Northern WI

[evansglenn]

I tapped on 3/6/10 and the sap ran fair on saturday. Sunday and Monday it didn't run much at all. Saturday I got over 200 gallons of sap, and since then I might of got 40. I got over 300 on tubing.

How was everyone else's going, and when did you tap?

[Rhino]

We started tapping on the 3rd and ended tapping on the 7th. Thats around 4000 taps and i would guess we have around 1000 to 1500 gallons between our bags, totes and vac. system. Talked to my buddies in Marathon county and one of them who had his taps in early gathered 240 gal. out of 200 taps on Sunday. (all bags and he has super trees). Another guy collected 450 gal. out of 400 taps. They both fired up for the first time on Monday. Nothing really outstanding yet, just weepy runs. Next week the weather sounds great. 40's and 20's. Loop 3+ weeks of those temps together and i think we all will have tired smiles on our faces. Had my first day off from syrup related work in a long time. went ice fishing with a buddy and did good with blue gills. Sure needed that to refresh the mind and body. Ready for the magnum runs now.

[sap runner]

Tapped 650 buckets on sunday and most had sap running as we hung the buckects but since then it just plain stopped.Checked yesterday at noon,maybe 100 buckects had a gallon or so and the rest had none.Almost enuff to drive a guy goofey,but then again you have to be a little goofey to start this hobby.Can't stop, have to get more taps,then bigger cooker,finisher,bottler,taps,cooker,tractor,taps,a nd maybe more taps and cooker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!READY FOR THE NUT HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:lol: :lol:

[jfroe939]

I've got 240 taps in west of Shawano. We've got about 340 gallons of sap. I think it was Saturday or Sunday when it got down to 20 and then got up to 52 or so and ever since then the trees have pretty much shut off by us. The temps got down near 20 that day, but it was like 36 already at 9am so maybe it didn't stay cold enough, long enough. This morning we had a few of ours that are on lower and colder ground that gave a leak every 3 seconds but everything besides those were stopped. It's encouraging to see the forecasts call for some cooler nights next week. In 2007, half of our syrup got "budd-y" on us after something like this year where it warmed up early (only then it was like 60's for a number of days) then it finally got cold at nights and the sap looked great but when you boiled it something wasn't right. Smelled "off" and just something odd. We ignored it as being in our minds, but when we finished it as syrup the flavor was what I guess is termed buddy due to the trees budding out early from that overly warm weather we had. We only made about 50 gallons that year and about 25 had that flavor so that was disappointing. Let's hope it gets cooler out in the weeks to come. I've got a new pan and some other crap to pay for! Call me greedy, but I'd like to at least make half as much syrup as last year.

[evansglenn]

I am just west of Crandon. Where I am for some reason I am sheltered from the cold, and come sapping season, it hurts me. My folks only live a mile and a half through the woods on the other side of the hill, and they get a lot colder than me at night. Since I tapped, the coldest I got was 27 one night and 29 the other. The rest of the nights were a little warmer. I hope it cools down a little more the next few nights so I can get some good flowing. Time will tell I guess... We'll just have to wait and see how things go.

[evansglenn]

I am glad because I got the first good cook in just to get back into the swing of things. Now that that's out of the way, let it rock! I'm ready to cook again...

[markcasper]

Its nice to know that I have not missed much......I am going to attempt vacuum ignition this morning. I talked to Roth yesterday and he said they had 10,000-15,000 galllons of sap sitting there. Don't know how many days that was from or # of taps.

JFROE939.....I had over 1/2 of my syrup that year taste crap. Lots of gallons, but the quality was nasty. I looked up that year in my journal and I noted a high temp of 80 on 3-25 and 3-26. Tornado warnings issued in the Twin Cities area the night of 3-25. I also noted on 3-26 that the elm, popple and boxelder buds were swelling big time, gras and alfalfa starting to green up.............then noted April4th, turned very cold, single digits and teens at night until Easter Sunday the 8th and they started running again with HUGE RUNSon 4-10 through 4-13-07.

[mike z]

Put out 75 taps over the weekend, collected and processed 100 gal or so on Tuesday. Will put up another 25 when weather gets better. Looks like it won't run again until early next week, if that. Have not had a drop out of any reds yet.

[matrob]

Finally had a touch of frost last night. Just enough to freeze the edge of the puddles. Hopefully that signals a mild run today.

[Jim Schumacher]

We put in about 350 on Saturday near Phelps. They were running pretty well on Sunday. A few 30 degree nights this week. I'll take what I can get.

[mike z]

Collected and burned another 100 gal. yesterday, north of Tony. Checked buckets an hour ago, most contain about a gal, will wait to burn till Wed. Hope it freezes tonight. Will bottle the 5 gal. or so, made so far this evening. Sugar went up from 1.7 - 2.0. The weekend outlook looks much better for temps. I do wish I would have waited to tap.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Mike Z Can I suggest you dont keep burning all your sap;)

[mike z]

I figured that was steam coming off, but maybe it's smoke:)
On a more serious note. I was bottled tonight. Tried some new, 200 ml glass galone style bottles I got at Roths. Filled a few up, turned them on their side and realized a couple minutes later, they were leaking at the cap. I noticed the caps needed more tightening. Did the caps back off or, as they got hotter become loose? Is this a normal thing to watch for? I cursed some, re-tighten them and continued with mason jars. Are these bottles at risk of spoiling? I only lost about a teaspoon from each.

[sap runner]

tapped two sundays ago,missed the first run, but only got 120 gallons for 600 buckects since,weather not on our side.I think it did get alot colder last night and will hope for the best.Question is now that the nights this weekend and next week seem to be in or favor does a guy wait and see what happens,pull taps and move to fresh holes,or ream the holes in the trees I have tapped.Never worried about any of the above but went threw alot of work for 120 sap.

[driske]

Last nights boil produced syrup that was difficult to filter. The steam held some weird , funky aromas that don't bode well either. I hoping the trees can hold back until the cooler weather of the weekend. The chemistry of this season is not looking good. Conditions are more like the end of the season ,than the beginning of one.

[jfroe939]

Sap runner - I'm going to ream mine. I'm fairly sure just getting some "new wood" will work rather than that grayed-out stuff from a few weeks of 50-degree weather. Now like the last post says, those funky aromas are a bad, bad sign. If they're starting to bud out and the syrup goes skunky, I'd have a hard time selling that to a neighbor and telling him in good faith that it's perfectly fine syrup without fear of inching closer to hell in the process. BUT, maybe, just maybe you could still make the syrup and try to pawn it off to a producer who makes a large amount of syrup in hopes that they could mix in this cruddy stuff with their larger amount of good syrup to salvage something out of it. That's not ideal by any means, but I'm looking at having 10% of the syrup this year that I had last year. If someone wants it that bad for mixing,... consider it sold in my book. So I guess make what you can without selling "bottled urine" or whatever comes of it and see what happens. I'm 99% sure that some bulk buyer in the state would rather have that than nothing. Like I said, I wouldn't sell budded-out syrup to friends, family or whoever, but if a big guy is hurtin' for it and they want it I'm guessing it still has value to them. jf

[bison1973]

I'm getting the weird smell from the syrup here as well. Also difficult to filter for me too. Don't know if we can take two more days of 60 degree weather. Way behind on production this year... don't know how I'm going to supply my customers unless we get a huge turnaround.

[jfroe939]

I'm west of Shawano about a 15-minute drive and as of yesterday's sap I still don't have buddy sap. I've got 2 sets of maple stands with one being about a quarter mile away from the other. The one that's on flat ground didn't do so hot today with an average of about a little less than a half gallon per tree. The other maple stand that's on a north slope with some hemlock for shade as it moves into swampier land that usually stays a little colder gave me about 1.25 gallons per tree and had some good leakers "relatively speaking" today. I'm really holding out hope that we can make it through the next 2 days without that dreaded buddy sap syndrome hitting. We're so close to getting some better weather that it would really be disappointing to have Thursday's 60-whatever degree day kill any chance of making some good syrup yet. I didn't find any leprechaun's to squeeze some luck out of so I'm just going to cross my fingers and pray a little instead. Best of luck everyone! jf

[sap runner]

checked buckets and most all dry,a handfull with a tablespoon of sap.Hope this weekend things turn or it won't be much fun cleaning all the stuff for a total of 310 gallons of sap.

[driske]

We Are getting the freeze now. Today will tell us if the tapholes survived the 5 day sequence of heat. Thursdays sap was cloudy, and yesterday we got nothing.
The 22 gallons of sap from my 14 tap monitor grove has tested 3.1 so far. If this is all we get in 2010, it will be the poorest season encountered in the 30 years I've made syrup.

[Rhino]

Traveling yesterday close to the Timms hill area (highest point in Wis.) the trees had that slight red tinge to the tops. I know those are mostly the soft maples but to me thats not a good sign for makeing any good grade of syrup. We have quite a few soft maples on our pipeline so i guess we just hope for some sap and see what comes out the evap. Few of the river maples that get a unlimited water supply have really broken out, (would almost shade the blue bags lol). Lots of work and $$ for such a poor season so far. Hope we can get 7 more cook days in no matter if it's all com. grade. One thing we go by when we know it's over is when the frogs are chirpping down by a small water hole by our sugar shack.....still quiet there.

[driske]

Got to love that area around Timm's Hill. Great skiing and trail running. The Restaurant at High Point Village is worth a visit as welll.
Spring Peepers make the call here also. Fortunately they are still queit.

