Tapping in Ontario 2010

[Rockwood]

Looks like is almost that time of year.
Down in my neck of the woods the temperature is going to slide over the 0 mark in a week or so.. Although mybe I just have the itch.

Gentlemen start your tapping.. :cool:

[KenWP]

Your further north then me a bit but probbably not as high. Our forecast so far hasn't any light untill March it looks like. I watch for when Ennis Maple starts and hope it's time here also. Last year took untill the end of March to actually get enough to make it worth while collecting.

[H. Walker]

I always go by the Full Moon as a long range forcaster and this year that's Feb. 28 + Mar. 29. So, I predict that we'll get some early March sap with a freeze up then the big runs at the end of March. But remember even the Groundhog is wrong 2/3's of the time!!!

[ennismaple]

Ken -If you're judging when to tap based on what I do you could be in trouble my friend! I'm flying by the seat of my pants - just with more taps! We've kept dates of when we tap and first boil for over 20 years and we've made syrup March 10 or earlier only twice so I'm not serious about charging batteries until after March 1. Harold may be up to a week earlier than us as he's far enough south to make his bush a few degress warmer. I may tap the one 450 tap bush with CV's at the end of February to get it finished early.

[thenewguy]

Around the peterborough area locals generally tap the first weekend in march. its usually early enough to get the first big run. last year we tapped that weekend and were boiling the following monday. but i have seen the sap not starting to run till 2nd or 3rd week.

[Rockwood]

Looks like I've jumped the gun. But so so close to being over the 0 Deg mark for next week.. And your all right the temperature will drop off for the first week of March.


I'll though I still don't get the moon thing.

Just inpatient I guess:rolleyes:

[KenWP]

If I follow Ennis I can blame him instead of my impatient self. I have to have somebody to follow unless I drive over a few miles and check the other sugar makers.

[halladaymaple]

Hi guys: Yeah, when to tap is always the question. Look for the warmer trends and listen to the tress (no I'm not one of those) the birds man, listen to the birds and smell the air, if that fails check the weathernetwork.com forecast :lol:

The only thing I can advise on, is "Be ready to go when the sap flows!" thats my personal moto, make sure everything is ready at the recieving end and ready to crack the valve and let the sap slow, light the match and wait. Dont be running around fixing stuff that should have been done before first sap flow. All the best to fellow producers. I am located near athens Ontario and have never tapped before March 10.

Darrell

[cheesegenie]

Like my father always said, tap on St Patricks Day(Mar.17) in this area, and that always has worked for me. Somebody told me there was no snow in Brockville now. Still a foot or so here
in the bush, but has frozen, great to get around and cut wood.

[KenWP]

I know this year to tap either later or not get to excited and just wait for it to come. Made most of the syrup in a 10 day period and just wasted time the other 4 weeks. If I tap by the 10 of March I am good till the end of April almost.

[smitty76]

I'm with halladay, Have every thing ready to go except being tapped. When the weather changes, put the taps in and your off.:D :D

[longbeard]

Just checked my records and the average first boil for me in the past 17 years is March 16. Last year Mar. 6.

I am in Central Ont. - just north of Barrie.

How far ahead of the expected run date (guesstimate) do you guys drill the trees? It is nice to be ready, but too soon can be a problem too.

[KenWP]

That date makes sense as last year I tapped march 5 amd never got enough sap untill March 18. I will just follow the weather as see what happens. If it's to cold I am going to wait and the first warm day start drilling holes. has to come some day.

[ontario guy]

Well it hasn't happened in a while (tapping in February) but i may tap on Saturday, sunny and plus 4, as long as the forecast is warm for next week.


Today
Cloudy with sunny periods

* 1°C
*
*

Tue
A few rain showers or flurries

* 1°C
* -3°C
*

Wed
A few rain showers or flurries

* 3°C
* -2°C
*

Thu
Snow or rain

* 2°C
* -2°C
*

Fri
Rain or snow

* 3°C
* -2°C
*

Sat
Chance of flurries

* 4°C
* -4°C
* 40%

Sun
A mix of sun and cloud

* 5°C
* -6°C

[BryanEx]

I was thinking the same thing and I'm not that far from you ontario guy. I will be waiting to see what the forecast is for the week after before deciding. I'd rather miss the first week of light syrup and still be in good shape for the darker stuff in April because I simply can't sell it unless it "looks like maple syrup". I still have 2 gallons of light from last year I'll be mixing in with one of this year's darker batches just to use it up. I'm anxious to git goin' but in reality mid to late season is my best market.

[KenWP]

We have the same weather patterns coming here. I tapped one small tree today to see what happens. I am out of school next week so I will try and get tapped in around the house then. The woods trees take a while to thaw out.
Are you guys getting that big snow storm anywheres over there.

[BryanEx]

5 cm is the largest forecast I've seen with lots of wet snow or rain added in. I'd just love to get started but will continue to hold for another week or two. My best guess is that I'll tape March 12th and so far that seems on target.

[BryanEx]

14 days forecasts are based on averaging three different groundhogs plus adding in the Farmer's Almanac but for what it's worth...

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/fourteenday/caon0512?ref=qlink_st_14day

[KenWP]

Plus the arthritis for three people and the mal de tete of two woman.

[cheesegenie]

Tempting as it is, I will wait until mid March. Tapped early like this one year and too many problems (turned cold again). Just my thoughts.

[BryanEx]

+6 on Friday... perfect temps on Sunday/Monday... but I too will wait to see how the forecast shapes up. I'm not in a big hurry business-wise because I can't even give the extra light away so I'd much rather wait and have good tapes running later in the season when syrup is darker.

[argohauler]

+6 on Friday... perfect temps on Sunday/Monday... but I too will wait to see how the forecast shapes up. I'm not in a big hurry business-wise because I can't even give the extra light away so I'd much rather wait and have good tapes running later in the season when syrup is darker.

You're in eastern Ontario aren't you? I'm in the banana belt and for the next 7 days nothing is above 1.

I could be tapping now, but it looks like we're gonna get dumped on for a few days.

Going to Forest tomorrow. Bought a couple old milk coolers and some buckets off a fella who's retiring.

[BryanEx]

You're in eastern Ontario aren't you?

:lol: ... Yep. Exactly half way between Ottawa and Montreal. Given our local forecast I'm fully expecting a cold-snap payback real soon... but stranger things have happened.

[Treetapper]

We got close to 6" of snow on Monday night. (Southern Ontario, south of Brantford) I'm itching to go too, but will wait as well. I do mostly road and lane side trees so we can usually tap sooner than wood-lot tree's. Last year I tapped on March 5 and boiled for three weeks almost straight through. Hope we all get another good run this year.

[tylerj]

We got close to 6" of snow on Monday night. (Southern Ontario, south of Brantford) I'm itching to go too, but will wait as well. I do mostly road and lane side trees so we can usually tap sooner than wood-lot tree's. Last year I tapped on March 5 and boiled for three weeks almost straight through. Hope we all get another good run this year.

I'm s.w. of London and was hoping to be able to tap this weekend but the long range for this area has it below zero until March 5th (except for this Sunday). I guess there's no point in tapping until the following weekend for me.

[BryanEx]

I've been predicting the 10th of March to set my tapes with first boil on the 13th and so far that's still on track. Another 10 cm of snow tonight with daytime highs of +4... but I still expect another below freezing period first weekend of March.

[Rockwood]

There calling for 10cm over the next few days. Saying that it's melting on contact.

It was 3c out today, and looks like it's going to be close to it for the rest of the week.

Ran one test tap, and I'm getting 2 - 3 drops per second. I'll check tomorrow evening to see how much has collected.

[BryanEx]

Keep us posted Rockwood. If things really start to run I will certainly reconsider in a hurry given your location. It's the false start I'm trying to avoid because I loose revenue at season end if I jump too fast in the beginning.

[Treetapper]

I'm s.w. of London and was hoping to be able to tap this weekend but the long range for this area has it below zero until March 5th (except for this Sunday). I guess there's no point in tapping until the following weekend for me.

yea it seems like every year I miss out on the "first run" but in reality waiting a bit usually pays off in the end. Good luck with the run. Are you near Strathroy? I,m south of Brantford about an hour east of Dunville between you and argohauler (part of the "Banana Belt")

[tylerj]

yea it seems like every year I miss out on the "first run" but in reality waiting a bit usually pays off in the end. Good luck with the run. Are you near Strathroy? I,m south of Brantford about an hour east of Dunville between you and argohauler (part of the "Banana Belt")

I'm tapping down near the lake.. south of Dutton. Good luck to you also!

[BryanEx]

Temps in the forecast have all dropped to +2 or less for the next week. Still on target for first boil March 13th. As soon as I have 60+ gallons of sap on hand I will start working my call list for "brew your own". I can safely handle 30 families per season and already have 47 on my call list. Really need to figure out the details for a second evaporator and bump profits to $5 K plus.

[BryanEx]

Eastern Ontario / Western Quebec... anyone go for it yet? The weather forecasts keep telling me "maybe" but my feeling is that is still a touch too early. I was really glad I hadn't tapped when that last storm came through Thursday night. I would have been playing hide-n-seek in the bush trying to find all my buckets that had blown away (they sail very well when empty).

[Rockwood]

BryanEx, your correct, hold off. My test tap has only yielded 1/2 gal, even with the 3 Deg C. it's not producing.

