It has begun!!!

[musicfreak46290]

Well folks, the 2009 season has officially kicked off. Many of us have tapped by now. Dad and I put in our 65 taps Sunday afternoon. A few of the trees were bleeding already but not too many. Maybe tonight or Wednesday we will have the ol' evaporator fired up. We worked most of Sunday morning on finishing touches on re-bricking some of the arch, adding a filter, and some last minute cleaning. The weather seems to be cooling down later this week and next week isn't looking too pretty. From what I have seen it will be in the 20's all week. :( Hopefully today and tomorrow bring a decent run. Tomorrow looks to be around 45 degrees with tonights low around 27. That should make for a good run. Best of luck to everyone who has tapped and to those that haven't, don't worry. It doesn't look to be a bad move.

Shayne

[Buckeye mapler]

i think we have 16 taps out now and another six to put out, if i find some buckets. so far i have collected 13 gallons of sap. a few trees i tapped the sap was running down the drill bit before i could even get the bit backed out! i am hoping to boil some wednessday night. taday was a good run and tomorrow should be too.

[newman_maple]

Big weekend of boiling in southern Ohio. I am boiling just short of 300 gallons this weekend. I will have almost 800 gallons of sap boiled. Pretty good for me since I boiled a total of 1,000 gallons last year, most of which came later than it is now. I hope I am not half way finished. I know the big runs are a couple weeks away down here. Looks good for next week too!! Good luck Shayne

[stevepipkin]

I think its about half over for volume. the season may go on for three more weeks but the volume will get lighter toward the end. We extend our season by tapping the very large producers late. We will probably tap them in the next couple of days. Through the years we have noticed that some of the huge, 3 foot plus, maples are consistently late to start running. When they do start they are prodigious producers. They also produce long after the one foot diameter trees have finished.

Steve

[musicfreak46290]

Well, the weather was worse than i figured. It's been below freezing since last week. Tomorrow and thursday look better with highs in the mid to upper 40s. I think we could have waited a little longer to tap. There were some others around me that had tapped at least a week before us. They made a little after catching that warm up. Lets hope we get a decent warm up soon. Its going to take a little more to thaw out the trees again. :(

[Buckeye mapler]

these next few days should be good for us since we need some thaw, a couple of nights are going to stay above freezing. high in fifties on wednesday!

[maplehound]

I am hoping to get tapped this weekend. Iam woried though, We filled the tank in the woods with water to clean with during the last warm up and never got everything cleaned, due to equipment malfunctions. now I am not sure how long it will take for that tank to thaw out and if it will break a valvue on the tank or not. We also still have about 100gallons of water in the 500gal hauling tank that I am sure is frozen as well. Lots to do yet and very little time to do it.

[Buckeye mapler]

Maplehound, you need to make sure you get that hauling tank and if possible the collection tank out in the sunniest part of your land tomorrow and keep the valves open so any melted water can drain. the more space inside the tank that is available the more room for warm air to build up and melt the remaining ice. that is quite a dilemma, but i think you can rebound! good luck. I expect to collect quite a bit tomorrow. only got a couple gallons from the 16taps i have out today. i finished my first batch of syrup ever last night and it is as expected awesome. very nervous there for a minute, but i got through it.

[KenWP]

You guys ever try draping a black tarp or such over these tanks to attract the sun to thaw them out. It will warm them up a lot faster.

[maplehound]

Went out to the woods today. The hauling tank is setting in the field in direct sunlight. Even though it only got up to about 30 deg. today when I opened the valve the water ran out of it. still some ice on the sides though. Then I went up to the Zero milk tank that is in the woods and I can't move it. I found that the ice was about a 1/2 inch thick on the top and when that valve was opened it dribbled out just a little. I think that when it warms up tomorrow I should be alright.

[Buckeye mapler]

I averaged about a half gallon per tap today. hopefully tomorrow will be better. I hope to have alot to boil this weekend

[parsissn]

Yep, today wasn't a strong run. I suspect the trees were still thawing out after the freeze recently. I know most of my buckets still had a good sized chunk of ice in them at dusk tonight. Might have better luck tomorrow - we'll see.