[Rhino]

Love that area also, know a couple syrup producers that tap real close to it, They have those steep hills to tap. Heard one guy used to advertise his syrup that it was made at the highest sugar bush in the state. I think they are out of the business now??? not sure. Big old beautiful trees they have though. Hwy c is a nice road to cruise with the motorcycle also, that reminds me....when you see alot of motorcycles out and about, thats another sign that the season is close to over. LOL.

[markcasper]

1130 in the morning and 30 degrees......couldn't buy a freeze at any price the last 12 days. The vacuum has been doing it good everyday up until yesterday. The trees really did not like the northwest winds.

Tapping the left overs now hoping for a season yet. In regarrds to spring. I have a big boxelder that almost touches the sugarhouse roof and the white colored buds keep expanding daily. They look more reminiscent of April 15th, not March 20th.

All of my syrup has been dark amber with excellent flavor. I'd really like some medium at least........I have not noticed any off flavors in the syrup, or bad smells. The darker syrup does smell different because its darker.

[matrob]

Had my best day yet, today. Most taps seemed to still be producing. I tried a few new taps and cleaned out a few old holes for comparison, and haven't been able to see a big difference yet. Should be another acceptable day tomorrow.

[petersp22]

Tapped this afternoon and everything was running really well. The reds get the year off.

[Jim Schumacher]

I am looking to buy fresh sap in the Phelps WI/Iron River MI area. PLEASE pm me if you know of anyone who is interested.
Jim

[driske]

Tubing and bags were at 1 gallon yesterday. Got to bed at 5;30, the bride was going to work. It's her big day there, as matrob will attest.
Grade was right on the line between DA/MA. Flavor good and it filtered well.
Last nights freeze was light, so I anticipate an easier day.

[markcasper]

4200 gallons sap from 1550 taps from Sunday and Monday. Grade was the same as Doug mentioned, but I picked up that nasty metabolism smell and taste. Here we go again, the same as in 2007.

Not very happy about this, but nothing you can do, too much wsr

[matrob]

Things still going strong here. I, too am averaging about 1 gallon per tap, Doug. Hope Patty's day went well. Had my son's 2nd grade class over today to see how syrup is made. They seemed to enjoy it. On a beautiful day like this and away from school, the kids were in heaven. Now to buckle down and catch up with the cooking.

[Rhino]

Short work day today, cooking around 1 oclock. Really bummed about todays run, we were at 26 degrees this morning but when i left the woods not much going on. Also alot of our soft maples gave up a couple days ago. pulled 3 taps from a lateral that were on soft maples, and 2 out of the 3 had that puckered up dry look to them with no sap to be seen. Not much production out of that system anymore either. The long stretch of 60 degree/sunny days killed those holes. Started to see the little white slime on our metal taps when i collected them this morning, so the bacteria is really working on those also. Looks like cool weather till sunday, then in the 60's by tuesday. I will have to check with a guy I know who waited till after the warm spell to tap and see how his taps are running. I wouldn't doubt that his are pounding today with those fresh holes. Talked with a buddy today and he heard peepers yesterday near Thorp so we will have that music soon to. weird season.

[Rhino]

I should of proof read the last message, should of said....we finished cooking around 1 oclock today.

[Rhino]

Just got the update on the guy i know who tapped in after the warm spell, said his trees were not running good today so that blows my theory right out of the water. Makes me feel better knowing we didn't tap to early (March 3rd-7th) and got in all those little weepy runs. Channel 9 said mid 60's next week and that might be conservative, maybe 70 degrees he said. Will be beautiful weather to clean equipment up and start thinking about fishing and turkey hunting.

[mike z]

I don't wanna fish and hunt turkeys, I want to boil more sap. The end of the sugaring season is just as bad as the end of the deer hunting season. Maybe worse, considering all the clean up.

[Rhino]

I would love to boil (alot) more sap also, but when i hear upper 60's for next week I tend to start thinking about clean-up/next years improvements, (and fishing and turkey hunting). Was able to collect 1500 gal. before tonights deep freeze of single digits, also drained any pipes and pre-heater that might rupture with the cold. Today some taps were getting wet around 3pm but most were froze tight. Also heard peepers for the first time down by the frog pond. Hopefully a few more runs before the heat wave comes next week.

[Peepers]

have you guys gotten any rain over there in God's country? The snow has been gone here since our first string of 60's and its been bone dry here almost the whole time. This mini-drought can't help sap production any for us relying on gravity.

I moved my taps to a bunch of box elders since the silvers are all budded out here and making buddy syrup but they barely ran yesterday even after low 20's the night before. I agree that it appears the end is near...

[Rhino]

Very dry up in the northwoods, other day had a small spot fire near the syrup house from a hot ember out of the stack. (not good). Brother is on fire dept. and said the fire towers are all occupied looking for fire/smoke. Might get sprinkles on Saturday so that would be good at least to hamper the fire danger. Started out at 8 degrees this morning at spirit falls. hope that triggers something inside the trees.

[driske]

Good advice on the spot fire readiness. We got caught having to call the FD about 15 years ago to extinguish a grass fire. Emerged red faced and $500 poorer, but at least it didn't get to the woods.
No sap yeasterday, too cold. Lo at 12F last night, and now the clouds have moved in to slow any warming. Today could be another day of rest.
Peepers are silent, so I still have hopes for a couple more boils.

[Rhino]

Well it looks like the end is near, starting out at 14 degrees at spirit falls this morning. At least what ever sap ran the last couple days will stay cold for the day, maybe we will get one more run today. Hope to be all cleaned up by Friday. I don't think there has been a year we never made syrup in April.

[matrob]

I have 18 degrees this AM. Looks like today will be good, and borderline freeze tonight should give us one more day. Then it's time to give in. Had a much better season than I had anticipated 10 days ago.

[driske]

The snappy freeze we had last night should promote a bit of sap flow today. I swear the majority of the red maple ran not at all this year. Since 40% of our bush is low ground inhabited by soft maple, our numbers look poor.
matrob, you have more tractor horse power than we did running a 35 cow dairy in the 60's. Kudo's!!!

[Rhino]

Our soft maples were very poor producers this year also Driske. Even on vac. we just couldn't pull anything out of them. Buddy of mine said he would be hard pressed to pay for the blue bag on some of his soft maples the little amount of sap he got out of them. We could see on our line networks, that run into bags, that when the bag didn't have alot of sap in it, you could bet money that it was mostly soft maples on that network. craaaaazy year.

[markcasper]

Just got in from boiling another drum. I have NEVER had a year where I could not at least make medium. I have 3 mikcans kept out that are close, but with metabolism off flavor.

I was surprised the syrup stayed dark amber this morning, except for the last 5 gallons that I pushed out with permeate, that went Comm.

I tapped 30 in the creek bottom pasture Friday, got 60 gal. @4.5% average. They were just pouring at noon today after a low here of 19.

A down year for sure, but am surprised at how much got made in the last week with the vacuum and all.

[Rhino]

Winding things down for 2010. collected everything yesterday and this morning and cooked 70 gal. of syrup today. Started cooking at 6:45 am to try to beat the heat but it was still like hell in the cook shed. Had some help with collecting and pulling taps/bags today. Wash day tommorow along with cooking whats left in the evap. and pulling bags off of the holders. Wish we could of had one more week but thats not going to happen. Hope clean up goes good for everyone, enjoy the weather.

[markcasper]

I boiled Wednesday morning and was getting really close to medium and the taste seemed much better than one week earlier. The sap was pretty funky at best and was betting on all commercial when I started. Very weird thats for sure!! This will be the shortest and earliest close of a season I have ever knew!

Telephoned both parties that I buy sap from, announced "last call", told them have it here by early afternoon Thursday, and that I will be wrapping things up. Any of my crap thats goopy will be reserved for pan R.I.P'ing.

[Rhino]

After everything is tallied up......we ended with a half a crop. Would of been better if we didn't have so many soft maples in our price county bush. I know a buddy of mine who does about 300 bag taps was doing well the last time i talked with him, but he has big, old, sugar maples that are all out in the open that gush every year, so there will be producers who ended with good numbers depending on where and whats in there woods for trees.

[petersp22]

A disappointing season. Less than half of last year. Pulled the taps today and will clean up tomorrow.

[driske]

No guess work as to the season's end this year. Weds.night peepers, record temps on Weds.and Thurs. Buds bursting forth on the reds, and grass turning green. Wow, The Fat Lady blasted into town right as Rhino predicted. April 1!!
Our crop was dark and short. 30 years of sugaring; I've seen better and I've seen worse. The frustration of a short crop tempers the inebriation of last years bonanza.
We ended up at about 80% of average volume, but so d--- dark. Oh, well. Time to catch up on sleep, and catch some rays.:cool: :cool:

[markcasper]

2 weeks and 2 days I boiled. I believe that has been the shortest duration ever. There was alot made in those 16 days, one more week and it would have been a very good year.

Alot of dark syrup this year, the quality definately was not there. 2005 was the 100 year worst year on record. This year better than that by far. This year was the earliest I have ever finished a season in 26 years of doing it. 1991 earliest finish of April 5th has now been replaced.

[bison1973]

We finished March 31. Shortest and earliest ending season for us here too. No big runs really. We had 80% of an "average" year. This was on gravity tubing and bags. Didn't make near the amount of syrup I need.