Plus it looks like the temps are going to drop over the next week.

Now I'm really board having clean all the buckets, pails, spines, drill bits, evaporator pans, ready wood.

There's always Nascar..

[BryanEx]

Stopped in at my local supplier and he told me a few of his customers have tapped... but no one is in bragging or in a panic for supplies which means locally sap is not yet running.

[KenWP]

I have mud in the driveway but so far nothing in my test taps. Might do one more test today just to test the test tap theory.

[argohauler]

All right. I'm officially starting to get discouraged. I check the weather network's 2 week trend everyday and it says cold through the 14th.

When it warms up, I know what it will do. It will turn to spring in a week and we won't get the freezing nights. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to get a weeks run here in the "banana belt".

I'm going to start tapping tomorrow anyways.

[mklarenbeek]

I'm not planning on tapping for another week. Whether I'll actually be patient enough to wait that long is another story. :rolleyes:

Hubby is assembling the BBQ tomorrow. That will only make it harder for me to wait.

[Rockwood]

KenWP - How did the test test tap work? The weather forecast has little or no change with highs of 3 - 4's. What would happen if we get a jump to the teens with lows never going below freezing?

[BryanEx]

What would happen if we get a jump to the teens with lows never going below freezing?
You'd have a whack of sap in a hurry and nice days to boil it. I remember at least two days last year I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt to collect with temps pushing the 20 degree mark. There's still snow on the ground with a deep frost this year (in my area) so it will take a while for the bush to completely thaw out. It will come but like everyone else I'm more than ready to go and sit here looking at a pyramid stack of buckets on my back deck waiting to be hung. Maybe I could go make a big pot of chicken soup on the evaporator while I'm waiting... :rolleyes:

[tylerj]

Well I couldn't wait any longer lol.. Put out about 80 taps roadside. It's 2 C here today and sap is running.

[KenWP]

KenWP - How did the test test tap work? The weather forecast has little or no change with highs of 3 - 4's. What would happen if we get a jump to the teens with lows never going below freezing?

My test tap started to drip a little bit today finally. So I put in a couple more and the big sugar in the yard dripped a bit and one weird tree way out in the woods dripped the most. But it's cooling down again. Not to excited yet.

[Buckshot]

Boy I have a itchy drill finger.But the weather forecast tells me its not time yet. And I really did not want the 2 feet of snow we received.This waiting is the hardest part. Please holy mother of maple give me a sign.

[thenewguy]

put 25 taps in today, ran quite well. waiting till next weekend to tap other 200. HOW ABOUT THAT HOCKEY GAME!!

[Buckshot]

I loved the hockey. canada did great.

[Brent]

I can't take it. Going to poke holes in trees today.

Evaporator's in peices, RO is till wintering in the basement.
Vac system is untested, so I will start with 600 on gravity.

But the forecast for the next 5 days is only perfect.

The drill is charging.

[Yellzee]

First post here, they wont all be this long winded.

Live just north of Belleville in Plainfield.
Tapped starting on Friday afternoon. Sap was running very good Friday afternoon, not bad Saturday.. little yesterday.
First boil yesterday about 60 gallons of sap from about 100 taps, I've lost count in the tapping mayhem. Haven't finished it yesterday, will do that tonight.
One of my pipelines completely destroyed from some animals, chewed into about 5 foot pieces... couldn't find a bunch of the taps thanks to that new foot of snow covering the ground, so actually ran out of taps and had to go buy another 500 feet of line to replace it with.

This week the weather here looks fantastic, lots of sun and highs at least 3 during the day.

Heard one of the big producers around here boiled on Friday.

Canada winning the gold, amazing, watching them do it in the sugar shack during the first boil of the year with the family... Priceless!

[KenWP]

I have started drilling as of yesterday also. Might be pointless but I am home and the snows almost gone here. I had 3 trees drip out of about 20 so that's good odds for this time of year. One thing here is it's not freezing much at night. Zero seems to be the lowest it's going.

[SGFarm]

We put in about 30 pails on Friday and about half are dripping, did a first test boil yesterday; nice and light.

Planning on another 20 or so pails this year.

Trying to keep it simple.

Mike

[KenWP]

I went out today to check to see what's what and found several trees dripping. So it's started slow but sure. Now to get the rest tapped and go from there. One more cold spell to go this weekend.

[BryanEx]

Local forecast is for perfect conditions for the next week +5 / -5. Decided I will tap after work tomorrow with great expectations. Received in my email tonight from Ontario Agriculture's Maple Newsletter the following...


The weather forecast for the upcoming week and into the coming weekend of March 1 to 8, indicates that conditions by early to mid-week should be ideal for very good sap flow in sugar bushes. Good sap flow conditions are expected this week for many areas of the province, from Windsor to Ottawa and from Niagara up to North Bay.

Freezing nighttime temperatures followed by thawing daytime temperatures are predicted daily with sunny skies, which should result in continuous or frequent boiling until early next week. All maple syrup producers can watch the weather forecast in their own areas to verify sap flow conditions. Ideal sap flow occurs with consecutive day and night temperatures of -5 ˚C and +5 ˚C. These freeze and thaw conditions will recharge maple trees with sugary sap and also pressurize the tree for good sap flow and collection.

GAME ON!

[Brent]

Got about 200 taps in. Just came in at sunset and all the last holes I did were running before I could get the check valve spouts in. ( broke only 1 so far ).

There's about 20 gallons in the first tank. I'll dump it tomorrow as a system flush.

Game on !!!!!!

[BryanEx]

For any Ontario producers interested, Ontario Ag puts out a free seasonal email-based newsletter on many different crops including maple syrup. They usually talk about what various areas can expect for production, what seems to be common issues, along with reminders about cleaning or how to process for sale. If you would like to subscribe you can do so here...

Ontario Maple Newsletter (http://apps.omafra.gov.on.ca/scripts/english/crops/agriphone/addremove.asp)

... and if you'd like to see a sample newsletter you can do so HERE (http://apps.omafra.gov.on.ca/scripts/english/crops/agriphone/article.asp?ID=1778).

[thenewguy]

i also tapped today, put it around 100 taps. ran good, hopefully will boil later in the week

[traderzach]

We usually tap around March 10, but the weather forcast seem too perfect to wait. We did tap one tree yesterday around 5pm and it was running. So we're planning on tapping our 125 trees on wednesday afternoon.

[Yellzee]

didn't get too much of a run in Belleville yesterday. Hopefully today will be better.

[Banjo]

just in from tapping our front 4 trees. Sap seems to be running great and the forecast looks excellent.

Tomorrow I need to tap my few back trees and call the neighbour to see about tapping her laneway trees.

cheers,
Andrew

[BryanEx]

42 taps installed today after work with all but 2 flowing heavy. First few buckets already had 2" in them by the time I was done. Will be boiling this weekend without a doubt.

[Rockwood]

Saps running, 22 taps produced 12 gals of sap over one day. If this keeps up I should have 60. gals for the weekend. Keep in mind I only have a 2 x 3 evaporator. Starting to sweeten the pan tomorrow.

[timbers]

Hung about 550 buckets yesterday and running ok. Hoping to add another 150.

Ian

[Yellzee]

about 70 gallons of sap yesterday from about 100 taps. Another beauty today from the looks of it

[SGFarm]

Finished with about 55 pails and had enough to start our first boil at around 6pm. Got just under 4 litres of very light syrup.

Mike

[Yellzee]

just checked yesterdays SAP, 2.7%

[Brent]

Got a total of 160 gallons in two days as I worked connecting the vac system. Actually a bit disappointing. Got almost 400 taps on line by the end of the day. Weather is looking too good. Too warm too soon. The silvers may go buddy by next week. I hope that's not an accurate expectation.

[traderzach]

We managed to tap 150 trees this afternoon....all we running pretty good. We re planning on bowling this saturday

[KenWP]

After the miles I have been walking the last three days salon de quilles is the last thing my kness could take.
The weather here is scarey also. Snows almost gone and only 3 days into the season and it just finally froze last night after a week of no frost.
Spent over 50 years wishing for warm weather and now the last 2 years wishing for cold weather. Go figure.

[longbeard]

Spent the whole day yesterday getting about 200 taps in and with this great weather will get another 100 in to-day. It is tough peddling around here (central Ont.) with lots of snow and a big crust on top - the snowshoes break thru and makes it tough with the hills I have. Hot tub was good last night.

Weather report looks great and "should" be a good run starting this week-end.

[cheesegenie]

I finally broke down and tapped this morning, was running like crazy. Will have to start boiling tomorrow. Imagine, two weeks early.

[ennismaple]

Wish we were tapped but we're not ready for this early a start. We've got many friends with drills who will work for beer and syrup ready to get at it on Saturday. I hope we can get 3000 taps in Saturday and get our 3 biggest bushes running on vacuum. Sunday we'll tap the rest, check for leaks and maybe sweeten the pans if we need storage room in the tanks. Lots to do!

[BryanEx]

Finished with about 55 pails and had enough to start our first boil at around 6pm. Got just under 4 litres of very light syrup.

Mike

Good way to spend your time while the 417 passes by your front door (temporarily). :rolleyes: Welcome to Maple Trader Mike. I pass by your way twice a day doing that "job" thing in Ottawa.

