Deciding when to tap?

[MainelyMaple]

Well i am very anxious to start tapping and im trying to look at the extended forecast to pick a date. the thing is i dont want to tap too early and have my taps slow down towards the end of the season if the season turns out to be a long one.

when i look at weather.com's extended forecast for auburn it shows from 2/25-2/28 everyday will be above freezing (ranges 33-36) not too warm but it is above freezing. and the lows at night range from 16-23.

is this warm enough for the sap to run? should i tap the 25th and catch the sap those days hoping that we dont go into a cold spell right after. but i also dont want to hold off too long incase the season isnt all that great. i want to catch the warm days that i can. or is it still to early to tell if those days will be good or not? thanks for the help guys.

-scott

[TapME]

I didn't tap last year until mid march Scott. Around the 5 to the 10 should be right, depending on how sunny and warm it is in your bush. Just remember that the sap will travel up and down the tree making it sweeter. Keep the drill ready its not long now.
P S put a test bucket up to help ease the tension.

[smitty76]

Scott,

It is a guessing game, never can count on the extended forcast. I like to make sure that i get the earliest rather than the later sap because it makes lighter syrup. Its your call. however, depending on your schedual, have all your lines run and gathering tanks and main lines run with nothing but to drill and tap so that when the weather brakes, you can get the best of both worlds.

[tessiersfarm]

I have tapped as early as Feb 15th and as late as march 15th, I have yet to fire up my evaporator before march 10th or so. I have gotten small amounts of sap before that but not enough to fire for. First weekend in march for me, I don't care about light though. I prefer dark myself and given a taste test most people prefer darker syrup. All grades are priced about the same, so I don't let color concern me too much.

[gmcooper]

Scott,
I just looked over some of the long range forcasts. None are overly encouraging but not awful either. There looks to be a few really cold mornings coming up next week that would put a damper on some of those mid 30's day temps. My plan is to be ready to tap the 27th. Over the past 20 years I have only boiled a few times in Feb and made syrup fewer times in Feb. The long term forcasts are usually not right but hopefully a general trend to look at.
Mark

[Revi]

We were planning on tapping this weekend, but I think it's too early. There's a big storm coming and we'll probably have to dig out the lines, so this weekend we'll do a bunch of fix-ups on the tubing and get totally ready for next weekend's tapping I think.