Anyone with finihed syrup to sell? Contact me.

[matrob]

Just about everything cleaned up here. Why is it that we all love to do this so much? By the time I get done cleaning everything and putting it away, I always ask myself. It has become quite and addicting hobby for me. 7 more gallons to package and I'm done. Less than expected, but tired and ready to move on. I hope to get onto the fields this afternoon with one of those tractors, Doug. Looking to sell the D-17 if you know of anyone looking.

[Jeff E]

Well, I am going for it here in NW Wisconsin. I have a lot of trees to tap, and next week looks like there will be some days that could make sap. With the way things warmed up last year, shutting down the season at the end of March, I want to be ready for any of the runs that happen.

Hopefully by Sunday night, I will have my woods tapped, and the big vacuum issues resolved, then getting the system tight next week.

Batteries, check, drill bits, check, time, we'll see!

[Rhino]

Looked at last years calender and seen that i had 3 full days of tapping in at this time. (roughly 2400 taps). Also looked up that we collected for the first time on March 13th last season and finished April 1st (sad). Still looks on the coolish side for next week with a big storm maybe on Wednesday. Weekend of the 12th and 13th are for sure the start of tapping for us no matter what the guess is for the forecast. Today was opening up trails with the crawler in our Price county bush. Ground rolls over like it was summer, no frost what so ever. I think the trails are going to be a rutted up mess more then ever this season.

[guppy79]

I put in 10 test holes today. 8 out of 10 were dripping right away. I got so exited I went home and got more taps and bags. I put out 45 so far. 155 more to go. 30 of the 40 had a couple inches in em.

[Merklin Maples]

I am tapping today. Forecast looks promising. Have to start sometime. Now is as good as any.

[sap runner]

250 vacccum,got 400 buckets done today,bout half were dripping.back at the rest 2maro.time for beer and pizza:lol:

[Rhino]

Slap in the face kind of cold this morning up here in Tomahawk, -7 degrees. Hope thats the last below 0 temp of the winter. Still looks like around March 12th to start tapping. Hopeing that storm for Wednesday stays south of us. Unrolled our long power line yesterday, washed the vac tank and put the well pump in it and wired it. Another syrup maker i know stopped by us along the road and said he plans on stringing more pipeline up yet. Now thats what i call being calm and collected! I think i would be out there in the dark stringing it up this part of March.

[Rhino]

Washed tanks today and plumbed and wired vac pump. 2 inches of new snow with 5 to 9 inches predicted for Wednesday. The old snow that had a ice layer dosn't hold my weight anymore, heat from the ground must of softened it up from the bottom, looks like snowshoe tapping again.

[GramaCindy]

Going for it on Saturday here in Barnes WI!!! YAHOO, my first year.

[Grease05]

Starting to get excited reading all this, trails are plowed and syrup shack ready to go, going to start tapping Friday and Saturday, after the snowstorm is over hope we dont get to much to walk through. Can't wait to lite the fire under the pans!!!!!!!

[billporterfield]

Tapped today, temp. was up to 40, some sap in the the "blues", about 30 taps.
Good luck all for the season:

[bearair]

I can't wait any longer. Going to tap Saturday and start the madness! Mother Nature Please be good to us this year.

[Jeff E]

Basically done tapping. I have about 80 left to do with the kids this weekend.
Vacuum is on, and am at 21". So I will spend the weekend finding minor leaks, and hopefully getting it to 24+.

Sap going into releasers, Transfer pumps are operating, made about 200 gallons of sap in the last 4 hours. I think the trees are waking up. Next week is 'go time'.

Have a great season everyone! Go Badgers! Lets make some good ol' Wisc Syrup!

[sbingham]

Started putting in my taps in last night, finished this morning.
Will be tied up working a show on Friday & Saturday, decided to get going a few days earlier than planned.
Forecast for Friday looks good, cool again over the weekend and next week is looking decent right now.
Still plenty of snow in the woods here in Rusk County.
Good luck to all.

[Got It Bad]

Sun was really melting roadside snow today going to tap this weekend next week looks like things are going to start happening yeeha get er done good luck to everyone let the madness begin.

[mike z]

Just N. of Ladysmith. Set a few buckets yesterday. Just checked them, only 1.5" at most in the 2 gal. Al. buckets. Will put the remaining of 200 out Sunday.

[rinert]

tapped today east of Ladysmith all were wet some were dripping. finish on sat if weather not to bad.

[sweetie]

Discussing with my husband when to set taps, had planned on tomorrow, but after all the messages posted, I think we should have started yesterday. We still have plenty of snow in the woods so I think snowshoes are in order. We set about 125-150 total and use buckets, and cook with an open pan over an open fire. Yum, can't wait. A long time syruper told us to wait another week???? I guess since we are not big producers? Thoughts anyone? We can start anytime as we are retired and ready to go. Thank you

[guppy79]

I would start now. Ground is not froze. Trees are running with any warmth as long as there is no wind.

[petersp22]

We tapped today but nothing was really running. The next week's weather looks pretty good though!

[GramaCindy]

I did my tapping today as well, This week's weather looks to be perfect! Bring it on!:D

[lpakiz]

I tapped near Greenwood and all ran some, but about half were just NUTS!!
Tap, Granton, TAP!!!

[jmayerl]

Fri, sat put in about 250 taps. collected today and ended up with 200 gallons of sap. On a side note I took out the rear bumper of the tundra with a tree and then was going to test the sap % with my new sap hydrometer and it broke when i pulled it out of the container, also the generator took a crap when I was collecting. between those three I'm starting out the season $1000 in the hole with equipment. There goes every drop of profit for the year.

[sweetie]

Thank you to everyone who shared advice. No doubt we will start tapping tomorrow. I hope it's a great season. Thanks again, Jeannie

[Grease05]

Tapped 500 yesterday, everything ready to go, hope everything runs good this week.

[BobU]

We have all our 470 taps in, now just waiting for the weather gods to smile on us.
Hope everyone has a safe and fun season.

[GramaCindy]

Tapped the remainder of my measley 40 trees yesterday. Tap holes all dry, but wet wood shavings on most. Hopefully they are all maples…;) here in southern Bayfield county. New 4" or so of wet snow, made it a little slow going for the ATV, but this week's weather should take care of most of that! YIPEE, BRING IT ON!:D

[sap runner]

Pulled 200 gallons of sap from buckets on friday night after getting stuck only 5 times,my wife had us out there till 8pm using the lights of the gator to collect,I think she has the bug as bad as me:lol:,then cooked sat afternoon.Sat- no sap. but it ran good yesterday and vaccum pump and releaser are showing alot of inprovement and may pay atleast half of the investment in one year.Will fire all cookers up 2maro and hopefully be able to run at full steam untill sunday nite.I did see some buckets to the west of me that look like they may produce alot of sap seeing that there perfectly in the sun almost all day,I may have to go late at nite to collect those,would that be called sap ruslin !!better lock those buckets grease05.Back to my real job till 5.30 pm to nite then back at it.

[Jim Schumacher]

Fri, sat put in about 250 taps. collected today and ended up with 200 gallons of sap. On a side note I took out the rear bumper of the tundra with a tree and then was going to test the sap % with my new sap hydrometer and it broke when i pulled it out of the container, also the generator took a crap when I was collecting. between those three I'm starting out the season $1000 in the hole with equipment. There goes every drop of profit for the year.

Hang in there Jeff. If we knew when to stop we wouldn't be Maple Syrup Producers. When we were preparing for the season we found that the water main between the well and our cabin was frozen under-ground, won't have running water till some time in May or June when the frost leaves the ground. We were getting ready to head up to the cabin last weekend, I went to pull the sap truck around the house to load up and snapped the drive axle that supplies power to the left front tire, drove up with a two-wheel drive truck. Couldn't get up the driveway to go out and tap on Saturday morning so I had to stop and tear the front end of the truck down to fix the four-wheel drive. The taps I ordered two weeks ago where different then the one shipped to me, had to improvise. At 8:30 Saturday morning I used words that I haven't used in years, by Sunday night we had almost 600 taps in...

[spudzone]

Had 5 degrees at 6:30 here in Hayward this morning- brrrrr. Took a long time for trees to warm up today. 40 & full sun sure felt good this afternoon. Only well sheltered, south-facing trees are doing anything around here right now. Should take off in a few days once we thaw the bigger trees out and reduce our snowpack a bit.

Happy tapping!
Chris

[Rhino]

put 800 in yesterday, started out at -1 degree but did get to 39 degrees. At around noon the holes started to get wet. When i left the woods around 3 oclock our 4 tap line networks were a drip a second so nothing to get to excited over. 400 to put in today. If everything is up and ready by the 17th we will be pleased. 3 producers i know are waiting to tap till this weekend to let the snow go down. Cant blame them. From Thursday till today i lost 11 pounds from tapping.

[Jim Schumacher]

put 800 in yesterday, started out at -1 degree but did get to 39 degrees. At around noon the holes started to get wet. When i left the woods around 3 oclock our 4 tap line networks were a drip a second so nothing to get to excited over. 400 to put in today. If everything is up and ready by the 17th we will be pleased. 3 producers i know are waiting to tap till this weekend to let the snow go down. Cant blame them. From Thursday till today i lost 11 pounds from tapping.

Ryan, over the weekend we were able to walk on top of the snow. Are you still able to do so? The few places we sank down it was pretty close to waist height. Yikes!! Collecting could really be nasty this week!

