, any advice on a cheap way to keep buckets and bags from blowing off in the wind would be a help. Last year mine kept blowing off and at the new place we get crazy wind gusts and I really cant spend money on bunjees or tubing just yet. Would love to learn how to get on gravity because I think the set up is perfect for it.

Thank you.

[Brian]

If you got them, tap them!! I give them a big old hug and if I am about 6 in short of touching my fingers they get 2 taps. Good luck.

[BAP]

There is no such thing as too big of a tree to tap. A really old tree may be a little harder to find good wood on the outside to tap than a younger tree. Just look at the crown and check out the bark to make sure you have good wood and aren’t tapping below dead limbs. As far as buckets and wind, the only thing that works is keeping some weight in them and even then it doesn’t always work.

[Pdiamond]

As has already been mentioned you can tap them. I have some of those old giants on my property, but no matter how big they are I only put 2 taps in a tree. When I see how some people put so many taps in a large tree it bugs me. That is just my personal feeling.
As far as the wind issue you can either leave a little sap in the buckets that are hanging that might help. The bags I have used come from Smoky Lake as do the hangers. They are pretty much windproof. they stay on the trees 95% of the time. Again, I leave a little sap in the bags to weight them down.

[voluntucky tapper]

i dont have any thing ready

[berkshires]

Big old trees are variable too. And as was said, when they get near the end, you can get a lot of dead wood. That said, all else being equal, generally speaking the bigger the tree the better. The very best tree I have, by a mile, is a huge and healthy tree that can easily handle three taps. It's the only tree I put three taps in. It produces enormous amounts of very high sugar sap. On my best year I made over four and a half gallons of syrup from that one tree!

GO

[SkunkWorks]

Colder and more wind this winter, forecast seems too cold ?

[therealtreehugger]

Also, any advice on a cheap way to keep buckets and bags from blowing off in the wind would be a help. Last year mine kept blowing off and at the new place we get crazy wind gusts and I really cant spend money on bunjees or tubing just yet. Would love to learn how to get on gravity because I think the set up is perfect for it.

Thank you.

I nestle 5 gal pails as stable as I can on the ground. Sometimes using a plank or something else flat. I have two taps on tubing running down tight to the bucket that helps the buckets stay up. Drill the hole on the lid so the tubing is a tight fit. Place the bucket on the leeward side of the tree, if there is one. Then I put a brick on each bucket. I very rarely if ever have buckets tip over.

[Mike Van]

I'm planning on this Mon - Tue to get going.

[bryankloos]

Contemplating the same here....
Work to do, but that's the goal.

[Aaron Stack]

I saw some buckets along a drive through Winsted and Granby the other day .

[CTguy923]

i,m in Torrington and am planning on tapping next weekend the 8th, seems quite a few folks in southern CT are tapped and getting some good runs already, but Litchfield county is CT's icebox

[CTguy923]

depending where in CT you are, id be interested in tapping what you dont Maplecaddie

[SkunkWorks]

I am in, because of the warm weather today I thought I would see something, but not a drop

[Mike Van]

Late in the day I tapped one tree, after a minute it got going. It was 8F here Sunday morning, so it takes some thawing. . The inch of snow is a real killer, cause now you can't see the ice under it. Not supposed to freeze tonight, 40 tomorrow before dropping again. It'll come................

[bryankloos]

Still on the fence....
The ground is frozen solid here. The snow isnt helping.
I'm only seeing 3 decent weather-days in the next 10...
I may hold out for some more as I think these 3 potential days (Thurs/Fri/Sun) will yield average at best runs given the extent of our cold January...
But what the heck do I know....

[CTfarm]

Since I don't vacuum out of the trees I'm on the clock before my taps close up and I don't see an extended run in the near future. Plus my pan is empty and I RO so I would need 250 gallons just to get a 4 hour boil. Hopefully we won't get an early warm up as in years past.

[voluntucky tapper]

i'm in voluntown,s e Ct i put in my 150 tap/dropline and bucket today ahead of the snow on saturday and sunday had plenty of dripping holes ,i'm glad there in ..there's a few more trees to do ,

[DaveB]

I was going to tap this weekend but I'm at 1000' and barely hit freezing yesterday and the forecast doesn't look great for the next week so I'm going to wait until next weekend. Collecting a few drops this week with a couple of days in low 30s doesn't sound worth it to me. I like to collect at least 100 gallons to boil to make it worth it. Long range looks cold so that's good. I think think this is going to be a good season!

[bryankloos]

Still playing the waiting game here as well.
The highest high I see in my 10-day is 35 and snowy.
I'm traveling the week of 2/17 so the big questions is to tap before I leave or after I return.
I'm hopeful the week of the 17th is a big chill and then we're off to the races when I get back the following weekend...
I need a crystal ball.

[bryankloos]

Other than the warm up Thursday and Sunday everything here looks to be below 32F.
Who is in, and what are you seeing?

[Mike Van]

A few buckets get some sap, but it's slow.. Several years ago, I had a Feb. here with no sap at all, it was that cold. Last few though, my best runs have been in Feb. Go figure. March is going to be the make or break this year.

