Tapping

[dschultz]

Drilled 2 test hole's today. As soon as I pulled the drill out the sap was there,so Friday is the day I'm going to start tapping.

[shane hickey]

Yeah I would say that it is getting that time for the people in wisconsin, I will finish tapping tomarrow total this year will be over 7600 taps have a great year west of michigan

[lpakiz]

Danny,
You guys are getting me all worked up--
I was just gonna set the tank for the 180 on the tubing on Saturday. Now I am thinking to drill holes Sunday or ?
Are you ready for some sap?? I'll give ya a call soon to see if you need mine.

[dschultz]

Larry,
Everything is set and ready for sap.
I'll take whatever sap you want to sell.
Looking like it should be a good seaon.

[Jim Schumacher]

Can you other Wisconsin guys talk about your tapping plans via private messages? Remember that SOME of us have work to do on their EVAPORATORS!!!!!!!!! I guess I will have to cut sleep out of my schedule.

[dschultz]

Sorrry Jim,
Can't stay quiet any longer
IT'S GO TIME

[lpakiz]

Jim, Knock off that sleep business--that's what got you behind in the first place...:lol:

[bison1973]

I'll wait.

I don't call highs of 34-35 in the next 7-10 real sap weather. Just the opportunity to have the holes dry up faster later on.

[lpakiz]

Yep, I just looked on Accuweather, for whatever that's worth.
Next Friday (week out) predicts 37--best of the next week and a half.
Guess we can stand down from CODE RED to orange....
It seems to me that around ST. Pats Day (17th) is the time frame to get excited. Not that I ain't watching, tho.

[markcasper]

I was going to say to heck with replacing drops and start drilling, now I have decided to switch them out and see where I stand when I get done.

[billporterfield]

25 taps, starting to run good, 1' snow in maple grove, temp at 41 today

[TF Maple]

So, Billporterfield, I'm in the township of Maple Grove. Are you south of Green Bay too? Guess there could be a lot of townships or towns with that name. Just curious!
I know a few people around where I live that do maple syrup, just didn't think there were many, but I'm probably wrong about that. I know the Brillion Nature Center collects and boils sap each year.

[billporterfield]

I'm in Marinette County, northwest of Marinette. It is starting to be a on and off heat/cooling season. Accuweather is not aways right. Digital temp showed 55 on one side and 20 on the North side of tree. Good luck this season;) ;)

[TF Maple]

Our local forecast for the next five days is warmer than what Accuweather has. Local forecast says about 3 degrees warmer which puts us at 34 - 37 degrees next five days. Test tapping today to see what happens.

[markcasper]

dschultz, Whats happening?

[driske]

Mark,
I'm gonna hang 2 bags in a few minutes . I'll weigh in on what happened tonight.
10 day Weather Channel forecast for Athens is way too good.
Section 26 Halsey

[Ben]

[What is raw sap worth in central WI this year?

[dschultz]

Mark,
On Thursday drilled 20 test holes,they were all dripping but slow,5 seconds per drop.But it was 4 above for a low that day and when i drilled them it was only 20 degrees,and I haven't been they since then but will be tomorrow so I'll let you know what's happening.

Ben,
Sap is worth 12 cents a point per gallon

[TF Maple]

Tapped 6 trees today to test things out. Trees that were out in the open and tapped on the south and west sides. A couple had damp wood but no sap running. Temp was low 30's, cloudy and light snow. Maybe with some sun the next couple days and a little warmer we will get something going here. But it is pretty early so if we don't get anything I guess that should be expected.

[driske]

2 trees, tapped at 3PM, gathered at 6PM. Results; North side tap yielded 2oz. sap@1.6%. 2nd tree; south side tap yielded 5 oz. sap @2.8%.
Temp. was 36F at 3PM. 33F@6PM. NW wind at 8 mph made it feel cooler.
Sap price? I've been thinking 11x's the test. Low, I know. Still a lot of syrup in the state from last year. Packers seem conservative, maybe even defensive at the present time.

[markcasper]

I tapped one tree at 3:30pm, on the south side and on the south of a hill adjacent to a corn field. 1 drop/11seconds, 1/2 hour later-1 drop/18 seconds, maybe 2 teaspoons in the bag at 7 pm........pretty slow.

It was only 35 this afternoon and cloudy skies.

doug....keep us updated from Athens.

