collecting sap in fall?

[maple sapper]

I have heard it is possible to collect sap in the fall. Does anyone do it themselves? When is the prime time? Is it after the leaves have fallen, or before once nights get cold enough? Or does it even matter as long as you get the varying temps? I am assuming it works like in the late winter season. I dont want to get sap for production but just enought to do a little testing of a few new ideas for the next season. Thanks for any insight in advance. Gregg aka mapple sapper

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

I have heard the trees do run in the fall, I am not sure how good they run, or what the sugar content would be.. I just ran out and tapped the red in my yard as a million dollar experiment.. it was 22 here this am and is now up to 37, and the tap hole is dry.. I will keep you posted on the results, and if it does run I will throw it on the refractometer to see what the % is..

[halfast tapper]

There's a guy in southern vt I know that tapped 5,000 taps a couple of years ago in the fall. He tapped in november. He made 2,000 gallons of syrup. He did it as an expeirment and to test his new equipment, he switched to burning vegetable oil and wanted to work the bugs out of the system before the real season starts. He's got 30,000 taps that run to the sugarhouse. He made dark and medium syrup with no taste difference. He did say that the sap looked different , it wasn't clear but not neccessarily cloudy, it was hard for him to explain. He hasn't tapped in the fall since.

[ennismaple]

I've heard of people who've tried it but much more sap runs in the spring. When you look at the growth rings on a tree the light coloured rings are from the spring and they are normally 2 to 3 times wider than the darker rings from the fall's sap run. Obviously, you can't tap a tree both spring and fall or else you'll put too much stress on it. A taphole from the fall will not flow come spring so your best option is still the spring flows.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

post edited

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

This new computer and high speed internet is such a wonderfull thing for all of us :)

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

post edited

[WF MASON]

Thats funny someone should mention fall sugaring , I just had someone ask me about that today , saying he wanted to find that guy in VT that had tapped two years ago and take a ride over and talk to him about it. I'm sure it was mentioned here before when it happened. It was in the news paper I guess. Would anyone know who it was or have the news paper article about the guy and where he lives in VT.??With the weather here being 20' at night to 50' each day I'd think it would be right if it does flow in the fall.

[TapME]

Just think Gov the new computer works as fast as your mind. Now we will all be blessed with the knowledge(I think).

If you could tap and get a decent amount of syrup it may be worth it with the prices as high as they are. Then take the spring off and let the trees recover. Never know what the price will be in the spring. Just thinking out loud.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

post edited

[White Barn Farm]

Three years ago I tapped five trees on November 18th to see if the sap would run. One was a soft maple and I got no sap from that tree. The others were all hard maples and I got about 2/3rds of the sap that I would get in the spring. I made some medium syrup that had good flavor. It made some of the neighbors talk!! What was interesting was that the taps ran until April. I pulled the spiles around Christmas and they still ran whenever the weather was right.
I have more taps available than my equipment will handle, have no plans on getting bigger but thought about some year tapping one section in the fall and the other section in the spring. Especially if I was running low on syrup for the holidays.

[Pete33Vt]

Don't quote me but I think the guy that tapped in the fall in Vermont, was from Northern VT. IN the Waterville, Belvadear region. He was doing it as a test for the state. Not positive. But It was talked about here just have to go back and find it in the old posts.