[Buckshot]

Will be tapping friday night and early saturday mornning.We are running 85 taps and i want to be ready for the first big run in our area sat 6 sun 6 .:D

[Brent]

pulled the first sap out of the bush today. About 220 gallons from about 400 taps.

good maple weather is supposed to be warm days.... not so warm
and freezing nights ... you listening up there ... nights ... not supposed to start freezing at 4:00 PM.

[Brent]

Welcome to the trader Mike. Our first few years we got nothing but extra light, like you got on your first run. Then as more and more folks found us and came to buy syrup, the penny began to drop. People that come to the farm to get syrup don't want light maple flavour ... they want the full flavour, that equals darker syrup.

We did a local farmer's market and had samplers. We couldn't sell the light stuff for weeks until we ran out of everythingn else. This year I'm going to try to let the microbes work on it a bit before we boil, to get darker syrup.

[BryanEx]

People that come to the farm to get syrup don't want light maple flavour ... they want the full flavour, that equals darker syrup.
Same here! I can't sell the stuff with the one exception of to a city slicker who thinks "Aunt Jemima" is "Maple Syrup". Light syrup is what we end up using for taffy on snow or experiments with various maple confections because it's more or less disposable... and when I attempt confections they are often disposable. :lol:

[H. Walker]

Not really ready but tapping anyway. Over 400 buckets up and 200 pipeline tapped, 600 more buckets to go.

[nudlebush]

We finish with our 200 taps today.
The taps from Wednesday produced approx 1 gal, off to a good start.

Beer and boiling this weekend yeehaw:lol:

[SGFarm]

Good way to spend your time while the 417 passes by your front door (temporarily). :rolleyes: Welcome to Maple Trader Mike. I pass by your way twice a day doing that "job" thing in Ottawa.

Yeah it is pretty crazy right now trying to get home. And I can't escape it at all day or night. I also have to go into the city for the job to pay the mortgage so I can go home and "play" at my hobbies.

My wife prefers the light syrup and she wants to quit once the syrup gets darker. But we don't have that much to worry about anyway.

We are up to about 12 litres of syrup sp far. Looks like good weather for the next week or so.

Thanks for the welcome

Mike

[Yellzee]

Finished off 9 liters last night to put me at 15 for the season, not as much SAP yesterday but it actually felt a bit cool with the wind back in the woods. Some of the ice forming in the 4 wheeler ruts didn't even completely melt.

As always, debating adding a few more taps... not sure why when we are already behind ....

Having alot of issues getting it thru the filters, up to 2 per-filters and 2 orion filters so I can keep taking away layers as they plug up, and dump it into the next filter in the line.

[Maple Restoration]

Finally Started tapping at 5pm today got 200 taps in ran out of day light 360 left in the morning temps should climb to +7 tomorrow. We may get sap to sweeten the pans by the end of day!:)

[Maple Restoration]

Hey were all taped and just boiled off the first 150 gallons got the pans nice and sweet cant wait to get home tomorrow to run off the first batch! ;)

[H. Walker]

1200 + taps in, 50 litres of light syrup made, tanks are full, half the buckets will be running over by morning, what could go wrong the past 3 days did go wrong, but I wait all year for this. My wife says that I'm nuts!!

[Northern Ont. Maple]

The sudden warm spell has caught a lot of sagar makers left holding empty buckets while the sap is running. We usually start tapping the third week in March but this year we tapped 1250 taps on the first and picked up the first run.The temp for the next 6 days is between 5 and 10 C with sun and -5 at night. If the run goes well enough I will be looking at investing in a RO next year.Good luck to all. Norm.

[mtbguy]

Glad I'm not alone. Just tapped yesterday, buckets will be over full tonight and I don't have a door for my arch. This hobby just proves to me how bad a procrastinator I am.......next year I'll be ready.

[Rockwood]

Not much sap collected today, the temps never reashed below -1. Then quickly warmed to 12c. I hope things get a little cooler at nights. Anyone else have a pour run today?

[KenWP]

Never froze last night here but we still made out okay. She who has to be obeyed had to empty buckets this morning as some ran all night it looks like. She had nice little 5 gallon pails of sap all over for me to "Just" carry in. Was okay at least they were gathered. Wensdays going to be a boil day already.

[mtbguy]

Overflowing buckets didn't happen. 44 taps produced 100-125 litres in 26-27 hours. I think we need some colder nights. Looks like 0 at night all week though, hope we don't get early buds.

[Brent]

Freeze last night came very late and was mild. Above freezing by 9:00 AM today. about 600 taps on 13" vacuum yeilded about 235 USG. Got to get the evaporator and RO together!

Procrastinate. No not me, not today, maybe tomorrow though.

[BryanEx]

Anyone else have a pour run today?
Yep... first day in the past week with a poor run. 7 gallons off of 36 taps. The past week has been averaging 25 gallons a day with the high being just over 30. That being said there are some hard freezes coming up along with good day time highs. Just wish I could get some darker syrup.

[argohauler]

Forecast here for 2 more freezing nights, then 4 that aren't. Rain system is moving in.

It didn't run much here yesterday and last night it looks like didn't freeze till really late.

[Yellzee]

SAme my way yesterday, nothing running at all.

I was out at 2a.m. this morning (dont ask why) and it was very warm, so although frozen when I got back up at 7am, I don't think it was for long.

Had a satellite dish dropped off and now mounted on the shack, so we are really getting high tech out there, no more cable runnning 200 feet to the house.--- This may sound like a ridiculous thing to have in the sugar shack but we love to watch our hockey out there.

[ennismaple]

We started tapping on Saturday morning and we had 4,000 taps in by 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. It ran really well Saturday and Sunday and we fired up the Force 5 yesterday - after an emergency trip into town to get our RO membrane adapter machined down to the right size. This put us hours behind yesterday and we had to boil very late to catch up. Lots of learning still to do so we can get the most out of the evaporator!

[BryanEx]

Learn something new (almost) every day. I never knew that maple syrup sold in Canada could only be sold in specific sizes. According the the Department of Justice...


SCHEDULE V.I

(Subsection 10(3))

CONTAINER SIZES FOR MAPLE SYRUP


1. 250 mL or less (sizes in whole numbers)
2. 375 mL
3. 500 mL
4. 19 fl oz (540 mL)
5. 750 mL
6. 1 L
7. 1.5 L
8. Any whole-number multiple of 1 L

I don't see any issues with it though. Just try to find a bottle that is not one of those sizes and besides, what other size would you want to sell? I just never knew it was law. :rolleyes:

[Jerome]

It's slow here. The trees have been tapped for five days of what should have been excellent running weather but only 15 gallons from 18 taps. lots of snow still on the ground though.

[cheesegenie]

Past couple days here, perfect conditions, but a cold north wind during the
day is holding it back. But don't forget, we are still at least two weeks earlier than normal.

[DrewCP]

Hey Everyone. Just found this site last night. Looks like lots of good info.

Have not tapped our bush for years. Decided to throw a couple on this year. A couple turned into 34. We used to run 50-75. Typically we used to boil only once per season when we hit 200-250 gal of sap. The best our small bush has produced was 35:1. The worst was 50:1.

We tapped late in the afternoon on Mar 5.
+/- 40 gal on Saturday
+/- 40 gal on Sunday
+/- 25 gal on Monday
+/- 25 gal Today
I suspect we'll see another 20-25 gal tomorrow.

We are going to boil on Thursday. 1 single boil is all we need to keep ourselves in syrup for the year. Hard to believe that we will have tapped, collected, boiled, pulled the taps, buckets, cleaned and put everything away in only 6 days.

[Bruce L]

Hi Marty,looking forward to hearing more about your new evaporator and how well it works.
We started tapping on Saturday morning and we had 4,000 taps in by 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. It ran really well Saturday and Sunday and we fired up the Force 5 yesterday - after an emergency trip into town to get our RO membrane adapter machined down to the right size. This put us hours behind yesterday and we had to boil very late to catch up. Lots of learning still to do so we can get the most out of the evaporator!

[CastorMaple]

Howdy all,

Great site, and great info, glad I found it.

I've got 20 taps running since the 5th, and so far we've got about 10 litres of finished syrup. The first boil was Sunday, and I'm hoping that we'll have enough to fire it up again this weekend. The sap has slowed down to a trickle the last few days. I hope it'll pickup (cool down) next week.

This is the first year on a 2x3 flat pan on wood, and what a difference from the big pot on propane I was using before that. Starting to dream big now...uh oh.

[DrewCP]

Collected another 35 gal this evening. Should be a long day tomorrow with about 160-170 gal to boil off. We have double the amount of sap that we wanted. Our intention was to simply do a nice easy 80 gal boil. We were not expecting to collect 1 gallon per tree per day over the last 5 days.......

[Brent]

We've brought in about 1000 gallons over the last 3 days. Yesterday I put it through the RO and let is sit all day. Tonight we decided to see if the sap was still good because I'm still getting the evap back together.

Still good. Phooey. I wanted to "let it work a little" in hopes of getting medium or darker syrup.

We boiled a bit down in the kitchen tonight. I wouldn't darken up. You can tell its not corn syrup but the stronger maple flavour just didn't happen ... yet. Most of our customers want dark strong stuff. Maybe if we let it work another day it will come out better.

There's another 1000 gallons in the bush tanks waiting to get hauled in... in the rain that's coming. MUD

[Brent]

Just noticed the new names. Welcome guys.

Where is Beckwith ???