[TF Maple]

The 2 trees I have in my backyard didn't have a drop of sap so far. One tree out of 2 in my cousins yard across the road from me had maybe 2 ounces. Two trees in my sugar bush had maybe 5 ounces total. This is in 10 hours time.

[Rhino]

will start tapping on Wednesday, hopefully by the 7th all our pipeline will be done. Will wait until the 13th and 14th to do our bag taps. Local weather has it all warm with this El nino pattern. Next few mornings will start out very cold though. Season is knocking at the door now.

[driske]

Another beaut of a day. Hi 36F. Calm PM, after cool breezes this AM.
North side tap=zilch. South side tap= 20 Oz.of 3.7%. The increased sweetness came as a surprise, this same tap was 2.8% yesterday.
A friend south of 29 got in 500 gallons of sap over the last 3 days. This is from a sheltered bush; southern exposure; 2,100 taps.
We should finish tapping around noon tomorrow. Whew. Two weeks of plodding around on snowshoes makes skiing the Birke seem easy by comparison.

[dschultz]

The tree's we tapped on Thursday had just enough sap in them to cover the bottom, nothing to get excited about.
Put out more taps some were running some not.The sap tastes real sweet,I'd say like 3%

[dschultz]

Tree's were running good today a drip per second.
Tomorrow I'll take the refractometer with me and test some of the sap and see where it's at for sugar

[elmcreekmaple]

is there any harm in tapping early?

I got the itch and it will be scratched this weekend

[driske]

Might wait a bit with the bags and buckets, the tubing should be good to go.
Low 12F, Hi 34F. Trees that are running are getting up some steam. Still, the majority are froze solid.
North tap = another zilch. South tap 30oz.@4%. ( gathered late so sap was a little slushy, probably accounts for the higher refrac.test.)

[TF Maple]

The trees out in the open aren't running much at all, just a few ounces each day but sugar percent is 4 -6 on my calibrated refractometer. Tapped 30 trees in the southern part of 2 sugar bushes and they were dripping once every second. Didn't have time to check sugar content today.

[driske]

Despite yesterdays warmer(39F) temps the results at the 2 test trees were much the same. Zip on the north side tap and maybe a quart on the south side one. It,s presently 16F at the house so it's 10-12F down in much of the bush.
That leads me to think there won't be much dripping today either. With all thats left to tie together I'm fine with that.
New RO comes tomorrow, got to get ready for the arrival of "Big Joel".

[Rhino]

Started putting in pipeline taps yesterday, got in around 750. South side holes got wet, but not that it dripped down the bark before i put the tap in. North holes didn't show any signs of life. Lots of snow in the woods. Took snowshoes off and sunk close to knee deep. Snow is in perfect condition for snowshoes, I sink in around 3 inches with them. Really can get alot done without much trouble. Not getting to excited yet with the weepy run. Will try to get the pipeline done and repaired by sunday, and just wait and see before we put our 1000 bags out. Nice weather to be out tapping though.

[Rhino]

Got another 750 in today, trees ran a little better today, sap was running down the bark before tap was put in. (or im just slowing down?) North side holes...a few got wet, most had nothing going on. Watched extended forecast, no cool down in sight and the low temps won't be so cold. Called all my tapping buddies to help this weekend to get everything in, bag taps to. Enjoy syrup time but could do without the stress.

[markcasper]

I am going to start tapping tomorrow, the bag I have out is not doing much. I talked to Roth yesterday and he said they finished tapping yesterday. I guess the big thing now is for producers with thousands of taps is to get tapped in as soon as possible, the earlier the better!

I also talked to Joe Polak this noon. I asked him what was happening and he said not much, a trickle, so I assume he is all done tapping too and he is farther north than I am.

I talked to another mid-sizes neighbor who did not tap until 3-27 last year. He said they aren't planning tapping anytime soon yet.

[driske]

Seemed like less going on than yesterday. South side bag has maybe 2 quarts in it from the last 2 days. North side bag is flapping in the breeze. It may be hitting 40F but the nights dropping to 10F make it hard to thaw out. We we're hoping to do some checking for vacuum leaks to day but that didn't happen.
It's the mad shuffle to get ready early,:cool: and about the time we are set to go it freezes up for 10 days or so.

