2005 Sugarin' Season Predictions

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Who's going to post what there prediction will be of what the outcome for their sugarin' season in 2005 will bring in their area?
Now this is my un-scientific prediction for my area- Season will start about 3 weeks later then normal(Mar. 12th) and will end around average (Apr. 7th) Yup a short one for sure with the Flordia winter we are having so far this late into the year. Crop will be about 3/4-No full crop. Ya i know the weather during sugaring season controls the majority of it but lets see how close you can come to your prediction?? Good luck guys.

[wdchuck]

Predicting a sugaring season with any degree of certainty is **** near impossible! That being said, I'll go not very far out on a limb and say it'll be an average year. At least I won't be too far off!

[mapleman3]

if I have the sap year I had last year which I was told was avg. then I should make 75 gals this season IF I don't loose 225 gals of sap like lest season and IF I don't burn up 3-4 gals of syrup :)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Been really warm down here so far and we are finally getting some snow tonight.

Kinda nervous here with all the warm weather. It was 65 here the first week of Jan for 2 or 3 days this year and I don't think the trees ever recovered for this past season and so far this winter is not looking much better. :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Russ]

Here are my predictions for next season:

1. All of us will wish we had gotten more of our projects done BEFORE the season starts.
2. Most of us will get bigger than last year, but not as big as we want to be... someday.
3. Some of us will wish we had made more wood. Those with wood will wish they had put in more taps.
4. Before the last tap is pulled, we'll already be thinking of what we want to do different NEXT season.
5. Any money we make from selling maple syrup will have already been spent on new equipment.
6. Two words for us in Northern Wisconsin: Deep Snow
7. Some critical piece of equipment will break at the most inconvenient time, but with a little ingenuity, a few curse words and plain dumb luck, we'll manage.
8. Most of us will get visitors that want to talk for hours, drink our beer or soda, sample the syrup... but do they offer to go out and collect sap from a few hundred sap bags??? No.
9. At least one sap bag-chewin' red squirrel will meet its fate in a hail of lead shot from the trusty 12 gauge. Or a BB from Junior's Crossman.
10. All of us will be in awe of and take pride in continuing one of the most fascinating traditions of Spring that multiple generations can enjoy. There's nothin like being in the woods to observe Ma' Nature waking up after a long winter. And when the frogs start singing, you know another season is over... except for the clean up.

Nicley said Russ,,,,,as wise man once told me "All you will ever want is a little more than you will ever have" , and for the saeson,,it was wet this summer and the big rockies up in Shaws lower field looked pretty happy,,I will say we have a year just about like last year,,wich will still not be enough sap to run the evaporator unless I get off the computer and hang some more taps,,,,, Parker

[syrupmaker]

Ask me around the end of April, i should know a little better by then. :wink:

Rick

[backyardsugarer]

Given the fact that I am well prepared with a ton of wood, I would guess that we will struggle with sap fow this year. It has been mild and the trend looks to continue through December. We need some snow on the ground so we'll have some ground water come late winter.

One guaranteed prediction is that much steam and several empty beer cans will make there way from my sugar shack this year.

Chris

[SUGARSMITH]

My predictions are for a cold end to February and cold early into at least mid march with little to no sap.

Additionally I predict that due to this every piece of copper or stainless in most of the sugarhouse will be buffed and polished due to this lack of sap

Just a hunch however

[MaineMapleDave]

I think that Russ and Jeremy combined have the right answer for the season.

This is only my 10th season, but I am baffled by the weather. Gonna be a hard slog getting to my buckets on snowshoes once the sap starts running.......

[MaineMapleDave]

Not throwing in the towel by any means, just waiting for the weather to break. This is just about the latest I have tapped, but in looking through my notes (I'm obsessive, can't help it) I can see that I have gone up to 16 days at a stretch from tapping to actually having enough sap to boil.

Thing with my trees (all reds except for 1) is that they have always shut down the first week in April. This year may be different and run on a bit longer.

We'll know when it's over.....

Heck, I haven't finished putting stuff together, cleaning up and getting organized yet, so the lull is good for me.

[NH Maplemaker]

Lets all keep our chins up! When we frist started this maple madness 20 years ago we never ever taped untill town meeting day here in New Hampshire, and that is today!So maybe we are just going to have an old fashion season this year! last year we were frozen hard for a good part of march as I remember. But then I don't remember as good as I use to!!