[mtbguy]

Brent, I know that you have a small evaporator for the # of taps you have but if you're looking for darker/stronger syrup wouldn't you be better evaporating rather than running it through an ro first. I'm very new to this, it's only my 3rd year but the older guys i've talked too say that time in the evaporator creates darker/stronger syrup. That's why kettle syrup is so dark. Again, I'm not an expert by any means but it seems like you're trying to get old style syrup with new style methods. If I've p***ed you off pm me and ream me out, but not too badly as I'd like to see your place in the off season when I'm out camping with the family.

[jmichael]

I'm in southwestern Ontario. I started tapping last Friday which has been my usual start. It's now looking like I was a week late. With the forecast not showing a freeze for the next 6 days does this mean the end? I've only got 25 taps and a Leader Half Pint. Barely enough Sap to make syrup in the pan. Do I leave taps in? Will it run again if the forecast holds? Any insight is appreciated. Thanks.

[markcasper]

We have lots of time!!

[Yellzee]

After boiling for about 8 days straight, I'm going to take advantage of what looks like a break to get out and clean up all the pieces of pipeline laying around the woods. Snow has all melted now so can find the ones the animals have dragged around and the ones I dropped putting on fittings, etc.

Also good time to work on the trail and get some rocks filled in the ruts that have already started.

Not to mention taking wife out to dinner to make up for the next run of nights I'll be out in the shack.

(well, I'll at least work on the trail!)

[BryanEx]

I almost feel guilty for the disappointment expressed by MapleTrader members in New England and Southern Ontario. Record day for me today with an average 1.13 gallons per tape... slightly surpassing last Sunday. Rainy weekend coming up locally and I've already had one cancellation because of it but that's okay. I need the extra time to boil up some syrup for myself and quit entertaining so much. I also now have three neighbours that want me to tap their trees in exchange for a gallon of syrup. Good deal for a commercial set-up but I can't handle, process, or sell that much so right now I'll pass on the offers. Just found out that there's someone locally that simply likes to make syrup and is selling 540 ml cans for 6 bucks. Between that and several big producers on main roads retail just isn't my thing. My niche continues to be tourism... even if it rains from time to time. :rolleyes:

[cheesegenie]

I know, it is hard to compete against those Quebec cans. My own sister inlaw
just cancelled her order from me, she is in Quebec, and I am sure that is the reason. Those guys down there mass produce and they are good at it. Me, only a hobby and it takes me an hour just to boil a litre of syrup then all the
filtering and clean up. A one litre empty jug is almost $2.00. If blood is thicker than water, maple syrup must be thicker than blood.

[KenWP]

I find it hard to compete with the cans too. Theses goofy Quebecois like them better then bottles. The cans would be cheaper after a person invested in the equipment but hardly worth while for me.
I have a couple of sales tomorrow in school for people that like and want mine so not all is lost.
We are having good weather here with actually to cold of nights so that it takes till 3 before the trees run. But when they start they pout for the few hours they run. They were still running at dark tonight so there should be ice tomorrow to dump for she who must be obeyed. I replaced all I boiled last night today again plus some so am set for a weekend of work now. Need to find a few more taps tomorrow for the weekend and then I will be set for the year.

[argohauler]

My forecast looks dismal. Environment Canada for Hamilton says it might freeze Wednesday night next week. The Weather Network's 2 week trend says rain then warm (50's), then back around 40 starting the 22nd. I hope it changes for the better.

This has been my worst season so far in my 17 years of producing. Last weeks weather was almost perfect, this week it hardly freezes. Complain, complain.

[Brent]

mtbguy

there's more to it than than, but your adviser is at least partly correct. The dark syrup is largely created by carmelizing some of the sugars in the sap. Sap out of the tree in the early season is almost totally sucrose, and there are very few microbes in it. Surcose will not carmelize well at the temps we cook to. The microbes, that become more and more abundant in the sap as the season warms, turn the sucrose into fructose and glucose. Those sugars will start to carmelize at our cooking temps. The microbes are also know to multiply in population faster when the sap is concentrated. Sap that has been run through an RO will not keep as long because of this.

So ... we brought in some sap, put it through the RO and let it brew for a couple days and then tried to get some dark syrup, something most people try to avoid, but our customers want it. It's still stewing out there so we'll try another pot tonight. If it's darker we fire up the evap.

This has the makings of a totally screwed up season with the weather ahead. The tree tops around here are already looking thicker. Cooooooommmmonnnn Cooold.

[mtbguy]

Is the weather any colder in Caledon? I don't think we've had a freeze in 3 or 4 nights, all the snow I was using to pack my full sap pails is gone except for my 5 year old daughters mini luge run. It makes her very sad to see me shovel it onto my pails.

[Brent]

Too warm. Checked the buckets and bags, or at least I went out to. The bags were blowin' in the wind. One of the totes had tilted when the ice under melted. Only 2" at the deep end, nothing on the high end. The other 2 totes might have two gallons. I had left the vac running all night too.

Pretty sad. The may be the season that wasn't. I got a couple good hauls earlier in the week but the evap is not going yet so it may spoil before I light the fire. *&^&%%$

[DrewCP]

Just noticed the new names. Welcome guys.

Where is Beckwith ???

lol,

Beckwith Township starts just west of Ottawa. We are 45 minutes west of Ottawa.

[DrewCP]

Sap is hardly a trickle for the last 2 days. Maybe collected 15 gal yesterday and today. Forcast looks terrible. Only supposed to see below zero temps once in the next 7 days.

Ran 70 gallons through on thursday and ended up with just over 2 gal of syrup. Very impressed with the ratio, a little under 35:1. Possibly the best we've ever made. Good colour, great taste and crystal clear. Just hoping the 100 or so gal of sap we have left will make it another 2 days so I can get another good boil on Monday morning.

Originally I was pretty hesitant about having to use turkey fryers to finish in but I must admit, when dealing with a small quantity it was sure easy to finish in a pot with 10-12" in it rather than a big pan with a 1/2" in it. Never once feared burning it.

[Treetapper]

Drewcp,

That's how I finish syrup too. I use to finish on the syrup pan, to hard to control I found. Getting it close, filter it into the turkey fryer pot and then lightly boil to finish and then right into bottles (through a bottling valve) has been working great.

[gunnergo4th]

I'm getting bummed, I bought a new 2x6 raised flue and have only had a test boil with water NO SAP. 215 taps in since march 3,4 and have only collected 60 gallons not enough to fill the pans! I talked to my supplier and he said he was talking to the guy's in Quebec and they said everybody is the same and they are saying the roots of the trees are frozen! These trees were giving me 2-3 gallons per tap a day last year. I'm still a newbie I boiled in steam pan last year on the BBQ. So this is a big jump for me and I'm getting impatient as I want to make some steam and syrup. So here's to the maple gods PLEASE let our trees run that sweet nectar that we need so badly.

[argohauler]

" The year that wasn't."

That's what I'm thinking. I see the weather network says that by the 22nd, that it will go back down to 2's and 3's for highs if you can believe them. If this should happen how many of you guys think the trees will start drying up? After this rain system, the weather is for clear, but 50's and 0's aand 1's for lows.

I only have 20 gallons made so far and it really sucks. I'm thinking about finishing off what's in the pans, before it goes black or bad.

I'm a market gardener and go to Farmer's markets in my area. Syrup is my winter project and a decent amount of my income. I went to market today with some syrup and I have quite a few potatoes left. The neighbour who I thought was a nice guy bought a bunch of Mennonite Elmira syrup. He got "A" frame signs made up, put one at the road and one by his stall stating that. He sold a lot more than me. The Mennonite's told him how much to mark it up. He charged $49 for a farm gate 4L, $14.50 for a hard plastic L, $13.75 for a farm gate L, and $7.75 for a 500mL Kent bottle. I guess I'm a complainer. He's got the right to sell it, but he can get more for it around here.

[mklarenbeek]

gunnergo4th

You're not the only one getting bummed. I'm very small time. That being said I did triple my taps over last year and so far have made about 1/10 of what I did last year. :cry:

If I hadn't put in the extra taps I don't think I'd have even had enough to boil on the stove. As it stands now, I've made less than 2 L of syrup. Not even enough for my family let alone extended family, friends and last years customers who are already asking.

Despite all of that, hubby still says he's going to build me an evaporator for next year. I guess it's time to look ahead and start that familiar farming mantra - Next year better.

Christina

[Maple Restoration]

Hold on for one more week guy's I don't think we have seen the last of old man winter yet things should go back to normal by the end of next week.

[cheesegenie]

I agree with Maple Rest.

[mtbguy]

I sure hope maple rest is right. I was a week late getting taps in due to the very sudden spring and will only end up with 4-5 litres of sap out of 44 taps if the trees bud. Who ever thought I'd be praying for cold weather in march?

[Buckshot]

We have only had a run that has lasted half of one week if that.:-|
I have my eye on the weather a week from now.

I have found 655 litres in my pails from the half week.

[SCFD_Bill]

first batch of the year for our small operation, started tapping 8 days ago (about 50 taps, upto 120 yesterday) boiled 4 times and finished tonight.:)

[KenWP]

Where in the hell is Shawville Quebec. At least there is two of us nut cases here in the Belle province.