[jacob obletz]

I live near ashland wi
still knee deep snow, but looks like the nights are going to start warming up!
got about 800 taps on a pipe line to put in.
lots of baried laterals still.
still on gravity but hoping to have vacume set up before this season is over.
good luck to you all and have lots of fun!!

[SHOCKERS]

Picked up 30 gal yesterday. Then picked up another 17 today. It started:mrgreen:

[Rhino]

Put the last of the taps in our price county bush today (round 400). Went and repaired all the problem areas that i could detect visually. Had a 3/4 inch mainline that had come apart. At 1 oclock there was a half of a pencil size stream flowing out of it. I would guess there is 80 taps that were upstream of the break. Things are dripping a little better today I would say. Warm weather continues next week. Looks like by March 10th there should be some syrup being made.?.? Warm enough today I was tapping in a t-shirt, even got a little sun burn. This weekend will be our big push to git-r-done. 3 tanaka power tappers going and some help putting the bags on. Snow started sticking to my snowshoes at around 11 oclock today, Wednesday and Thursday it took till 2 oclock. getting warmer!!

[Pete S]

39 of 40 taps yeilded a weak 20 gallons for 24 hours.

Tapped most of the trees on the south and west sides.

[mrnohrco]

Tapping Saturday, all 50. I know it's not many, but gotta do it.

[TF Maple]

Last year I only had 18 taps so 50 would have been a lot of taps. I collected about 10 gallons from 50 taps today. Drilled an additional 22 taps today and most of them dripped slowly. Still averaging 5% sugar. Have fun with however many taps you have.

[inthewoods]

finished tapping today. 415 taps, some trees were running good, hope for a good run tomorow.

[jacob obletz]

I live near ashland wi
still knee deep snow, but looks like the nights are going to start warming up!
got about 800 taps on a pipe line to put in.
lots of baried laterals still.
still on gravity but hoping to have vacume set up before this season is over.
good luck to you all and have lots of fun!!

well fixing lines as i go, have about 600 taps out, just another 200 to go! did not have a huge run yesterday, here it comes

[driske]

Got 2nd vacuum system up and going. Not much sap for 4 hours of collecting from 3,000+ taps. This north side system is always behind.
Really happy with the setup my friend built though. 20HSP Honda direct coupled to a Sihi that had a 5 Hsp electric on it. No need for a generator any more. The fuel consumption will be cut by a large margin. The Honda is running at 1/4 -1/3 throttle. Just enough to match the 1750 RPM the electric runs at.

[matrob]

Up in Rib Lake, put 100 taps out after seeing my test bag dripping steady. Not enough in most to stop them flapping in the breeze Saturday. Doug, I keep telling Patty, I'd like to come see your outfit sometime. I'd enjoy that some day if your open to that.

[SHOCKERS]

Picked up another 30 gal. Finished of 2 gal yesterday.:lol:

[Rhino]

Steady tapping and repairing lines today. Got everything done, trees were doing that "new hole flush". If that would of kept up all day I would be swamped. Next on list is get the vac up and running and fix the hissers. 50 degrees today, wow. snow really got rotten today, at 3 oclock you could wade through it. I can't ever remember a season that when we tapped, it was so sunny and nice every day. No snow down the neck or cold fingers. Seen more bags on trees and people tapping today, How many thousands of taps went out in the Wisconsin woods this weekend?????

[markcasper]

dshultz,

You must be close to 1/2 crop by now?

[dschultz]

markcasper
I'm just a little over half tapped in,3000 in 2400 to go.We did go and gather yesterday got 1000 gallons of 2%. Only the hards are running,the red's haven't woke up yet.
So I boiled that off just to make sure everything worked and got 13 gallons of the lightest syrup I've ever made.It's lighter than honey

[markcasper]

dschultz, wow, did not know you tapped that many! I have had a few reds running, but only where there is no snow.

[SHOCKERS]

Not good not going to get cold until 3-19. Just like last year my trees budded out early last year!!!!!

[jacob obletz]

So A Question About Vacuum

It Is Early Season Up Here In Northern Wi, And We Are Having A Thaw. Its Not Going To Freeze Up Till Next Week.
I Have About 800 Trees On Gravity.
Question If I Had Vacuum Would My Trees Be Running Even With Out The Freezing Nights?

[markcasper]

Yes.......