Jim

[BobU]

Hey Rhino, maybe we could get some free help in the woods tapping if we called it a weight loss program, heck matbe we could even charge folks for helping :lol:.

Jim S., sorry to hear of your problems, (water, truck) hope we have such a good season that all the problems are forgotten.

[Rhino]

Jim, our snow pack sometimes held me up and sometimes not, so i didn't goof around and just put the snowshoes on. Also from breaking through and lifting my legs i felt my hamstring getting sore so i didn't want to blow a hammy. In our Price county bush, I bulldozed just areas that needed to be, for a 4-wheeler to get through and where tanks sit, We use a half tracked case tractor there to collect, so i didn't plow all the collecting trails because i always thought that no snow could stop that machine...ha....right now it's in the middle of a trail stuck to its belly in snow, Might have to haul the dozer back there which is a total waste of time and fuel since i had it there earlier. Bob, that is a great idea about the new diet plan, It's partly my fault because i don't eat during the day when i'm tapping, I just drink lots of water.

[Jim Schumacher]

When We tapped over the weekend most of the sugar maples were at least weeping a little bit, some were dripping at a very good rate. The Red maples were bone dry. Every one of them. I tap about sixty or seventy Red Maples and not one of them had the slightest bit of moisture. Anyone else experience this?

One of my neighbors stopped in at my bush and let me know that there is no rush to return. Most bags and buckets remain empty, our best ones are less then half full.

I guess we should all have a bush in Door County. Chuck is working around the clock up there trying to stay ahead of the sap. I might sneak up there tomorrow night for a few hours and turn his transfer valve off between his rear and front pans...

[BobU]

Jim, Sounds like your trying to make some work for yourself at Chucks expense:D
We are tapped and "waiting" here in Chetek (WI), not much dripping yet here.
With the extra time I did make a pre-heater today, hope to be running sap thru it SOON !!

[Jeff E]

First Syrup of the year last night!
Had sap from many little runs over the last week, about 1500 gallons, plus one delivery. Sugar is low in my woods, about 2%. Hope that goes up as the trees thaw out.
Made Dark Amber and B. Pretty happy with that for the first sap going through the lines, sitting for a awhile.

New custom piggyback made by Mike Joque worked great. Sap going into it was 42 degrees, and 7% sugar (RO) and sap coming out, going into evaporator was 200 degrees (really:D) and 9.5%.

I will be updating my Photobucket in the next couple of days so you can see the 'beast', my evaporator.

[LDF]

Put my 20 taps in on March 6th, it was a nice afternoon to be outside with the family. I wasn't sure when my next chance would be to put them in and have the family in the woods with me. Entertainment at its best tapping trees with a 2 and a 1 year old tagging along. Needless to say I could have waited until this past weekend and wouldn't have missed much.

Did a test boil with my new pan Sunday afternoon, I think it will work, now I just need more sap so I can boil for real this weekend. Weather looks like it is going to cooperate.

[Grease05]

Sap has been running good so far, I think we have about 1000 gallons since Sunday, finishing first batch off Thursday night I think? (500 gallons of sap) Hope I'm not out of practice!! Hey Sap Runner I hope you know I have lots of secret traps in the maple woods for guys like you:lol: Hope you have coors light in the fridge if I stop over this weekend. Hope there is time!!!!

[Meridian Maples]

Made a barrel of syrup last night. For the first night boiling things went pretty good, just a few minor issues such as leaks on the RO, and my automatic draw-off not working right at first. It's always nice to get through the first cooking to get the kinks out and get in the groove. Now if only the trees would break loose!!

[bearair]

250 taps out since last Saturday gathered 125 gallons today. Trees are hit and miss. 2.5 gallons in some buckets and a quart in others.

[bearair]

Collected 190 gallons this AM. Again trees are hit and miss most of the trees On the south side of the woods had 2.5 gallons in the buckets and the ones on the north side of the woods had only about a half gallon. Now we better not get that snow forecasted for Tuesday and Wednesday. There's enough mud in the woods already

[Typical8]

We are still tappin:mad: They are forcasting for us up here a low of 11 on wed. and 9 on thurs. So better make sure everything is picked up Tues. A cold snap like this can make for a hole lot of problems.

[maple connection]

I Made about 13 gallons of Syrup in 6 hours on Saturday. Thats not to bad for the 2x6 evaporator. I installed a blower and WOW:lol: it makes it boil now.
I also have to thank the R.O. I hope the weatherman is wrong, it goes from not freezing to being to cold for 3 or 4 days with highs of upper 20's. Come one mother nature work with us.

[bearair]

9" of snow and counting. Then a freeze through Saturday. Looks like a slowwwwww start to the season.

[fernwood2009]

Have 8" of drifting snow here. Pails made it through the wind so far. Had emptied everything before it snowed, so just have to wait and see what happens.

[Meridian Maples]

What a mess!! Just about got lost last night going from the syrup shack to the house in the blowing snow. Got stuck in the driveway at work this morning. Hoping I don't have a bunch of lines down in the woods after all of the wind and really wet snow. Now the cold air is coming to freeze everything up. Scrambled last night to try to get everything cooked down, and everything drained for the big freeze.
Having a pretty good start to the year, got just under 400 gallons made so far and haven't had much of a run yet.
Now just to get everything plowed out.

[Jeff E]

Maple Connection (Kevin) sounds like your making that 2x6 crank! 70+ gallons per hour!
What are you concentrating your sap to with your RO?
It is great fun to see the syrup come flying of the syrup pan, and permeate water going down the drain instead of into the evaporator.
I made 63 gallons of mostly medium amber on saturday. That was a big day!

[Jeff E]

One more thing northern WI folks, the old timers keep telling me we almost always make most of the syrup up here in April. So, hang in there, good days are ahead!

[driske]

Trying to crank up the courage to leave the house and get after some of the new snow. Man, I hope we got everything drained last night.
You Meridian guys are doing good with 400 made. The trees here have run one day, and the rest of the sap has been forcibly extracted at 23" Hg.
One conundrum though . Can't believe I'm making such dark syrup off this clear fresh sap. On the other hand, there's been no nitre to speak of. Pan are still clean after 800 gallons of syrup over them.
I'm trying to be philosophical, but I know our 23" of vacuum is getting trashed right now by a barrage of fallen branches etc.
Damage control and leak checking will be the order of the next few days.
It's one of those days I think maybe I am nuts to partake in this sport of Sugaring.:rolleyes:

[driske]

Hi Kevin,
It's part of Murhy's Law. Corrolary # !7. Nature is a Mother. :lol:
I knew you would get your set up fine tuned and humming along. You always did so good with making my stuff work.

[markcasper]

driske,

You are not alone! I am very upset that the syrup dropped so fast to DA. Made 2 drums on Saturday night(first day) and was all light amber (I was shocked) and the sap was from 0-5 days old. Boiled the second time Monday night and the grade dropped faster than it took to throw the chainsaw off the wood pile (I was shocked). The sap was all clear and was less than 2 days old. I don't understand it! Sugar% in sap sucks!!!! 1.9% on Monday. Practically .75% -1.00% below normal!

This cold will give me time to get the rest of the trees tapped.

[Jeff E]

Mark, its a funny thing.
First syrup I made was B and DA, then MA. I generally dont let my sap get to be more than 2 days in storage, usually I process every day.

[markcasper]

Jeff, The first sap that was up to 5 days old came from mainlines that were buried in snow and stored in non- insulated tanks that were sitting on snow. I generally gather and boil every day once I get going and the sap runs. Its probably the darn tubing!

[PETE FELCH]

mark
our syrup has been on the darker side too. Of the 18 barrels only 2 light amber. I have noticed no sand or nitre either .Dont know if it is the season or the witchcraft from the TECHNOCAULK

[Jeff E]

OK, you got me.

Technocaulk!!??:confused:

[Meridian Maples]

Pete, is this your first year with the Techno Calk? What do they get for one of them?

Craig

[PETE FELCH]

yup first year seems to be doing what they said it would do. Used to reverse flow or change pans every barrel or our pan would get burn spots from the nitre flaking off the bottom of the pan. Now we are getting about 2 1/2 barrels and only have to revese flow and keep going .The next morning i' ve just been able too hose down the last pan we finished on and it cleans right up. We chase most of the syrup out with permeate every nite and the flue pan is staying cleaner than expected also. Oh for the price about 2000

[markcasper]

Pete, Still have not forgot about you, plan on getting up there this summer.

Syrup lightened up some due to no recirculating.

What is Techno-caulk, I am stumped?@??

[PETE FELCH]

mark
I guess it has been used in boilers for years. It works by making all the electrons in the pans and the sap all positive or all negative so they repel each other. the opposite of powder coat painting , where the paint is attracted to the piece being painted.

[flying squirrel maple]

16 inches of snow beat the heck out of the atvs gettin back to the bush , bags froze half full of sap boiled 120 gallons we collected last sunday **** near scorched that, man the beer tastes good. :lol:

[mike z]

Yeah, I have buckets half full or more of sap and they are frozen solid. Going out this afternoon when they loosen a bit and collect the chunks. Saps been running in the late afternoons. I'll take the cold though over 70s right now. Frozen sap is better then no sap.

[PETE FELCH]

Hope everyone has there vacuum on this afternoon sap is running

[bearair]

All buckets have 1 to 2.5 gallons of solid ICE. Hard to thaw when temps stay in the low 30's and lows around 0. Oh well there's always next weekend, hopefully the buckets will be overflowing by that time.

