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Plutoman15
01-29-2025, 06:15 PM
I am bummed. Put in 23 taps on Saturday when the forecast was for nearly 2 weeks of freezing and thawing every day to now it will only freeze 1 or 2 times the next few weeks. Bad timing.

Conococheague
02-03-2025, 05:31 AM
Hello Plutoman. Not far from you (Mercersburg). We’re tapping today (2/3) - about 36 trees. Finished ice fishing last week and put everything away for the season so that I can make another mess (maple syrup). We almost missed the season last year so we’re erring on the side of being early. I’ll past how it goes this weak.

Conococheague

Plutoman15
02-03-2025, 09:14 PM
I was really surprise the trees didn’t run today. It froze good on Sunday at 24f and it got up to 42 today but cloudy. Tank was nearly empty.

Conococheague
02-04-2025, 05:21 PM
We ended up only tapping only half our trees yesterday with the questionable 10-day weather outlook. One our partners collected today and we got more than 30 gallons so it wasn’t too bad. We’ll see what happens the next couple days but I’m not optimistic.

Conococheague

Plutoman15
02-10-2025, 08:02 PM
Are your trees on the mountain? I am in the middle of the valley near Marion. We are not getting enough temp swing in the valley. I got a little today but really nothing for almost 2 weeks.

Conococheague
02-11-2025, 10:18 AM
No, not on the mountain. What we tapped already is on a field/woods edge with a southern exposure. The best trees on this farm are on the very edge so the get sun in the first half of the day. We have a couple yard trees in town that do really well because the get sun all day. My favorite group (that we’re waiting to tap) lines a long farm lane on a dairy just outside of town. Full sun exposure and very easy collecting regardless of weather. Access to the trees on our major sugarbush requires driving in the field. If you collect in the morning while the ground is frozen hard you get a lot of ice and frozen bags (like I did this morning). Collect late afternoon and the ground is often soft and even in 4wd you can leave ruts which risks wearing out your welcome even when the ground is owned by friends.