[CTfarm]

A few buckets get some sap, but it's slow.. Several years ago, I had a Feb. here with no sap at all, it was that cold. Last few though, my best runs have been in Feb. Go figure. March is going to be the make or break this year.
I agree. February is a wash. The question now is how will March be. Will we get long sustainable runs? Will we get an early warm up? The season may come down to 3 weeks.

[Brian]

Be ready it could be a fast season, I know it will be hard to get every thing tight and ready. I like a warm up and am able to find all my leaks and all the problems then have a few days of freeze to get things fixed. This march looks like go go go. We will see what happens

[Maplecaddie167]

Anyone in the Northern Connecticut having any luck? I have a short window the next two weeks…hoping for a run so i dont miss the season. Assuming the last half of march would be too late to tap this year. Ive never had luck past mid march.

[Mike Van]

One week from today is finally looking better, no matter what the groundhog said.

[CTfarm]

Ok, I'm jumping in for next week. Let's roll!

[bryankloos]

I land Monday morning. I'm getting as many of my 175 in as I can Monday afternoon.
Looks like it will be busy!

[CTguy923]

weathers looking good for next week, gonna put some in this weekend but its gonna suck with this frozen snow

[voluntucky tapper]

good luck its not bad with the snow pack ,I did about 150 or so ,drop line to bucket last week .dumped ice out today so we will see what we get this week

[DaveB]

I finished getting all my taps in today. Yesterday some of the taps were wet but the high was only 32. Today it got to 39 and the sap was actually flowing decently from some. The week ahead looks good and then we get a break next week. At least it's not a sudden warm up.

[bryankloos]

100 or so in and then I broke my tapping drill bit. ARGH!

Where is CT or NY can I grab a tapping bit tomorrow?
I'm in Weston (south west CT).

Thanks,

Bryan

[DaveB]

100 or so in and then I broke my tapping drill bit. ARGH!

Where is CT or NY can I grab a tapping bit tomorrow?
I'm in Weston (south west CT).

Thanks,

Bryan

There's a maple dealer in Burlington, CT (LaMothes?) but I would call first to make sure they have one. I've found them to be hit or miss and not the most knowledgeable. But they are a dealer and do have most things.

[DaveB]

Sap was flowing well today with high of 42. Freezes look marginal the next few days but I expect the sap to flow while the trees thaw out...I guess we'll see. I spent the day at the sugar house getting that ready. I'll do my first boil when I have enough sap. It's nice to be ahead of the curve for once!

[Mike Van]

I used a 7/16 brad point bit for 20 years 'till I slipped down a bank & broke it off. Since then, a regular metal twist bit has worked just fine.

[bryankloos]

Mike, I assume you were using 7/16 spiles or spouts?
I always get confused.... 5/16 Check Valve Spout needs a 5/16 drill, correct?

[Mike Van]

almost all my taps are the old 7/16 - I do have a few dozen of the newer 'health spouts' that take a 5/16 drill.

[CTfarm]

As I continued to tap today there was a little flow. The weather pattern the next 10 days is not great. Maybe 2 or 3 days.

[7gardengirl]

I'm co concerned there has been little flow this week so far, since Saturday the 22nd . My trees are very large but in deep woods. I've not ever tapped this small area before...only 6 trees with 2 taps each, 5/16 size. Is it the snow coverage or just not cold enough at night? Thank you for any encouragement. This is only my 4th year and have 14 taps. Every day matters to me!
Linda
7gardengirl

[4 Paws Sugar Shack]

Linda, there is no reason to worry. Your trees are just cold and starting to thaw out. The snow has insulated the frozen ground so it's hard for the trees to wake up. I have trees running on vacuum and you can go 20 feet in any direction and the next tree won't be running but ones beside it is. Just be patient there is loads of sap to come. Take the rest while you can get it:lol:

[bryankloos]

I put in maybe 120 yesterday and another 60ish today... Last I checked I have about 120 gallons of sap.

I'm curious what I collect tomorrow through the next freeze. I'm on vacuum so that helps but I'm not seeing a good 10-day forecast.

I agree that some trees were immediately dripping as I pulled out the drill, while neighboring trees were bone dry. Strange.

That said, I still have snow/ice on the ground, and I agree everything is slow to thaw. This is the first "real" winter I've experienced since tapping (at least it seems that way).

I'm hoping to drown in sap over the next few weeks before the reds bud.

Time will tell.

[DaveB]

The sap was flowing well for me today in Ashford (I'm at 1k feet). The temp made it to 50 off a morning low of 29. The next couple of nights look marginal but we'll see. I still think it's going to take time for the trees and ground to thaw out. Long range forecast doesn't show any big warm up so we have that going.

[7gardengirl]

You're so kind to reply! I will keep up hope. It has been a very deep freeze. Still slow drip today, my two best taps had their bags spring each spring a leak. Lost a couple gallons....oh well...new bags going on now. Thank you

[Mike Van]

I finally got to make some steam yesterday, I tried to post a pic but I guess we can't? Anyway, I cut my tap total in half this year, from 140 or so down to 70. Time caught up with me, it was more hard work than it was fun. There should be a good pickup this morning - as soon as it gets light enough to see -

[bryankloos]

Slow day for me today... Maybe 70 -80 gallons. Didn't freeze up last night.
I've fired up the RO and will concentrate the 325 or so gallons I've collected overnight.
First boil scheduled for Friday AM.