[Rhino]

Our 1000 bags also are around half full and solid. Around 20 of them are full and also solid, those i might have to take apart and get the ice out, I think it would take forever to melt. Yesterday we cooked 75 gallons of syrup. Temp was -14 when we started, steam output was impressive with those cold temps. we slowly unthawed the evap. and at 9 oclock was able to stoke it hard. Syrup was dark but we expected that with the older sap but the flavor was good. (all has a value though). Later this week it looks better for sap flow and thawing the bags out type weather. I have a feeling with the unreal snow depth we have yet, this might be a great season shapeing up, just a hunch????

[Meridian Maples]

What a mess!! My lines won't thaw out, but the trees are running!! Taps are pushed out all over!!!! Tried to pull with the vacuum yesterday and get everything back together but I'm afraid with the temps last night that more will be pushed out today. Drops are full of sap right up the the tap hole. Thats sapping I guess.

[chadsoare]

we started putting taps in on 3-19, but held up due to the forecast of a weeks worth of 20 degree weather. We finished putting in taps on 3-27. This is my first year tapping, and we put in 50 taps on bags. Let the fever begin.
FYI, We live 5 miles south of US highway 2 and 20 miles east of Ashland.

[driske]

Craig,
The phenomenon of pushed out taps has hit here as well. Just took a walk after dinner yesterday to fix a mainline issue and on the way noticed a dangling tap.
Started looking out further to see there were many more. Oh Boy. Hitting the woods today to reset all taps and put things back together.
-2F here this AM, so I imagine Mother Natures vandalism will continue.:mad:

[jmayerl]

Sap better start running again today, I'm almost sold out of syrup!:o

[WI Sugarpop]

You're right about that. We have more orders than we have syrup for. We need to double the amount we've made so far.

[Ahnohta2]

We just sold out of last yrs syurp last week.

Put in some taps two weekends ago, put in rest this past weekend. As of Sunday, hardly collected any, most all buckets are frozen solid. Am hoping today and tomorrow is good run and hope to do FIRST boil this weekend. Can't believe out east some are pulling taps already.

[Rhino]

Ran vac today for the first time since the cold snap, got to around 35 today after -10 this morning. started it at around 2 oclock. Took the case half track tractor out to smash down snow in our Price county bush, derailed one of them so i made myself more work putting that clutsy heavy thing back on. Gauge on vac was 16 so we to might have issues with taps popped out from the bitter cold. Will search for leaks after i put the half track back on, No hurry because back to below 0 for tommorow. I don't remember so many headache issues that we are haveing in one year. Not just the cold weather issues but mechanical to. Starting to think 500 taps and a flat pan is the way to go. Buddy called me about his frozen solid, right up to the bag holders,today and ask what he should do? Good question? take apart....dump...put back together......or.....let them thaw and get the full bag of sap and lose the runs that run off the top of the ice?

[maple connection]

Hi, Pete
Hope everything is in operation in Fifield. I am going to boil tomorrow and hope to for the next few day, I hope:lol:. The fun is over on the 11 of April back to making asphalt:cry:

[driske]

Kevin,
Lukas got the call today.:cry: Off to Madison.
We got the vacuum going for a couple hours this PM. Lots of issues with pushed out and loose taps.
Keep the faith , Lots of sap can flow in the next 2 weeks.
Happy Boiling, DR

[Meridian Maples]

Well I went in the woods yesterday in hopes to get the tubing back up and running. I was able to get one woods up to vacuum, but the other one has major freeze issues. I was only able to get one main line coming out to the releaser thawed out to fix leaks. The lines that were frozen were completely full of sap, with so much pressure in them I couldn't believe it. I pulled the very end tap on the mainline and there was so much pressure that I could hold the tap above my head and the sap sprayed out like a garden hose. I held one up for over 5 minutes and it never let up. I'm scared to go into the woods today after last nights freeze with that much sap in the lines. I'm praying the mainlines let loose today!!!

[driske]

It's a crazy one alright. Found about 50' of 2" mainline split open on the last pass out of the woods last night. Off to Hungry Hanks we go.
Next best bet would be to spend a chunk of change on volatile penny stocks to balance and stabilize the portfolio against Maples risky future.

[maple connection]

Doug, Sounds like the old jack frost got the best of us. started the R.O. this morning hoping to get a jump on things and the concentrate line down to the sap shack was froze some were. The bad thing is you don't know that until your wearing the concentrate.:(

[PETE FELCH]

Kevin
havent heard when im going back yet. I guess ill be with MONARCH this year though that should be a welcomed change. We have been getting some sap everyday in the afternoon . Should keep some sap at our new bush today finally what a mess, but the extra 6000 taps will sure help. Just a start there should end up with about 12000 there which would bring our total to around 23000, thank goddnes for the Electric Evaporator from CDL
Pete

[camp3sugarshack]

Hello Pete, Are you running your own sugarbush or is that the Paterson operation your talking about. Should be a great week for sap.

[jmayerl]

It's now been 8 days since the tree have been really running in Shawano. Went out last night and collected 15 gals out of 225 buckets. The sap is over 10%, still waiting for the ice to thaw out and test it. stupid trees should know that I only work 1 day in the next 10 and start pouring! Got the hood on yesterday, and made the new roadside sign. now if I only had some syrup to sell.

[jmayerl]

might be done, trees arn't dripping and the buds are popping

[jfroe939]

re: Mayerl those are probably soft maples. ?? The hards can go for a while yet.

[C&C maple sugar bush]

in birnamwood we still have a foot of snow on the ground, the bags are all half or full, going to collect tonight

[jmayerl]

they are, but thats 50% of what I tap.

[mike z]

Finally, some of the buckets are starting to fill. Have not boiled since the snow storm. Tomorrow should have 200 gal. from the 200 buckets to boil. Finally. I'm worried the cold snap will jump right into a warm snap and season over.

[maple connection]

Wow!! Pete that is a big operation you guys have going on. Pretty soon hell with the making blacktop just make maple syrup. It does smell alot better when you make maple syrup:lol:. I just finished boiling about 7 gallons of syrup tonight in three hours only because of that R.O. those things are awesome. Hoping to make another 50 gallons, I have about 38 made. Good luck at Monarch. Hope that works out.
Kevin

[flying squirrel maple]

Hey Mike did you collect that 200 mon and tues or did you have some stored away. Hopefully I can get more than 2 gallons of syrup this weekend.

[Jeff E]

jmayerl, I would not pull taps based on the those buds. I would suspect you will be making good syrup for a while yet.
The reds do swell the buds early, but the syrup is usually good for several days or weeks...
The syrup quality will tell when it is time to be done.:)

[flying squirrel maple]

My bud is up emptying bags , says most are ready to burst. :cool:

[mike z]

Flying Squirrel, I collected yesterday from 3 - 5:00, and got 200 g. I boiled till midnight, processing 180g. I expect 225-250g. today, as more trees begin to wake up. The sugar measured 2.7%. I was very happy with that. Got down to 19 here last night here. Good Luck.

[flying squirrel maple]

Thanks Mike hoping to have about 900 gal by friday and start boiling, late nights and early mornings. Are you still boiling in the serving pans?

[mike z]

No, we built a new evap. last summer with 2'X8.5' channeled flat pan. I think we are getting 30g/hr. depending who's feeding it. Still trying to get a handle on that. 900g will keep you busy. I hope we get snow and not rain tonight.

[mike z]

Flying Squirrel - Here's a pic. of the evaporator.

[tpatch361]

Mike do you have any sketches of this arch?

[mike z]

Yes, lots of drawings. Figuring the side skins, with all the strange angles was the hardest part. We used the arch front for the pattern. Got the front for $25. Had to make the doors for it though. I will organize the drawings a bit and send to you P. Message or E-mail if you like. Give me a week or so.

[flying squirrel maple]

Looks good mike quite an upgrade from your last arch, I see you have a new bulk tank also. I think you've got the "fever". :o

[mike z]

I got the other one laying off to the side, so as I gather I can catch a glimpse of it and remember the "good ol' days". Glad their over.

[tpatch361]

Yes, lots of drawings. Figuring the side skins, with all the strange angles was the hardest part. We used the arch front for the pattern. Got the front for $25. Had to make the doors for it though. I will organize the drawings a bit and send to you P. Message or E-mail if you like. Give me a week or so.

Thanks Mike that would be great. I am getting to the point where I definately need to upgrade.

[Merklin Maples]

Here in Hayward the sap has finally started a decent flow. Last two days collected over 100 gallons sap. Will be a busy weekend cooking.

[markcasper]

Trees pounded yesterday and started running good overnight with the snow falling. 3200 gallons hauled in yesterday from 1800 taps. Sugar % has went up a full .5% since the snowstorm last week. Really light syrup. Sap tank loads have been coming in from 2.4% to 5% depending on what woods they came from.

[WI Sugarpop]

GramaCindy, how are you doing way up there? Haven't heard from you for awhile.

[GramaCindy]

GramaCindy, how are you doing way up there? Haven't heard from you for awhile.
WI Sugarpop, Thanks for asking…

HOLY COW!!!!:o Yesterday I collected 37 gallons off of my now 50 taps. It was really pouring out. Had to empty the ATV collection tank and head back out for more. Man was that neat! I now have around 117 gallons for my first boil and pan sweetening tomorrow. Looking very forward to it. Scared a bit too. I'd hate to burn or warp the pan on my first try.