[Jeff E]

Vacuum will make some sap.
Last freeze we had was last friday night. It is now Thursday. With 2400 on vac, I processed 1100 gallons of sap on Sunday, 1300 gallons on Wednesday. No big volume, but sap is getting pulled out. Is it doing anything for you all on gravity during this warm spell?

By the way, Hi Mark Casper!

[SHOCKERS]

None at all. No sap:cry: . Have not had sap since Monday.

[C.Wilcox]

No real sap in my buckets since Sunday. This is really sad. The weather forecast keeps pushing the cold weather back more and more. We're not supposed to get below freezing again until the 16th now, but they originally had predicted those temps to get here on the 12th so I'm not entirely convinced that they won't get pushed back further yet.

[markcasper]

It will get cold again....I have seen this before. Back in 95 it was like this, no vacuum then or tubing. I had 1/2 my trees tapped by St. Patricks day and quit. It had been warm for a week already (warmer than this) By the morning of the 23rd it froze really hard. I scrambled and put in the other half of the taps and ended up with a average season, though it wasn't grand.

This year could be a disaster like 2005, but its way to early to tell yet, I will keep the faith and keep on tapping.

[dschultz]

Give it a week to 10 days and it will probably be to cold for sap to run.There should be 1 to 3 snowfalls coming yet also.
Way to early for this weather,we will pay for it.Always do

[driske]

This season is way too early to write off or fret over.
If you run vacuum, keep it on. Something is better than nothing. We're running 24/7 until it freezes.
Sap test is standard low, appropriate for trees that are just waking up.
Boiled weds,after stock piling for 3 days. Held Yesterdays sap and will boil again today.
I think we got most of the bugs out of systems, and should be moving through more sap smoothly in the upcoming runs.
These early preliminary runs are needed to jar me into full readiness and vigor. Those qualities are critical to success in the days ahead.
Good sugaring Badger Staters.

[Rhino]

just came back from the woods, have an estimated 2000 gal. to cook thru this weekend. Bag taps are not doing anything great today. Went by one that was 3/4 full and it was a drip every 10 seconds. Slooooooooow. The sap we have is from the slow runs since Saturday, so that syrup will go in a bulk drum right away no matter what grade it is. Just the right amount to see if we have any issues with the evap. or sap pumps. Looks like next week the northern counties should get cold nights southern ones will be on the verge.

[Jeff E]

Agreed, the best is yet to come. Old timers around here say they always make more syrup in April than in March.
Work out the bugs, find the leaks, keep the snowblower and shovels ready, and ignore the motorcycles!

[Houranch]

Down here in Richland cty, we have had alot of snow ,, I would have tapped a week ago, but the snow was o deep on the ridgerd that I need to take back into the woods,, it's acrossan "80" to get there,, now the weather has been around 45-50 all week, ,, finally got to tap today,, (jusyt 25 pails) my second year,, hoping for better weather,,

[Maple.King]

we have 140 gallons of syrup made so far, vacuum pump hasn't shut off for 3 days. hope it starts freezing at nights soon, hoping for a good three more weeks.

[bison1973]

Maple King...off of how many taps? Undoubtedly vac will be a big help this season. But other than that it's been very poor thus far.

[Maple.King]

We buy sap from other people to but they brought very little so far. Without vacuum it would be alot less. 1800 vac trees first year with vac

[markcasper]

I had 900 gallons off the 290 taps that I put new check valve drops on. This was from thursday night til sunday night, both at 10 pm. That would be over 1 gallon per day with 19" vacuum running non-stop.

I just finished tapping all the vacuum bushes today. The trees were running fair to good even without vacuum on Sunday and no freeze. Course that alot of times happens when the hot sun starts beating on them where its been clouds and fog for a week.

Still looking to 500 bags middle to late week and 175 non vacuum tubing.

[dschultz]

Frost here this morning, there'll be sap today.
Gonna start taping my silver's now that the river is going down.
2000 more to go then done tapping

[driske]

Things are finally rolling here. Saturday surprised us with a fair run under less than favorable conditions. Like Mark said, yesterdays warm sun promoted a run despite the lack of a freeze.
Test dropped, with the rain and snow melt providing ample water to the trees.
Sap was at 58F yesterday, hence we dropped into making Dark. Oh well. It was great tasting syrup.
RO,s working good , one generator seized up, vacuum holding at 19".