Is my season over?

[Lazarus]

We've enjoyed a good sap run the last day or so, but I am worried that we're out of time after this weekend. Looking at the weather for Cincinnati, they are claiming several days above 50, and even near 60 by Monday.

I'm tapping mostly silvers. This is my first year - is there a way to tell that I should pull the buckets? Does the sap itself smell or taste bad, or just the syrup? I would hate to load it into the evap and ruin an entire batch of half-made syrup from the week before. But I don't want to stop too early either.

These trees are huge with no lower limbs, and I would almost need a telescope to see the ends of the branches. Is this upcoming weather enough to make them buddy, and how do I tell?

_________________
24 taps
Silvers, few reds, and a lone sugar
Mason 2 x 3 evaporator

[Buckeye mapler]

Cloudy sap in the bucket is a good indicator. I would say the stuff you collect the next couple of weeks will be good though. I don't see the silvers blooming just yet. Look for that too happen when we have above freezing temps at night for several days in a row. Alot of people will continue to boil until it taste bitter, then sell it commercially mixed with good stuff. With that little of taps you are right not to risk spoiling what you have in the pan. One option is to boil the last of what is good down as far as you can and draw it all off and finish it. Then start another batch with questionable sap. Look at the silvers on your street and see what they are doing. When the buds open I would pull them and finish what is left on the pan.

[KenWP]

When silvers start to bud you will see it from afar. The buds swell up nice and red and then they start to put out little feelers look like the atennaes on a bugs head . Just before that is when you need to pull the taps.

[RileySugarbush]

If you question some sap, take a cup of it and boil it in the kitchen. Silver maple sap seems to get buddy weeks before the sugars around here, and you can tell by a subtle taste in the sap but there is noting subtle about the smell of the vapor. Give it a whiff and if you don't wretch it's probably OK!

[SilverLeaf]

I've had difficulty judging buddiness based upon the size of the buds. Last year the buds on my silvers kept getting bigger and bigger and appeared to be putting out those little feelers. For about two weeks there as each day passed I would say to my wife "I think this is going to be our last day" before it actually was our last day.

So don't get too stressed out over the buds, unless you really know what you're looking for. Just watch the sap closely. I've never had cloudy sap, but I can definitely taste it when it goes bad. And like Riley said, if nothing else, the smell while boiling is unmistakeable.

[Buckeye mapler]

Boy I had cloudy sap when I went to collect the day they budded completely. It was really cloudy. I did not know that about the smell when it boils though. That is nice to know. Is that true of red maples too?

[jasonhudgins]

So what exactly happens when the temps shift to above freezing nights, does the sap just stop flowing? Also my sugars are already budding, does this mean their sap will go bad soon? I haven't noticed in cloudiness in the sap yet..

Sorry for all the newb questions.

[mapleack]

Just keep boiling as long as your trees run enough to boil. Sure the syrup gets strong and dark at the end, but it still has good uses!

[Buckeye mapler]

when nights don't freeze, eventually the pressure is lost in the tree and the sap will stop[ flowing, but also the tree gets ready to bud since the temperatures are right.

[Lazarus]

Thanks for all the replies! When I stepped outside the barn to take a breather during today's boiling, I happened to glance at the tops of two of my big silvers. From waaaay across the yard I could see [gasp] giant red puffy things on the ends of the branches. Eeek!

Sap is still clear, but I think like everyone else is saying, we're toast after this week. I'm glad I tapped back in mid-January when we had the warm spell...