[KenWP]

I'm getting bummed, I bought a new 2x6 raised flue and have only had a test boil with water NO SAP. 215 taps in since march 3,4 and have only collected 60 gallons not enough to fill the pans! I talked to my supplier and he said he was talking to the guy's in Quebec and they said everybody is the same and they are saying the roots of the trees are frozen! These trees were giving me 2-3 gallons per tap a day last year. I'm still a newbie I boiled in steam pan last year on the BBQ. So this is a big jump for me and I'm getting impatient as I want to make some steam and syrup. So here's to the maple gods PLEASE let our trees run that sweet nectar that we need so badly.

I have no idea how the roots could still be frozen. Never got cold this winter and it snowed before it froze. It's more like if it freezes it gets to cold at night and takes all day for the trees to wake up or it only goes to -2 and the trees don't recharge enough. Friday was the best day so far but today the wind blew to hard from the east. Not supposed to freeze tonight or tomorrow night so will be slim pickings for a few days.

[SCFD_Bill]

Where in the hell is Shawville Quebec. At least there is two of us nut cases here in the Belle province.

:lol: Shawville is north west of Ottawa about 35 min. just over the river from ontario side.

[BryanEx]

Where in the hell is Shawville Quebec.
Hoping for a neighbouring MapleTrader there Ken? Hate to tell you but Shawville is up the Ottawa Valley, more or less across the river from Pembroke, Ontario.

[KenWP]

Might as well be Ontario over there. Thats a ways from here that I know.

[SCFD_Bill]

this week look reallys good here in the ottawa valley +14 and - 8 at night for a couple of days if it happens, but then again weather forcasing is the only job you can be totally wrong at 90% of the time and still keep your job :lol: :lol:

[SCFD_Bill]

Might as well be Ontario over there. Thats a ways from here that I know.

my niece in 4-H was down your way a while back at the 4-H calf rally I think

[DrewCP]

this week look reallys good here in the ottawa valley +14 and - 8 at night for a couple of days if it happens, but then again weather forcasing is the only job you can be totally wrong at 90% of the time and still keep your job :lol: :lol:

Wish our forecast looked like that. I'm only 40 min south of you and our forecast says highs of 9 to 15 with lows of 0 to 4. Still some snow in the bush but I suspect it will be pretty much gone by next weekend.

[longbeard]

Which on-line Weather forecasts do you guys find is most accurate? Maybe none?

I see the Environment Canada one showing -4 and -5 as lows for Tues and Wed in this area but Weather Network one only has a -1 for Tues and the rest of lows are above freezing for the whole week. Following week looks good (for now).

I am running about 10% of total for last year so far so hope Environment Canada is right!!

[SCFD_Bill]

Which on-line Weather forecasts do you guys find is most accurate? Maybe none?

I see the Environment Canada one showing -4 and -5 as lows for Tues and Wed in this area but Weather Network one only has a -1 for Tues and the rest of lows are above freezing for the whole week. Following week looks good (for now).

I am running about 10% of total for last year so far so hope Environment Canada is right!!

I use env. can, weather net, local tv, local radio and my gut most times my gut does better then the others but env. can is about the closest I find, I am the municipal forman here so I watch the weather close.

[BryanEx]

Which on-line Weather forecasts do you guys find is most accurate? Maybe none?
I normally watch Environment Canada... but I also find they tend to change their minds (or tweak things) twice a day. By the time the forecasted day actually arrives they have their prediction pretty close. :rolleyes:

[Yellzee]

-5 this morning in my backyard, +13 and sunny today... should be a dandy. Was below zero by 10:30 last night.

[Northern Ont. Maple]

It was -5 last night in the Sault and this weekend will be down to -9 for 3 or 4 days. We are already making amber syrup and this might kick it back into winter mode and get a frest start

[argohauler]

-1 here this morning, but wasn't feezing at 11:30 when I went to bed. Might run a little.

[BryanEx]

Sap is running strong today and started before 8 am. I went around and rinsed out all buckets for a fresh start and what little sap/rain water was in them was frozen solid. Good sign today will be a good day for collection. Everything is boiled, filtered, bottled, cleaned, stacked, and organized... ready to go again.

[mtbguy]

sucks to live in the banana belt. Haven't had minus temps in over a week. Only made 4 litres out of 44 taps. Glad I didn't sell all of last years.

[Maple Restoration]

We know the feeling but we sold out of last year stock, it has not run in the last week, we only made 10 gallons so far. Just called home and were finally back in the game 130 gal. in the tank thus far can't wait to get home from work.

[mtbguy]

supposed to be -1 tonight and -2 tommorrow night, hopefully that'll kick start them back into flowing.

[argohauler]

Not running worth a crud here.

[ennismaple]

Sap's running hard today but we won't boil again until tomorrow. Made some beautiful light by the end of yesterday but I haven't been able to get a 3-digit (100 gallon) day yet. We've made about 35% of a season's worth in just over a week and hopefully tomorrow will be a big day. Still a foot of snow in the bush but this hot spell will get rid of most of it.

[mtbguy]

glad to hear you're getting some flow ennismaple. It'd be a bugger to have that force 5 and not be getting some use out of it. How's it working for you.

[Brent]

We ( really I ) boiled until 2:00AM this morning. Holding the first run for nearly a week resulted in what we wanted, something darker than light. I was too pooped to put it in a test jar but I'd call it medium. We concentrated it to about 8% about 3 days ago then boiled last night.

When I was cleaning up I notice ice crystals. Yipppee a freeze. Bags and buckets today only had a couple inches but the 600 taps on 12-13" vacuum yielded something like 250 to 300 gallons. I'll collect tomorrow. Spent the whole day in the bush and visited every tap, reseating all and found a few leaking connections and one tree rat hole. By the end of the day vac was up to about 17-18".
Tomorrow we should have another Ebay purchased Gast vac pump on line and I'm confident we'll get up to about 22-23". Forecast is for another marginal freeze tonight. Maybe we'll get close to the same run tomorrow.

[SCFD_Bill]

The pails and buckets where full here today also might be frosty tonight also, -5 forcast low, still lots of frost in the bush and snow also. Forcast for next week is snow and cold.:)

[argohauler]

Hey banana belt guys. Guess what I saw in the bush today. In the swamps in the bush I saw frogs swimmin around. :o :cry: They weren't peepin yet but there is still ice in the swamps. Come on cold weather.

[Buckshot]

Sap's running hard today .

Im glad to hear that.Im tapped over in north frontenac but I dont live there.
I can only look at the weather network and take a guess at whats going on up there. But your close enough to be a good guide line for my taps.

thanks for the up date:D

[KenWP]

It froze here not to bad last night but the trees just didn't produce. What's weird is there are people just starting to tap yesterday. The season is slowly running out and people act like it's just starting here. We need -6 or -7 degrees to make the trees produce a bit better.

[Buckshot]

-8 last night first time in a week it went below 0.and ennis said it ran.:)

[ennismaple]

glad to hear you're getting some flow ennismaple. It'd be a bugger to have that force 5 and not be getting some use out of it. How's it working for you.

The Force 5 is running well and I think we're through the worst of the learning curve. Two Lapierre reps are coming tomorrow to see how it's working and to give us some help to get it tuned up to maximum flow rate. The Force 5 combined with our new Sirofilter is making some beautiful syrup - we just need more of it!

[cheesegenie]

Froze hard at night but sap run just wasn't there. It could be the day temp
was too warm (60) and no snow in bush now. Still have to get that annual
"sugar snow" to get it going. Can you imagine, my son told me to pull the taps
and call it a year. No way is this old man going do that. Today, Mar.17, is usually when we start tapping!

[KenWP]

Just froze last night so today won't have much for sap either. We need some rain or even better a foot of snow again. Such is life.

[Yellzee]

not as much sap as hoped yesterday, about 45 gallons from 100 taps.. -4 this morning when I got up, so still another shot for a good day today.

Was nice to watch the leafs pound ottawa while boiling the small batch.

[mtbguy]

I made the mistake of pulling taps a week too early last year cheesegenie, I won't make that mistake again. I thought the little bit of snow we got on sun morning was the sugar snow but it was just a tease. mon tues supposed to freeze again here so hopefully that'll kick start the girls.

[Maple Restoration]

Hey their is sap in the bush other than me, we finally got a run collected 155 gal. hopefully an other 100 or so today will see, all the best to every one!

[cheesegenie]

I just finished boiling the 45 gal drum of sap I got last night. Only got 3 litres
of syrup. Poor. Think I will take tomorrow off and head to Ottawa for the farm show. Usually can't go because of heavy sap runs.

[KenWP]

It froze here last night and hardley a drop of sap today. It's almost 70 degrees for awhile though. Lost a few trees already but the hard maples seem to be hanging in still.

[mtbguy]

When I pulled my taps early last year it was because the sap started running cloudy. A week later it cleared up again after some cold weather, I haven't seen any cloudy sap yet, actually not seeing any right now, so I"m still hopeful that I'll be firing up the evap again next week.

[Yellzee]

I'm going to go now and have a couple green beers before checking for sap, perhaps that will soften the blow if there is nothing there.

I still think we've got at least 2 weeks left here, my trail into the bush is still a nightmare due to the frost in between my 4wheeler ruts. Hoping that daylight hours affect budding as much or more than temperature.

Haven't had much interest in buying syrup this year, which is different, normally can't make enough.

[BryanEx]

Half gallon per tap yesterday... quarter gallon today. Enough to entertain 2 of 4 families this weekend. Figure there will be little more until the deep freeze starting Sunday night. Yuckie weather forecast for the weekend so I figure two families will cancel anyway. Right now it seems I'll end the season bucks up... but not by nearly as much as I'm used to.