Just sent in the downpayment on the cement slab for spring construction of a 14x14 sugar shack. My husband is really getting into it too, as much as he can only being here on the weekends. The thought of a building project has him rarin' to go. He has some idea for the copula doors with a thingy that will automatically open them…? We are putting in to long floor drains, one on each side of the evaporator and a row of block to keep the wood sides dry. Planning on it looking a lot like Paddy mountains shack. (thanks Paddy!)

I do have a question….when I get my pans sweetened, and I want to end the day, what do you all cover the pan with in between boils? I do realize that it will have to completely cool down before I can cover it with anything, just wondering?

My sap storage area is doing great, a lot of ice and slush, but I do plan to boil it all, sorry guys, but it's still a precious commodity to me and I don't want to throw away any potential sap. Any suggestions on how to handle the 20 gallons tote of frozen sap? It's pretty much a solid block right not. The rest of the containers are doing great. Moved some ice chunks to the other containers to keep sap good and cold. I have some more sap to collect but it is only mid 30's today and not really running, All of my storage containers are full, so I will collect tomorrow after the boil starts, or I should say "He who must be told!" will collect it.

Looking forward to tomorrow, if only I could sleep:D

[sbingham]

GramaCindy, I'm not set up in a building yet, my rig is outside on a slab. When I was cooking on a 2x4 pan I always removed the pan at the end of the day, cleaned it up and stored it in the garage.
My new rig is a 2x6 and I have been letting the fire go out at the end of a cook, doing a final draw of what is close to syrup, then keeping enough sap in the pan until it is cool enough to draw off and filter what is left in the pan. I keep this in a seperate container and will use the next time I fire up the cooker.
After all the sap has been drained off, there is still enough heat in the fire bricks to add fresh water to the pan and do a final clean up of the pan.
I'm not sure this is the correct way, but it has been working for me.
After the evaporator totally cools down, I wipe the pan dry, put a piece of plywood over the pan, then a piece of thick plastic, then tarp the entire unit. Hopefully by next year I'll have a building over it.
Good luck with your cook today, we have 225 gallons in storage to cook down today as well, collected 330 gallons this week on 70 taps.
It will be the 4th time we fired our new mason 2x6, it works great - been averaging 18 gph evaporation. My old rig would do about 8 gph, this year has been fun.

[jmayerl]

finally had 1st decent run yesterday. 280g of 2.8%. cooked most of last night and started up again today after getting gome from the fire station. pulled the taps on the soft maples in the yard because the sap was buddy and tapped a few more I found in the woods. low of 36 this morning and the tree arn't running so it looks like a good day to catch up down the home strech here.

[WildRiver]

So far we've made 8 gallons of syrup, but now we're out of sap and the forecasts don't look that great. Maybe I'm just impatient. We're near Solon Springs and half of our first sap collection was ice. We've cooked twice after the pan sweetening.

[GramaCindy]

YAHOO! Finally got syrup! 19 8 oz bottles.https://picasaweb.google.com/103968764779354846524/Syruping2011?feat=directlink

[Rhino]

At last our 1000 bags are thawed out enough that i could start collecting them from the deep freeze. Got half of them done and got 1300 gal. Tomorrow i will do the other 500 and hope to get that amount or more. Most of the bags were still left with a softball size ice chunk but thats it. The problem was each day after the bitter cold nights they would drip a little and then freeze the next night adding up to near full to half full bags that were rock hard, and we don't have the time to go every afternoon and dump the little that ran. What a pain but it is working out in the end. At around noon our metal taps started to drip slowly, by the time i left at 4 oclock some of the better trees were around a drip every 3 seconds. Wind was gusty and snow flurries off and on. Tonight a low of 24 so it should be interesting what they will do. Still have knee deep snow, but i would only break through off and on. April 4th and this much snow left. could be a blessing when the temps start hitting 5o's later this week. Oh, and our frog pond close to the syrup house,where we hear the peepers when the season is done, i think will take another month to thaw out.

[mike z]

I wonder if leeks can grow under snow? The frozen buckets that I put in the bulk tank a week ago look exactly the same. I put some sap in with today to help thaw them out. So far I would say I'm just approaching half a crop for the year. Hoping for some better weather this week.

[markcasper]

Rhino,

My neighbor that taps 600 bags and I boil it had the same problem last week. He figured there was 1000 gallons worth of ice in the bags yet last Thursday morning. Most of it melted by the Saturday collection but there was still some left. You said it....it warmed up and dribbled in the afternoon and then froze rock solid with the 0-5 lows at night.

Another neighbor of mine just tapped their 1600 bags last Wednesday and Thursday and picked up 3000 gallons of sap by Thursday night.

News 18 out of Eau Claire is going to do a segment on their operation this week sometime, probaly Tuesday. They contacted me but I declined due to having to many things going wrong this year and not enough help. So I told them to contact them. Their name is Christianson just west of Menomonie. Should be interesting.

[BobU]

Heavy frost on the windshields this morning, Let's hope for a good run today!
(Season can't be over yet I still have empty jars) ;)

[mike z]

Yeah, and my trail is still drivable.

[mike z]

Ran some today in Ladysmith, collected 180g. from 200 taps.

[maple connection]

Was a good day in mapleland. Everyone in my area had a pretty got run today. I have 140 gallons made with hopefully more on the way. Its pretty hard to work 12 hours at work then try and find time to cook syrup. Oh well it won't last long so I am trying to get as much sap as possible. Two passes threw the R.O. and in the evaporator it goes at about 16.5%. I am loving that, Sunday I got 10 gallons of syrup per hour for three hours I was completely amazed:o.

[tpatch361]

Collected about 55-60 gallons last night on 45 taps. I have couple of trees not producing much at all. I keep thinking I'll retap elsewhere with those buckets. I just can't do it. I keep holding out that they will let loose.

I processed 60 gallons of sap on a block arch. I am convincing myself more and more that if I'm going to do this that I want a bigger evap.:D I started at 4:30 with the building of the fire and didn't finish until 12am. Gave me time to grade papers while I tended to the fire.

[Jeff E]

Overall, what are your thoughts on the season so far?
I hope we can hang on and get decent sap for another 2 weeks.
So far it has been decent, but no really big runs at my place.

[driske]

Making 10 gallons per hour on a 2x6!! That would be a rush. You've got it fiqured out. And yes, it has been good locally. Last night was the first boiling we got a nitre development in the finish pan. Maybe the trees are finally waking up.:mrgreen:

[Jeff E]

Yea, I saw that shift in the boiling too. I think I will be switching sides daily now to deal with the niter. Time to deal with tougher boils. :rolleyes:
My syrup has shifted from MA to DA the last 2 days as well.

[driske]

Haven't been able to make any light this year. Somewhere around half MA and half DA. Flavor is fine. Test average for us. Steady at 2.1%.
I'm thinking we're at 40-45% of our production target goals. Hope Ma Nature agrees.
Will we get 2 more weeks?? Adin Reynolds would have taken that question in the upcoming month of May.:):)
I say .... still lots of snow in the woods. It's possible we could still be gathering the 20th.

[markcasper]

Things don't look good with a 70 degree high predicted this weekend. I am a bit better than 45%, maybe closer to 80% of last year. I made lots of light and medium this year. First year I have made this much light in many moons. I made my first drum of non-recirculated RO dark amber yesterday and was very good. Things look as if they will be approaching the Commercial phase very soon as the white wonders have shown up in the bottom of one collection tank. North side taps that were put in 10 days ago are really clear. Vacuum is our only hope at this point!

[bearair]

We have collected 800 gallons of sap this year, so far. Only made 12 gallons of syrup but lots of concentrate in the pans. If we have another 500 gallons in the buckets this coming weekend we will have collected twice as much sap as we did last year. The forecast makes it look like today might be the last day for buckets to run. Going to be boiling non-stop this weekend and hope to finish up by Monday. Syrup is definitely in my blood!

[Meridian Maples]

I'm praying the fat lady doesn't sing too soon... But the weather doesn't look good. Hopefully having all the snow in the woods helps, but the sap is getting a little cloudy now. We are at about 50% of what I was hoping to make this year. I don't think the peepers will be out too soon though.

[maple connection]

It's friday for me tomorrow So, let the sap flow at full stream again for the weekend is my request!! HA HA!!! I hope the right person is listening. I hope your right Craig that the peepers won't be around for awhile yet. I am interested in what you think of that 4040 membrane. I need to add two 4" membrane to my machine for next year. I do hope that we are only 50% finished with the season.

[GramaCindy]

The weeks forcast for NW WI looks to be WAY to warm for sapping. :o With only one good boil under my belt, this is not good. I have 8 gallons of super sweet and 55 gallons of fresh sap to go and then that may be it. Does the sap ever run without nighttime freezing temps? I can only hope so. I have only made 1.1 gallons of syrup so far and would REALLY like some more:(

[Meridian Maples]

Kevin, so far I seem to like the membrane, It seems to out do the mark 1 as far as flow because a friend of mine got another mark 1 with his new post and my flows have been higher then his. I've been checking my water with a digital refractometer and its always 0 so thats good.
It froze fairly well last night, so maybe they'll do well today. We finally broke the 1000 gallon mark last night. We sure have a lot of snow in the woods yet.