[newman_maple]

I brought in 125 gallons today, 15 of which was from my nieces. They will have several 5 gallons buckets for me to bring home tomorrow from 21 taps and the person who has been bringing me sap from 16 taps will likely be calling me tomorrow. I made a second run to the far bush this evening and the 43 down there had 20 more gallons in just 3 hours. I will have to go collect in the morning before work or they will be overflowing for sure in the afternoon. 4:00 a.m. sounds pretty early, but that is all part of it! Who knows what tomorrow will bring? If my wife is off Friday, she will start boiling for me. I would like to start tomorrow, but I doubt I have the time. I better drink a couple beers and crash as soon as possible!

[maplehound]

I plan on flushing the main lines tomorrow and then tapping on Friday and Saturday. I am behind on getting started but this weather and my schooling just won't cooperate.

[Buckeye mapler]

I wondered what was going on out there Newman. You will be busy boiling again! But as you said that is all part of it. I enjoy boiling, i just need more sap to boil. wow did i just have one of those sugarer moments. is that how it all starts? well, i could walk away now before i am completely encapsulated and addicted, or i could look for more trees to tap for next year..............
well I have always enjoyed a walk in the woods!!!!!!!

[newman_maple]

I just brought in another 65 gallons this morning. Some buckets were half full or more and certainly would have been overflowing this afternoon. They are still running strong. If it keeps running today, I will have a huge day!

[musicfreak46290]

Well folks, I believe today is the day! With the past few days well above freezing, the trees should have thawed and be running like mad. No sun today but temps in the 50's. Dad and I are making a run to the farm later on and will hopefully be able to collect a decent amount and start boiling tonight. If we do it'll be a late night. Good luck to all!

Shayne

[newman_maple]

My friend who brings me sap brought 60 gallons this evening from his 16 taps. My niece's had 7 buckets for me this afternoon and I brought in another 85. I now have 370 gallons ready to boil. It will be a very long weekend for sure. Some buckets were running over this afternoon. I am gonna hit them again in awhile before the rain starts.

Buckeye, I would guess you will be boiling instead of paying me a visit this weekend?

[Buckeye mapler]

i do have alot to boil down now. i did have a few trees that were dry??? the others were doing pretty good. how many ga,,ons of sap does this give you for the year so far Newman? I am thinking you are nearing a thousand!!!

[newman_maple]

This storm blowing through is going to leave some rain water in the buckets.... I just hope the buckets stay on the trees and do not collect too much rain water.

I think I am over 1200 gallons collected and maybe closer to 1300.

[Buckeye mapler]

awesome. honestly i thought you were over a thousand but i didnt want to over guess and take the thunder out of what you collected if i was wrong. that is awesome. So how many taps are you up to including the neighbor and your niece?

[newman_maple]

I have 149 taps all together. I got another 90 gallons today. I haven't heard from the person with the 16 taps today, but his will get me over 500 gallons for this run. That gets my total near 1400 gallons. I have about 100 gallons boiled so far with the wife's help today.

[newman_maple]

I brought in 145 gallons today from 112 taps. They are running like crazy so I will be up at 4 in the morning to get more before work. I know it will stop with this warm up not ending anytime soon, but I am sure to get plenty more tomorrow. The sap from the other 37 taps will be here tomorrow so I expect another decent weekend. I know I need to boil fast due to the heat. With no hope for a freeze in the next 7 days, my year might be over after this weekend.

[Buckeye mapler]

got another 20 gallons today and will collect more tomorrow. cant wait to boil.

[musicfreak46290]

Well yesterday was the first collection in about a week. We collected around 50 gallons. However, it was still somewhat frozen so the taps weren't flowing as well. Today should be an excellent day. I am predicting at least 100 gallons from our 65 taps. I will boil as soon as i get home from school. Dad should be getting things fired up as im typing. Best of luck to y'all tonight!

Shayne