[argohauler]

The last time I gathered was last Thursday. It's trickled some since. Yesterday I gathered by myself from 8:30 till just after 2. Got what was there from the 1100 + taps on buckets which was 250 IMP. gallons. (likely some rain water as well) Found 2 drowned deer mice. Had the fire going by 2:30 and stoked it the last time at 4:45. Got 21 litres of syrup and it just turned to amber.

So that puts me up to a grand total of 109 litres or around 24 IMP. gallons. SUCK! :mad: This is friggin bull crap weather. Didn't freeze last night. Might freeze Monday or Tuesday. This is the worst year ever. :cry:

[Fire Chief]

It froze here lightly yesterday and more the day before. Collected 50 gallons from 108 taps Tuesday afternoon, 15 gallons yesterday. Will likely be worse today as it didn't freeze here last night. Boiled yesterday what I had in storage (65 gallons). Will go finish it today and clean the pan and tanks up. I hoping for better weather next week!:confused:
No snow in the bush at all. Just mud and it's quickly drying. I usually only start tapping this time of year.

[Yellzee]

maybe 15 gallons from 100 taps yesterday.

Very light frost on the ground at the house this morning,,, but at 1am when I got home from st. patty's celebrations is was still plus 8. Couldn't have been below zero for long.

[ennismaple]

We had a good day yesterday and are now at a 50% crop and still mid-grade medium. Hopefully we can weather this warm spell and get more next week when it's supposed to turn colder. The weather isn't great but if you'd told me in January we'd have half our season's syrup by St Paddy's day I'd have taken it!

[Brent]

We had ice crystals on the pool last night at 2:00AM

Yesterday was pretty good run and it's running out there now.

Still fixing leaks in the vac. The CV's seem to need tapping in every 2 - 3 days. You can see the bubble trian stop as you re-set them. They're going to be a bitch to get apart.

[skenk]

Just finished collecting with my daughter. 10 litres of sap from 24 taps. This time last year was getting 60 to 80 litres from 21 taps. Caledon just south of Orangeville.

Not sure what the next couple of days will hold.

[BryanEx]

Just This time last year was getting 60 to 80 litres from 21 taps.
This time last year I was just getting ready to tap. :) I figure I'm done until Tuesday next week at this point. This year seems that all the runs are happening mid-week with the weekends dormant... the opposite of what I need for my business. Going to have to do some figuring for next year I think.

[DrewCP]

We finished up Monday. Our intention was only to have enough to supply ourselves and give some away if we could.

2010 stats:
Tapped March 5
Collected 180+/- gal in 10 days (90% collected in first 5 days)
Boil #1 on Thursday March 11. 70 gal of sap produced about 2 gal of the good stuff.
Boil #2 on Monday March 15. 80 gal of sap produced over 2 gal of even better stuff.
Pulled taps and buckets on Monday during our last boil. Everything washed, scrubbed and ready for next year.

150 gal of sap (dumped around 30 gal due to cloudiness) gave us about 4.25 gal of syrup. Our small bush produced at 35:1. We really can't ask for anything more.

After a 10 year hiatus (still can't believe it was that long) it looks like we are back. We will rebuild our arch this summer and be ready to run at our old mainstay of 50-75 trees. It was good to see my dad who has recently retired get back into it and be excited for next season. He is already talking about tapping the bush beside us and increasing to maybe 200 buckets..... Our arch and pans could easily support 2-300 trees.
I am sure we could have stuck it out another week or 2 and gotten another boil but we managed to make double what we intended and decided to stop while we were ahead.

It really was great to be back at it. IMO there are few things that compare to spending time with family making syrup. It may seem cliche but it really was great quality family time which is hard to come by these days. The steady stream of neighbours and friends showing up on boil days with beer wasn't a bad thing either. lol.


Good luck to everyone for the rest of the season.

Drew.

[gunnergo4th]

Well, I still haven't had a boil this year as I have no sap! Brand new shiny evaporator still sitting there DRY. I have around 230 taps in on buckets and gravity tubing and 98% of the tree's are dry and never got wet. I would say I have collected maybe 50 gallons of sap since march 4. I have had to toss it out as I gets too old to boil (sour) sugar content is 3.8 to 4.2 average. I hope next week brings something as would love to do 1 boil at least! I have talked to a few guys up my way and they are experiencing the same thing. A big producer in my eyes has 7500 taps and only got 2000 gallons of sap on wednesday with vacuum. I think today I'm going to start the chainsaw up and threaten the tree's see if that will kick them into gear!

[Yellzee]

another day of zero sap yesterday. Frost again this morning, but I wont be fooled. I would have thought 3 days of -4 at night and plus 15 during the day would yield sap before this week.
See the first leaves for the wild flowers up in the hardwood are coming out now.
See the weather forecast has just been updated for next week on the weather network... so much for the cold front,,, lows of plus 1 all week.

[argohauler]

The problem is if it doesn't freeze till 5 or 6 in the morning, it's not long enough even though it goes down to -4.

The cursed weatherman shows a minus 3 for Sunday night. ( I don't believe them because it's supposed to be rainy) After that no freezing. The 2 week trend says 0 for a high next Sunday. I'd say my non existant season is over.

[mklarenbeek]

Just looked at the updated 14 day on the weather network. I'm not holding out any hope that we'll be getting another freeze. I've read on other threads that birch usually starts in April but since it's so warm so early - I'm considering moving some of my maple taps over to birch. Anyone else considering trying this.

[SGFarm]

Well I think we are going to call it quits, our soft maples are showing red buds now. The batch from Weds was really dark.

We started on 27-Feb and got 2 really good weeks of 120 - 180 L / day which would fill our 2x3 flat pan twice on some days.

A little less syrup than we were expecting, we have about 45L of syrup form our 55 taps. We were hoping for about 55L to 60L of syrup, but we will take it and enjoy the early spring.

Thinking about a 2x6 arch for next year so we can tap more and boil faster.

Enjoying the good stuff.

Mike

[Brent]

Mike
This is a strange year for sure. You've got dark syrup and we can't make when we want to.

Our first sap from about 10 days ago we ran through the RO and let it brew for 3 days. When we boiled it we got medium. The second lot we put through the RO and let it brew. It was so warm the yeast got to it and it smells of alcohol.... and made light syrup, not great syrup but some.

Got another 150 gallons of concetrate that will be boiling in a hour or so.

Still forecasting a light freeze here Sunday. Doesn't look good.

[Brent]

we had an astonishing haul here today. Once again barly a freeze last night.

One tote was overflowing (275+) at 7:00 tonight, about 200 USG in the 2nd and about 150 in the 3rd.

Our 100 bags and buckets gave a whopping 10 gallons.

This sure is a year to make the case for vacuum.

[KenWP]

Just looked at the updated 14 day on the weather network. I'm not holding out any hope that we'll be getting another freeze. I've read on other threads that birch usually starts in April but since it's so warm so early - I'm considering moving some of my maple taps over to birch. Anyone else considering trying this.

I drilled a couple of birch and so far no sap. Last year I used birch to keep busy till it froze again with the maples. I can't tell wether I missed the birch or they haven't started yet. They never ran untill April last year but we are 3 weeks ahead here now.

[cheesegenie]

The maple sap has all but quit here, nothing at all, warm days and nights.
I had my son put four buckets on his big birch trees in front of his house.
It ran like crazy , I don't think birch needs that frozen nights and warm days to run.I left it on the woodstove in the shop all day and just let it boil down
slow, I just wanted to taste it as I never did. Ended up with with about half a cup of syrup from about two gallons of sap.

[Brent]

No frost, but it is snowing out there right now.

[mklarenbeek]

Checked my maple buckets again and they are all dry. Environment Canada says it's only going down to 0 tonight (simcoe) whereas the Weather Network says -5 (langton). I was going to pull my taps today but will wait and see what actually happens overnight.

I did tap 6 good sized (15") yellow birch today. They are the only type of birch I have. Only one of them was running and that only a little but will see what tomorrow brings.

[Brent]

been out collecting from the totes on the vac system this morning. We are getting a drizzle into the vac releasers and the buckets are bone dry. Flurries in the air. Lit the woodstove in the house again.

[KenWP]

Cheesegenie have you tapped birch before, They don't heal as well as a maple. Mine dribbled a bit today and then stopped. Must be close.

[Brent]

Well it took me from about 10:00 this morning till 1:30 this aft to get yesterdays great run in. Ended up at 690 USG.

The real surprise was I just brought in another 70 USG on what had to be a really lousy day. All of it came from the vac. The buckets were dry.

Ice on the pool already. There's still hope.

[Fire Chief]

Not a drop here today. Cool wind today but no frost last night. Finished what I got from the run wed thurs of last week today. Whewww, got a whole 7 litres finished syrup. A strong amber. I'm happy to get that but... I'll hold out with the taps for monday tuesday to run again. What a different season.:cry:

[cheesegenie]

Ken, no I never tapped white birch before. Always wanted to try, but a couple years ago when my son bought the place, he trimmed the birches
a lot and they bled sap for weeks. So I would assume like maples, they should be trimmed in late summer or early fall. Still above freezing here tonight at 11PM, could freeze up by morning and get the maple sap running
again, there I go dreaming again.