[maple connection]

Thanks, Craig I wish you the best of luck on making another 1000 gallons if the weather would only work with us. I have 150 gallons made if I get 50 gallons more this weekend I will be happy.

[len]

...Does the sap ever run without nighttime freezing temps?...(

What I found from this year, is the sap ran at least 2 days after a freeze, and did this quite often. Typically the trees will shut down after that, but it's best to check the trees.

You'll probably get a couple of gallons with what you still have to boil down. I wouldn't risk spoilage. Not sure just how long you can hold the gradient when it warms up. At a certain point you'll probably want to boil down what you have, and switch to batch boiling. You'll then be able to keep the collections seperate, and not add bad sap to a good gradient (boil down- no longer have a gradient)

You'll want to look at the buds, and see that some trees might be opening up sooner than others, esp those that are near roads. The ones away from roads might be tighter. Some sap might be bad from some trees, and still good from others. Avoid the bad, collect the good. Max the season!

[GramaCindy]

What I found from this year, is the sap ran at least 2 days after a freeze, and did this quite often. Typically the trees will shut down after that, but it's best to check the trees.

You'll probably get a couple of gallons with what you still have to boil down. I wouldn't risk spoilage. Not sure just how long you can hold the gradient when it warms up. At a certain point you'll probably want to boil down what you have, and switch to batch boiling. You'll then be able to keep the collections seperate, and not add bad sap to a good gradient (boil down- no longer have a gradient)

You'll want to look at the buds, and see that some trees might be opening up sooner than others, esp those that are near roads. The ones away from roads might be tighter. Some sap might be bad from some trees, and still good from others. Avoid the bad, collect the good. Max the season!
Thanks for the reply Len…I am keeping my collections seperate and iced with frozen sap. Plan to do my final boiling on Saturday and hopefully Sunday too. I have 60 gallons in the pole shed, and 8 gallons of super sweet sap from last Sunday's boil down, on ice. 60+* here today…ugh. No sign of freezing temps for at least a week.:(

[mike z]

It's time to get the sap boiled. Not even cooling with ice will keep it long. Tomorrow I'm finishing all I've got melting in the tank. I will collect at noon and then make one final collection late. This weekend will clean the tanks, the pans, and wait for more next week. I don't hear Peepers, I don't smell leeks. This season can't be over.

[Rhino]

Going to catch up today, 3000 gal. to cook down, Then take a break and watch it rain for 2 days. sure is alot of snow by us to. Still hopeing thats going to help us through the warm/rainy spell. Our road leading into our sugar shack took a crap so we started selling sap from our Price county bush to a large producer 5 miles away. 14 cents a point, will help with the gas/diesel bill.

[sbingham]

I pulled my taps today and cleaned up. Forecast does not look good for temps here in Rusk County. The weather front moved through late this afternoon and the frogs are singing tonight in our tag alder swamp, confirming to me that it is time. All things considered a decent year, 17 gallons on 70 taps, I really like my new 2x6 WF Mason evaporator. Hopefully will have a sugar shack built by next year.
Time to start thinking about turkey hunting and getting the boat ready to go.

[Merklin Maples]

:cool:Thank goodness the season is almost over. Look forward all year to start and am greatly relieved to see the end in sight. Still have 200 gals to boil down and then the clean up. Will be pulling taps this week. Then to get done with the cleanup. So far a banner year here for Merklin Maples.:

[mike z]

Daniel, can you give us some numbers. How many taps, how many gallons, Grade? I'm not pulling till this next cold spell passes through. I haven't broke average yet. Should have stayed away from those Reds I think.

[Rhino]

No damage from the Lincoln county storms at our sugar house, Massive snow melt off has rivers running wild that i cant collect 240 taps across one. maybe in a few days it will subside enough that i can go across with the crawler again? Our taps yesterday gave about a half gallon of sap. Tomorrow i will get that. I had the breaker shut off on the vac pump Saturday and Sunday thinking that with the warm temps nothing was going to happen, so that was the wrong guess. Just watched the local weather and it sure looks great for later on if the trees can wait till then. Maybe even snow!!! Even if it's comeing out commercial that would be great. I look at it as all the work is the same as far as the washing equipment, tapping, cleanup, etc. Might as well try to make as much as you can.

[GramaCindy]

:cool:Thank goodness the season is almost over. Look forward all year to start and am greatly relieved to see the end in sight. Still have 200 gals to boil down and then the clean up. Will be pulling taps this week. Then to get done with the cleanup. So far a banner year here for Merklin Maples.:

Oh but Daniel, there are freezing temps in the forecast for Wed, Thurs, and Friday nights! Are you really that burned out?

[Merklin Maples]

Have not added up totals for sap yet. Have tally going. Do know that I have made 16.5 gals of syrup from 125 taps. Have a batch in the finisher that will yeild about 3 more gallons and another batch cooking that should give me the same. Been watching the forecast too. Looks good for this weekend I know. The one who is obeyed is going to Chicago for Easter and wants to have everything cleaned up by then. I am going to start pulling the taps from trees that have not produced well. We only pull a few at a time to clean. Sooo I hope to have the best runners still working for me . Yes I am getting tired. Eight hour work days combined with an hour and a half drive time round trip each day. Two hours with the trees gathering sap and then back to the sap house to cook clean etc until 1130 pm or midnight makes for a long day, day after day.. We will see how it goes. Had to borrow another storeage tank to store the sap I got. This has been ,my best year since I started.

[WildRiver]

We had 164 taps out and got 20+ gallons of nice syrup, I was expecting double that. All in all it was a good experience with our first evaporator. We pulled all the taps last Friday.

[flying squirrel maple]

We made 35 gallons off 186 taps, the last ten we boiled fri and sat was dark as coffee. Pulled our taps gettin ready for next year hopefully we'll have a new arch and pans.

[C&C maple sugar bush]

we had 200 taps and ended up with 15 gallons

[bearair]

Pulled taps on Friday and Saturday. For the season we collected over 1200 gallons of sap and have finished 27 gallons of syrup with 250 gallons of sap to boil. With the concentrate in the arch and what's left to boil should end up with around 30 to 32 gallons for the year. Going up tomorrow to finish boiling and clean up.
Three years in and this is our best year so far! We have been adding taps each year, but I think We are "tapped out" and have reached our limit of how many taps we can handle with our work schedules. Besides, how many pancakes can one eat in a year?
MY Wife commented , "too bad maple season is not closer to Christmas, we wouldn't have to buy any presents" I said "it keeps well in the basement". Shoot, We might need more taps next year?


I enjoy this bulletin and have gained a whole bunch of information from everyone so until next year "keep sane"
and remember if "she cant find you hansom at least she can find you handy"

[Merklin Maples]

Finished a three gallon batch last night. Was as dark aas coffee. Will boil what we have and then clean up. Dark syrup is good for cooking, but I like to produce somewhat lighter syrup. Too bad the run was not earlier. Cannot control Mother Nature.:D

[Grease05]

All done for the year, ended up with 75 gallons of syrup off of 550 taps. We pulled taps last Sat. and finished cooking on Monday. The last batch got a little darker but not bad. We did some really nice light syrup in the early batches, looked and tasted great!!!!! Now with my wife staying with the maple season schedule, she held off and we are now at the hospital getting ready to have our first little sap hauler, LOL. Busy spring continues........!!:D

[jmayerl]

Grease-
You have been doing this longer that I have, do you think your numbers were down alot from average or a little. I was thinking our sap volume was half of a normal year (1700 gals off 250 taps). I'm holding out till this weekend to pull the rest of taps. pulled all on south side of woods and in yard. Buds didn't pop on the north side yet and got a nice run yesterday but had to dump it because I forgot to clean out buckets on fri. so far I have alittle over 30 gallons of syrup and really need alittle more. Sitting in the woods all day planning out my tubing for next year.

[Jeff E]

Way to go Grease, sounds like a great year, and better stuff to come.
Best wishes and prayers to you and yours!

I am being an idiot, and am going to see if the freezing nights coming up will make syrup of any quality.
We cleaned up the pump houses and releasers, and are leaving the vacuum running. We'll see what we get.

[GramaCindy]

Way to go Grease, sounds like a great year, and better stuff to come.
Best wishes and prayers to you and yours!

I am being an idiot, and am going to see if the freezing nights coming up will make syrup of any quality.
We cleaned up the pump houses and releasers, and are leaving the vacuum running. We'll see what we get.

Jeff, I am doing the same thing. The forecast for a week looks outstanding:D

[sap runner]

Now that it's over the real work starts,I did get the buckets washed and about three or four more nights for the rest of the stuff and I will be done.Then start cutting wood and mods to the cooker,tanks and more lines.Ended up with 84 gallons of syrup and sold 2550 gallons of sap,all in all I am happy but there is room for inprovement.Congrads grease on your addition,now you will realy have to cook,we all know kids love syrup.One word of advice Grease,DON'T BLINK THEY GROW UP WAY TO FAST !!!

[markcasper]

Jeff, I am being an idiot with you! My one bush which is most southerly had very little today and roughly 1/3 are check valves, another 1/3 of those are soft maples, but still, they must just be shutting down.
Another bush yielded quite well and those are all check valves. I have some north facing non vacuum tubing which was just tapped 2 1/2 weeks ago and am hoping for a bit more out of them if it freezes. Now the weather people have upped the temperatures and only Saturday night looks to be a favorable freeze.

Most folks have hung it up around me, but I know of one larger producer close by and their pumps are still running tonight.