[DaveB]

I've collected about 400 gallons of sap this week. It's been flowing every day since Sunday pretty steadily. We moved last year but I still boil at my sugarhouse where I grew up. This is going to be our last year doing that and I think we are going to build a sugarhouse at our new place. The land slopes perfectly and it's been nice being able to check on the flow every day. It looks like we have a good hard freeze coming next week that should reset everything. I still don't see anything unseasonably warm the next couple of weeks so that's good.

[bryankloos]

Surprisingly good day today. I collected another 150ish gallons.
I also had the first boil and even drew off some syrup. I'll call it a win.
Hope you are all doing well!

[Mike Van]

We needed this big freeze, my trees were dead in the water -

[DaveB]

We needed this big freeze, my trees were dead in the water -

A reset is always good. Looks like another thaw later this week and seasonable weather next week. After that it's not clear. Hopefully there will be more freezes but then it will be mid-March. I usually collect sap until the end of March so I guess we'll see.

Here's a good lesson for everyone. Mind you I've been sugaring for over 30 years and I'm not sure how I missed this. One the sugarbushes I tap is a 20 minute drive away. We tapped them last Sunday and I thought all was good. I went collect the sap on Friday expecting about 100 gallons and the bin was empty. How you might be asking when there's at least 50 taps on that one line. Well, it turns out that behind the last tree on the line, right before the bin, I had a dropline that we missed. We started from the top of the hill and worked our way down and missed that one so all the sap just poured out there instead of the bin. I've since fixed that and hope to have sap from the warm-up later this week.

[voluntucky tapper]

I'm here in Voluntown.S E Ct.150 drop line tap and bucket and havn't done squat! maybe 7/8 gallon sap .my trees are in wet ground .do you think that's why??? I often get 5 or 6 gal syrup at end of season

[voluntucky tapper]

me too my trees are in wet ground .havn't done much at all yet ..one tree already budding.OMG

[DaveB]

I was talking to another producer in town with several thousand taps and even he said he hasn't had much sap and we both attributed it to the trees/ground are still being frozen. It was well below freezing for a while. I guess we'll see.

[CTguy923]

woke up to a nice surprise this morning, half full buckets and its running like a faucet at my place in Litchfield county, best its ran since i tapped last week

[bryankloos]

Heavy run in Weston today. I'm hoping it continues to produce for the next 24 hours or so....
Then a freeze Thursday night and several decent days after that.
I'm not sure how long this will go as the 11th and beyond don't show much in the way of freezes.
This could be the shortest season I've had.
Time will tell.

[DaveB]

I didn't have time to check the tanks but I checked the sap lines this morning and they were all flowing very well still. I think the trees are thawed out but ground still seems to have some frost in in based the mud and remaining patches of snow/ice. Like others have said, looks good through the 11th/12th but it looks like a break in freezes until around the 18th. That's a good week but maybe the frost in the ground buys us some time?

[Mike Van]

Finally, some decent sap to boil - After this weekend though, the forecast is showing no frost for us here. Hoping a few nights will drop just enough out in the hills. This year, you would have been better off to tap New Years day instead of ground hog day. Go figure....................

[bryankloos]

My forecast had my evening lows at about 33F last night. Fortunately, I was a few degrees below that. Trees are running again today and I expect another run tomorrow and hopefully again on Monday (48th Birthday). I have a feeling come mid-week I'll be thinking about cleaning things up. I'll be lucky if I get 20 gal this year, and I was really hoping for more towards 40. Oh well, it aint over til its over.....

[Mike Van]

My sap was 1.5% today - ?? anyone else?

[bryankloos]

My sap was a bit lower, but I'm on mostly Reds...
I had a GREAT day yesterday with 1 gal/tap.
Surprisingly, when I went out to the pump this morning, I was at 31F, so hopefully another good run today?!?!?
Time will tell.

[DaveB]

I measured one of my tanks at noon and it was just 1.3%. I've seen low numbers all over the region, even up in Vermont. I have mostly sugar maples too.

Sap was running well for me as well. Based on tank levels I've collected about 4-450 gallons since Saturday.

[therealtreehugger]

I have called it. I pulled my taps on buckets yesterday. Decision due to forecasted temps in my area staying above 40 F for the next 5 days, and my non-availability to boil each day, meaning the sap would sit and ferment. Then as I was pulling taps, I saw that the past two days was one of the best runs yet!! Ack! Did I make the right decision?? Then came home today to see the 42 taps still on tubing only producing a total of 4 gal of sap. No regrets.

[DaveB]

It wouldn't ferment that much over a few days. The nights might not be freezing but are cool enough to average around 40. It'll darken the syrup but I always preferred darker syrup.

I plan on boiling through the weekend but that's it. Next week looks too warm.