[BryanEx]

Ice in the garden hose this morning and a thin layer on the kiddie pool duck pond but now the opposite problem. Daytime high for today is only 1 degree. Had to cancel all but one family this weekend because all my sap was from earlier in the week and it clouded too much with the high temps. Going to have to build a small ice house of sorts for better storage during warm spells because if I can improve sap management a little more I'll have this "make your own" deal working very smoothly. It can be tough doing battle against mother nature when I have plans. :rolleyes:

On another note, this week is looking very good with solid hard frosts and warmer days. I'll get chores done this weekend and plan to boil again next week sometime. Looks to me like I'll have to start cutting grass in April this year - yuck!

[CastorMaple]

Temp dipped just below 0 last night here too, and the forecast looks cold for the rest of the week. I shifted some buckets to trees without buds and we'll see what happens. Most of the trees are too far gone now, but further into the bush is cooler. This is my last kick at it for the season, then I'll pack it in. I can now see all of the yard work from last year that the snow was covering up...

[BryanEx]

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Just checked my tapes and they are all flowing strong. Big surprise for today and if it keeps up for a while I'll be changing my plans right quick. Chores can always wait for another day. :lol: Game on - me hopes. I figure I've got two weeks left to play Maple.

[mklarenbeek]

CastorMaple: you said


Most of the trees are too far gone now, but further into the bush is cooler.

How much colder can I expect the interior of my woods to be? I noticed the silvers on the edge of my woods are starting to bud out. I'm wondering if it would be worth it to move the taps to trees further in and how much further I would have to move them. I have no roads so I'm hiking 4USG pails. I have 45 acres of woods so I could go in quite a bit further than I have but am curious about what I could gain out of doing so. After more than 200-300 ft two full pails get awfully heavy for me. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Christina

[CastorMaple]

mklarenbeek,

Seems to me (and I am a small time producer) that for my area, the part of the bush that has the higher air temps and higher soil moisture content is further ahead in the development of buds. Perhaps the roots thawed out faster. This is just by observation though, and I discovered it when walking through the 'back 40'. I've only been tapping the trees close to where I boil which are in full 'bloom' now. It's one big experiment for me. I too am concerned about carrying buckets a longer distance...something for me to figure out next year perhaps. Good luck!

[Brent]

Christina
Our bush has a small slope facing more or less south the trees on that face start to run 7-10 days before the trees on over the hill. I'm not talking Blue Mountain kind of hills. The rise is only maybe 15 feet. At the end of the season the trees on the front stop first and we only collect from over the hill.

Don't give up on the deep woods, move a few taps and see what happens.

[SCFD_Bill]

The trees are running really hard here in the valley some will need to be gathered twice today and hopefully tomorow also. Soft maple budded, pulled those taps yesterday found more sugars to tap. Going to boil hard the next few days:o :o :o

[Brent]

Sunday was great here. 820 USG from about 600 taps on vac. And the vac is only about 19". Going to be a long day boiling tomorrow.

[Yellzee]

nothing to report all weekend my way... a little tiny bit Saturday but I dumped it as i figured it was cleaning out whatever was sitting in the lines.

Weather forecast has changed over the weekend quite drastically, teasing me I think... showing a -8 in there towards end of week.

Big maple festival this weekend in the county, so would be nice if they got some sap for it.

[mtbguy]

buckets half full this morning. Can sweeten the pans tonight and boil 2 more times this week judging from the weather forcast. End of week is supposed to be ideal -5/+5 thurs/fri/sat. Yee Haw

[ennismaple]

It ran some yesterday, enough for a 4 hour boil, but the sugar content was poor. By the end of the day the sap was coming in clear so hopefully we can get the colour back this week and make some more medium.

[mtbguy]

4 hour boil for the force five isn't that about 6 million litres:lol: My 4 hour boil on a good day is a little better than 1/2 a 45 gal drum.:cry:

[ennismaple]

Yesterday's sugar was poor so we only boiled 4 million litres in 4 hours...

Friday I started the RO at 6:00 p.m., fired up at 7:00 p.m., last fire at 1:00 a.m. and made 78 gallons of syrup from the concentrate of 3200 gallons of raw sap. 6 hours of firing for 78 gallons of syrup is my kind of day's work!

[Brent]

Monday 11:00PM
Ran good here today on buckets. Many overflowing.
Brought in 420 gallons off the vac system and another 800 or more still to com ... in the rain. The releasers are starting to slow down but it feels like they're going to go all night. The buckets are still dripping and may be full again by the morning.

Our first ever 1000+ day. Thank god for the RO.

[mtbguy]

Wow ennis those #'s are staggering! you get 18 gals per hour out I only get 5-6 gals per hour in. I'm definately going to have to stop for a look at that set up this summer if you'll let me. Too bad it's the opposite direction from Brent's or I could do the maple tour just drooling at all the professional set ups.

[Brent]

Yesteday we got 1380 USG (5520 Litres) of fresh sap. We could only get half of it in. Going to have to reciruclate with the RO for the first time or we'll never get through it all.

[Fire Chief]

well wonders never cease! Had -4 temps with good frost night before last, all my tanks overflowed Monday! yippee! Collected 150 gallons of sap. went out this morn at 7 am, +4 no freeze. Collected 35 gal of sap tonight. still looks clear. Have 200 gal ahead in tanks. ready to boil tomorrow aft. Back in business. :rolleyes:

[KenWP]

As far as I can tell it hasn't froze in a week and I still found sap in buckets today. Not a lot in most but some were pretty full. if we get the frost tonight or tomorrow I should be back in busniness also.

[Brookmaple]

Ran strong yesterday, 50+gallons from 50 taps. Many overflowing. Not much today as temps barely reached the plus side of zero. Forecast looks excellent for the next couple of days and through the weekend.

[Yellzee]

still nothing exciting to report in my area, maybe 10 gallons total out of 100 taps.

Good long frost last night though, although only got down to -2 or so.

[cheesegenie]

Has not run here at all in over a week. But an inch of a snow last night and
a good freeze , should give a good run today. Several guys around here have
given up and pulled. To me it is still early even though the start was weeks
ahead of usual. Will report tonight.

[Fire Chief]

good frost last night, -4 at 7 this morning, white frost all over. Heading back to check the run. +8 right now. Cross my fingers!:)

[Jerome]

was running well here in Elmvale today.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Barely ran yesterday,but here is what's happened up to this point(gallons are US):
March 15:tapped bush
16:avg. day 80 gallons of sap
17: 33 gallons of sap
18 +19: 35 gallons of sap
20: barely ran
21: very good day 180 gallons
22: another good day 160 gallons
23: didn't run temp. hovered around freezing, but took last three runs down to syrup, was taken down to 10:1 after we collected, then taken off in 5 gallon pails.

[Rockwood]

Strong run today. 20 gals plus for 30 taps. Boiling as I type:)

[cheesegenie]

Wasn't that great of a flow, perfect conditions, but that north wind blew
all day. Bush is fairly open. Got about a half gallon of sap per tap, could have been worse.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Good run today, 135 gallons from 120 taps. Could've been more if it was colder last night. -3 last night and +12 today with a slight northwest wind. Should be better tomorrow, with a forecast low of -3 - -5 and a high of near +12, although a few showers are predicted.

[BryanEx]

About a half-hour North of cheesegenie... just over a gallon per tape on buckets. Weather forecast for the next week is downright exciting but expect I'll have to deal with lots of frozen sap over the weekend. I'd rather be picking ice out than having it spoil this late in the season due to high temps.

[KenWP]

Sap ran good here today also. it never started untill later but man did they pour sap when they did. Tomorrow should be dood also and then winter for a few days. Disappointed in the birch so far but maybe they will come around when the maples quit and I can do a good bunch of that also. She who needs to be obeyed wants me to make beer and wine with it. A mans work is never done.

[Brent]

We had a flood here today. All the totes under the releasers were overflowing. All the totes at the sugar shack were full.
RO going full blast ... had to turn off the vac.


BBIIIIIIGGGGGGG sap

[Fire Chief]

Glad to hear some success out there. Just got in from boiling. Went through 60 gallons since 3pm. -4 this morning with frost but today didn't produce as much sap. Gathered maybe 45 gallons from the 108 taps. Puts me back about even with the sap I had ahead. Had a neighbour back to watch today and a couple of friends and the kids. Had a real good time.:) The season will be what it is. Hope everyone has some positive experience this year.
Jamie:)

[nas]

Sap has just been trickling for me all month. I think I am just a bit too far south compared to most of you and a couple degrees warmer at night so I haven't got the good runs some of you have. I hope for a decent run this weekend.:)

Nick

[argohauler]

Some of the trees tried to run and the lines trickled yesterday, but it wasn't enough to bother gathering. Just wasn't a hard/long enough freeze.

[Yellzee]

A good run for me yesterday. about 80 gallons of SAP. SAP was a bit cloudy but I double filtered when transfering to barrels and it cleared right up. Started boiling last night but haven't finished any yet to see how it grades.

Finally finished syrup from about a week ago that I had sitting in the finishing pan... crazy how much sand was in there.. quite a mission to filter it.

Should be a good day today -3 this morning...

on the downside my trail to the wood is almost impassible... pretty much winching non-stop to get thru the trail hauling sap.

No buds showing on my trees.

