the sap ran today

[sugarnut]

i walked round looking for dead fall today and i noticed the sap was running. unfortunately it was running from insect damage...several small holes in a horizontal line on three different trees. i guess that is a good news/bad news kinda thing.

anyhow, the temperature was over 40 today here in south central pa and should be mild for the next two at least. i still plan to wait another week or three.

seeing that sap running, i sure got the sugar bug today! i guess it won't be long now. :)

i am worried about the woodlot though (kinda small to call a sugar bush). i may have seen a baby long horned beetle last fall. i have never encountered one, but i did see pictures of adults online. i sure hope they haven't found my woodlot.



ETA...

maybe the damage is from sapsuckers. i just did a little research online and i think sapsuckers may be the culprit!

[Russell Lampron]

Sugarnut sapsuckers would be what made the holes in your trees. I have some trees with the same kind of damage. I have seen the birds too. The last one I saw was in the neighbors tree though.

[sugarnut]

i did some more stepping around today and noticed the silvers have some bud swell. i'm thinking about tapping them a bit earlier than the reds because i know they will bloom earlier. i have to decide if it is worth tapping for @15 taps on silvers.

[tuckermtn]

sugrnut- do you have a sap hydrometer? if so, tap one silver and test your sugar content. we tapped 3 silvers last year when we were out West and the lowest sugar we got 3.5%...so it can defintely be worth tapping silvers if you have some good ones...

[jmbinventions]

One of my trees I tap is a silver, it has lower sugar content but I tapped it just right and the sap would flow every day, so the volume made up for the lower sugar content.

[Breton heart]

Greetings to some of you local Pa tappers,I started three years ago and the same fustration of only Norways, Reds and Silvers. I will maybe get in 20 to 30 taps in this year If I get my pan made in time. I live in southern York Co almost on the Md. line and would like to be in contact with other backyarders in the area.

[sugarnut]

well breton, today may be a good day to start. that or wait until thursday. tomorrow and monday have good temps forecast even though it will rain/snow monday. thursday through sunday are looking real good.

i'm tapping a few silvers this morning. i should have 8-12 taps on jugs for collection. i bet they run like a river. :)

[sugarnut]

i started tapping a few trees today. the tubing isn't ready, so i used a few jugs. i am also trying out some homemade stainless tubing spouts. i need to use a short section of tubing to direct the sap into the jug. the few trees i tapped before the last big chill had totally frozen and the smooth, stainless spouts don't seal all that well. i had sap flowing between the tubing and spout. hopefully the sun will thaw them and it will flow.

i also have a positive ID on the sapsucker. it is a red naped sapsucker...another gift from our canadian friends, lol. (you all can have him back...and you can also keep those 10° F temps) :) the little bugger is fairly tame and wouldn't "shoo" away from the trees i was working on.

[Dave Y]

Sugarnut,
As an all around woodsman and part time birder, I have to tell you that the yellow bellied sapsucker will not kill your trees, and will not cause you enough sap loss to notice. I know some of us on here care as much about our trees as our offspring. But try to keep your parental instincts under control.They are just looking for a meal.

[KenWP]

If we never had sap suckers we wouldn't have humming birds either as they go hand in hand. Untill there is enough flowers blossoming around they feed on the holes the sap suckers make.

[sugarnut]

i started tapping a few trees today. the tubing isn't ready, so i used a few jugs. i am also trying out some homemade stainless tubing spouts. i need to use a short section of tubing to direct the sap into the jug. the few trees i tapped before the last big chill had totally frozen and the smooth, stainless spouts don't seal all that well. i had sap flowing between the tubing and spout. hopefully the sun will thaw them and it will flow.

i also have a positive ID on the sapsucker. it is a red naped sapsucker...another gift from our canadian friends, lol. (you all can have him back...and you can also keep those 10° F temps) :) the little bugger is fairly tame and wouldn't "shoo" away from the trees i was working on.


i need to correct myself. someone pointed out that red-naped sapsuckers are western birds...and they are right. i mistook a female yellow-bellied for a red-naped.

they may not kill the trees, but they have more sap dripping from above than i have dripping down below, lol. i'll have to take some pics of that and of the damage they have done for the past ??? years on a yellow delicious apple and a crabapple tree.

[sugarnut]

If we never had sap suckers we wouldn't have humming birds either as they go hand in hand. Untill there is enough flowers blossoming around they feed on the holes the sap suckers make.


i must be at the far north portion of their southern migratory area. i am just a stone throw away from the PA/MD state line.