[ennismaple]

We had HUUUUUGGGGE SAAAAAPPPPPP yesterday - the most we've ever put through the camp in a single day. I'm now cautiously optimistic we can get to average with one more good week. Hopefully the cold weather tomorrow can bring the colour back some.

[nas]

ran OK yesterday, not much today. Hoping for a good weekend after the deep freeze.

[wombat]

in the kawartha lakes, we are having a pretty good season. We have about 100 taps and we have made approximately 45-50 litres of maple syrup this year, with more to come. Is that about average or below what you guys are making this year? The real problem for me is all the mud, i cannot drive my tractor to access some taps.:mad: For about 3 days straight all buckest have been full at the end of the day.

[ennismaple]

in the kawartha lakes, we are having a pretty good season. We have about 100 taps and we have made approximately 45-50 litres of maple syrup this year, with more to come. Is that about average or below what you guys are making this year? The real problem for me is all the mud, i cannot drive my tractor to access some taps.:mad: For about 3 days straight all buckest have been full at the end of the day.

We're at 0.75L per tap, before today's run, which is about what some others in our area are at.

[argohauler]

in the kawartha lakes, we are having a pretty good season. We have about 100 taps and we have made approximately 45-50 litres of maple syrup this year, with more to come. Is that about average or below what you guys are making this year? The real problem for me is all the mud, i cannot drive my tractor to access some taps.:mad: For about 3 days straight all buckest have been full at the end of the day.

What's wrong with the armstrong method? :rolleyes:

When we only tapped only our bush with buckets, we carried it in with 5 IMP. gallon pails to the shanty. Great exercise! :D

I laughed today when the neighbour took his 699 MF 4WD tractor into the neighbours bush they're renting. I think this is at least the 2nd time they've had to pull out their Kubota RTV 900. I walked through the bush and saw the ruts it left. Them and 4 wheelers chew a bush to pieces. A plague IMO.

[SCFD_Bill]

great run yesterday 130 usg on 120 taps :) about 1/3 of that today hard north wind all day :(

[Brian66]

I'm done, I ran out of wood. Made about 75% of a full crop, so I'm happy enough. I doubled my taps last fall and got caught a little off guard. Sap is still running here. Anyone is welcome to stick a bucket under the end of my mainline. No buds yet.

[KenWP]

Got home from school tonight and every pail or container she who has to be obeyed could haul out in the bush was full and there were still buckets over flowing. I hauled sap in the dark for a hour to the truck so I could get it all home. Will be boiling all weekend it looks like.

[Fire Chief]

cold north wind tonight. -1 at 8pm. Not a drop today. Glad the cold is here. I have 150 gallons in tank to boil saturday. I'll get things cleaned up and drained for the cold snap coming. If... it runs again, I'll be ready:D I like my four wheeler. Couldn't get the job done without it:D Armstrongs Ok but I like it when he takes the day off LOL;)

[Yellzee]

amazingly no sap yesterday... almost cryed.. but had a refreshment instead.

-9.7 this morning.

Hey, I keep my 4 wheeler on the same trail ... get my access to the mainline about .5 kilometers back to where my trees are ... that would be a long way to walk sap out... I just keep putting fenceline rocks into my ruts every year... some day I figure they'lll bottom out.

Guys that drive around their woods to every tree.... can definitely make a mess.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Ok day yesterday, 100 gallons (US) from 120 taps. Probably would've ran more if it hadn't gooten so windy when the cold front moved through in the afternoon into the evening. Once it warms up on Saturday and into Sunday we could se some big runs!

[mtbguy]

dad fired wed for me and we reduced 250 litres into 15-20 litres in 6 hours. I'll finish that tonight on propane to keep it light I don't seem to have a colour issue this year all I'm getting is dark which is ok with me but I'm retailing a little this year so I'd like it a little lighter. Got 100 litres in the feed barrel and hopefully some in the buckets so I can fire again tommorrow. Cold as a witches ... here so I won't get any flow till tommorrow. at least I can take the ice out and do a short fire. Haven't had any BIIIIIIIIG runs at all this year but I did miss that first week, just keeps coming in drips and dribbles. Discovered that whiskey consumption stays at a constant level unrelated to whether I'm waiting for sap or boiling.

[ennismaple]

We got a little less than 1/2 gallon sap per tap yesterday. The sap was very cloudy so the syrup is quite dark. Hopefully this cold snap can bring us some clear sap so we can make lighter syrup on the weekend.

[Brent]

We got about a half gallon per tap on Thursday as well.

Ennis - I was at my local Leader dealer and he was saying that real world numbers on the firing times were not as good as advertised. How are you making out ?

[cheesegenie]

Sap did not run yesterday, froze at night but day got hot too fast 60 degrees. I was
going to pack it in today, but it is really cold today, mud is like cement, so
I might wait another couple days and see. Only made half of usual, and all
my free helpers are sick of it too, and have many more important things to do
all of a sudden.

[slw105]

I have tapped 26 trees this year in Cantley, Quebec, so far made 22 litres of syrup and I have 50 gallons of sap to boil. Only 5 gals of sap yesterday but 20 gals on Wednesday. It's been a weird season. Made 5 litres of very light syrup this year and the rest has been amber.

[BryanEx]

Buckets are 1/4 full today on average but all frozen solid. Will wait for the thaw tomorrow and see how things end up. Expecting a good weekend with lots to do.

[KenWP]

I have tapped 26 trees this year in Cantley, Quebec, so far made 22 litres of syrup and I have 50 gallons of sap to boil. Only 5 gals of sap yesterday but 20 gals on Wednesday. It's been a weird season. Made 5 litres of very light syrup this year and the rest has been amber.

Where in the enfer is Cantley Quebec. I can't find that on a map either. Was friggen cold here today. I had emptied everything late last night so there was to much frozen solid today except one I forgot hopefully it thaws out enough to dump tomorrow or sunday. I have enough frozen sap to boil all day tomorrow if I get started early enough.

[jobooie]

I emptied all my buckets last night before the sap could freeze. Cold as hell here today and windy. Suppose to get up to +6 tomorrow so we'll see what happens.

On Wednesday, the sap was flowing crazy here. I pulled two gallons off each tree and had 4 of my 10 buckets dripping over for who knows how long.

[BryanEx]

Where in the enfer is Cantley Quebec.
Hahaha... just dyin' to find a neighbour Ken? Cantley is a little North of Ottawa so still not in your neck of the woods.

[nas]

Looking really good for tomorrow and first half of next week. Might throw in a few more taps to try and make up for early season slowness:)

Nick

[mtbguy]

Small world. I actually camped in Cantley last summer.

[longbeard]

Sure glad this is a hobby and not a job! This has been a tough year to figure out - and the weathermen haven't helped a lot either.

Today should be great, going from a hard freeze to +5, but the future in our area looks bleak. The 2 week forecast doesn't have anything below freezing after last night!! I can only hope the run that should start today carries on all night, and then some - and then I might get to half of last years total.

Oh well, lots of firewood left for next year anyway.

[mtbguy]

Looking at the 14 day trend whatever I get tonight and tommorrow will be all there is this season. buckets are still empty, collected wed night, only 100 litres in the feed tank. Going to finish and bottle today what I have and sweeten the pans again with the 100 litres hoping that I'll have 1-2 hundred to boil tommorrow.

[cheesegenie]

That's it, I'm done. Only a third of what I usually get. Oh well that's the way it flows, or I mean not flows. Better luck to us next year.

[BryanEx]

I'm thinking you may be a day early on that cheesegenie. Forecast has been updated for tomorrow in our area.

[Brent]

We got about 300 gallons off the 600 on vac and about 20 gallons from the buckets.

Looks like tomorrow the buckets will be full of rain. Maybe another half decent run on the vac. Feels like it's going to freeze but the forecast says 0.

[Rockwood]

That's all folks, last run today temperatures will be above 0 for the 14 day trend. I hoping to get enough to boil, but it doesn't look good.
Clean up time..

[KenWP]

The forecast for here shows warm weather also. I am going to see what happens after tomorrow. It got to 3 degrees yesterday and a couple trees ran but not much. Supposed to get to 5 today so maybe get a bit more and then will see what monday brings. The weather here is hard to forecast it seems they haven't been right in a yaer so far.

[Fire Chief]

started boiling yesterday at 6:30am, ran to 2am last night, put through the entire 180 gal of sap I had... whew! ready to finish and jar up today. Was frozen solid yesterday morning...-11, +4 by noon. Wasn't fun starting up and thawing everything:( Nothing ran at all yesterday... go figure! Oh well, should have 5-6 gallons finished. If that's it, I'm happy. Hope not but we'll see. Good luck to you all. :)

[nas]

Only got 50 gal of sap yesterday, it started running late because of the cold. Running good today, overcast so I'm hoping for a good loooong run. Hoping to have a good day of boiling tomorrow.:cool:

Nick

[BryanEx]

Sap is running well today but it started later than I was hoping (around 11am). I expect this will be the last run for me so once things shut down over the next few days I'll start packing up 'til next year. No bookings this weekend so this sap is all mine! :D

Time to dig out the lawn tractor. :cry:

[Brent]

By 2:00 PM Sunday we got another 450 gallons. About the same yesterday.

Just started the forecast rain here. Boiling like mad. Very very worried about the ropy sap issue. See my thread under syrup if you can add anything helpful. I'd hate to boil another 8 hours and end up with a few gallons of ropy junk to feed to the septic.