[Rhino]

Going here yet to, cooked 40 gallons yesterday of dark amber, good taste, sap didnt look the best, hard to keep the foam down. Today collected 600 gallons from Price county bush and sold the sap since our road gave out in Linclon county. First load tested a 2.7 which is unreal for our scabby trees. Usually 2.0 -2.1. Started out at 24 degrees and at noon it was 39 degrees. some trees were doing good but some i think are just plain dried up. The metal taps on the north sides of the trees were doing the best. Had to run to Rib Lake hardware and get a new belt for vac pump also today. Even if it takes a few days to fill everything up it will be a bonus as to how things were lookin with the warm weather. Buds look tight on the hard maples yet. I know a producer who put 600 taps in on April 2nd, will be interesting how those fresher holes will do now.

[Merklin Maples]

Granma Cindy Wish you the best of luck this week end. Checked taps yesterday Only had two or three trees that put out clear sap. The weather report shows windy conditions for tonight with snow and ice. Mostly ice. Hope you get some. I am pulling my taps out tomorrow. Wil cook any sap that looks clear. Otherwise I am done. By Sunday should have made welll over 20 gallons. Will post totals next soon.

[Grease05]

Thanks to all of you that replied, you too saprunner, LOL
Had a healthy baby boy, 7lbs 13 ozs, 21 inches long, Collin JosephEveryone doing great. He is so cute!! This is awsome......:)

[mike z]

Now don't go getting him all sticky! Congrats. :):):)

[WI Sugarpop]

You guys are so sappy.:lol:

[mike z]

Just got back in from collecting, and boiling another 100g. Some of the ugliest sap I ever collected. After building up some courage, I went around and taste tested the sap in the buckets. It passed. So I collected and boiled. Gave a little "end of the season" smell off when boiling, but tasted just fine at the end. Looks like the next few days should give some more.

[GramaCindy]

Thanks to all of you that replied, you too saprunner, LOL
Had a healthy baby boy, 7lbs 13 ozs, 21 inches long, Collin JosephEveryone doing great. He is so cute!! This is awsome......:)

Congratulations! Now the traditions begin….

[Jim Schumacher]

PANIC!!! I just arrived at my cabin after being away for 3 days and found myself to be completely flooded. PANIC!!! Every other bag is dripping on the ground. PANIC!!! I have somewhere near 2000 gallons of sap hanging in the woods! PANIC!!! I just started running from tree to tree dumping the overflowing ones in the truck...then realized how silly I was acting. I have a bunch of help coming in the morning. This was by far the biggest run of the season. Don, go put your taps back in. The sap is beautiful. If anyone still has the bug, come on up to the south shore of Smoky Lake!!!

Jim

[GramaCindy]

PANIC!!! I just arrived at my cabin after being away for 3 days and found myself to be completely flooded. PANIC!!! Every other bag is dripping on the ground. PANIC!!! I have somewhere near 2000 gallons of sap hanging in the woods! PANIC!!! I just started running from tree to tree dumping the overflowing ones in the truck...then realized how silly I was acting. I have a bunch of help coming in the morning. This was by far the biggest run of the season. Don, go put your taps back in. The sap is beautiful. If anyone still has the bug, come on up to the south shore of Smoky Lake!!!

Jim
Jim, I had a similar surprise when I got home from work yesterday. Funny thing, one of my trees that really hadn't done diddly squat all season, had at least 3 gallons in the sack. Collected 25 gallons off of 50 taps, more today, and you're right, it's beautiful!

[BobU]

Hey Jim, I saw the panic when you had just a few bags running over, can only imagine the panic with a bunch running over. :D
Good for you, enjoy another weekend of boiling.
Just don't "wear out" that evaporator. :lol:

[jmayerl]

Jim, feel free to drop off all your unused sap in Shawano on your way home!:D

[Haynes Forest Products]

jmayerl good old Swawano Had the plesure of driving thru there day after the big storm 3 weeks ago with 130 gallons of syrup on a trailer.

[GramaCindy]

Boiled down 30 gallons this morning, super sweet pans and the sap's a runnin'….ah LIFE IS GOOD! So glad I resisted the urge to pull my taps last weekend with the weather forecast looking like early summer. It looks to be a good run for several days. Yahoo, one last chance for another batch. :D

[jmayerl]

man, you could have drop some here. Where did you take it to, Polacks?

jmayerl good old Swawano Had the plesure of driving thru there day after the big storm 3 weeks ago with 130 gallons of syrup on a trailer.

[Haynes Forest Products]

My favorite supplier and wholesaler the EVIL Roth Sugar Bush;);) Now if some one will offer better prices I would consider it. BUT I like the relationship and money at delivery.

[Got It Bad]

BobU stoped by Jim today evaporator was glowing red, steam so thick you can't see any trees. Jim running to pick up a bag that blew off then running back to put more wood in then oh s!!! 220 on the thermometer. We got 5 inches of snow and his place is the only one beat back down to mud.wowww what a show.

[BobU]

Thanks, Got It Bad, for the update on our friend Jim S. and the evaporator.
Syruping is shut down for the season down here, which just means it's time to start on the changes for next year.

[PETE FELCH]

another good run this afternoon Around a half gallon of sap per tap The new clear CDL Spiles seem to be keeping up with the checkvalves We are close to .40 gal per tap now and the forcast looks good all week

[driske]

As of Thursday night, the syrup wouldn't filter. The reds are starchy.
We hung it up. Just over a quart per tap. Test was at 1.6% for the last week.
Checked a dozen or so hard maple taps this PM. The check valves were running around a drip per second. The smattering of yet to be changed health spouts were mostly whitish film, and dry. Done.
We've had better years and we've had worse. Winter can leave now.( At least for those of us south Hwy.64.);)

[Jim Schumacher]

WOW! Things are really bangin' up here on the borderland. Collected into the night last night, ended up with about 1700 gallons. Ran the evaporator hard all day today, made it through about 1200 gallons. I will finish up the remaining 500 tomorrow morning and get ready for the big run that I scheduled for this Thursday. The highs have been below freezing for the last couple of days, when that sun peaks out on Thursday things are going to go NUTS!! So will I.

So far this year I have been short about 4 full cords of firewood. I'm starting to run out of dead poplars on my land.

[Rhino]

Left the trees do whatever they were going to do the last few days, Just got back from the woods to see what happened. The bags range in sap from nothing to 3/4 full, rubbermaid totes with line networks 5 gal. to 10 gal. Vac. system only 200 gal. so i shut the power off to that for the year. (mostly soft maples). Sap looks good yet and had a fair amount of ice in the containers this morning so it will keep until i start collecting tommorow and finish Thursday after the snowstorm predicted Tues. night and Wednesday. (6 inches). Will cook for the last time Friday. Never cooked this late in April before. No peepers in the frog pond yet but the ice is off. Talked with the producer who had tapped 600 on April 2nd and he said they didnt run any better then the ones he tapped early. Looking forward to the end to the season, Lots of docks and boat lifts to put in on the area lakes up here once the ice is off. Hope everyone got enough to be happy. Maybe next season will be our banner season?

[mike z]

Hello... anybody out there? I just collected 110g. and boiled it off tonight. Some buckets running over today, others not a drop. Grade D. D for delicious that is. I think this is it for me this year. Will finish off the pans and start pulling taps/buckets tomorrow. Nice visiting with all you sappers out there.

[GramaCindy]

I pulled the taps out on the 18th. Before the weather took a turn for the worst. Winter weather never happened. Honestly, how do those weather forecasters get paid anyhow. It's the only profession that still gets paid to be wrong 90% of the time. And of course, Murphy's Law. I'll bet I dumped 30 gallons of nice clear sap out of the 50 taps….probably .01% sugar though. Man did I have to boil, and boil that last batch. I had a blast my first year, looking forward to next, already planning changes and improvements;)

[PETE FELCH]

we are still going . Checkvalves and CDL clear spiles still producing half to a gal of sap per day

[bearair]

Finished boiling the last of the concentrate from the arch, ended up with 40 gallons of finished sap, which is double from last year. Although the last 2 gallons are just a bit thick it'll be great for cooking, glazed carrots, sweet potatoes, hams.

[CBOYER]

"how do those weather forecasters get paid anyhow. It's the only profession that still gets paid to be wrong 90% of the time"

i think you forgets politicians..:lol:

[jmayerl]

I pulled the remaining 40 taps near my house today. Was able to finish 2.5 gallons that I have collected since the last real run 2 weeks ago. I thought I was boiling it down for bear bait since the buds have been popped for 3 weeks but the sap remained clear and after finishing it I thought it smelled like syrup so I filtered it and it tastes great. Bonus few gallons into the bottles it went and it will be my private stash. Finished the year collecting about 1800 of sap off 260 taps, half what I expected to do. Finished off 33 gallons on the head. Just finishing off a double batch of maple popcorn and also some peanuts for taking to Miller park tomorrow. Already have next year all planned out in my head, just hope the weather is alot better, is there such thing as 3 really bad years in a row?

[bison1973]

Pete you say youre still going. But what kind of syrup is it? We tried to drag it out some here over the past several days but the syrup became stringy and you could not filter it. I can't think that your sap would be much different at this point.

We quit as I can't sell this kind of stuff and Roth's will not buy it.

[PETE FELCH]

Our syrup suprisingly tastes pretty good for this time of year. I think it has to be because of the cold weather we are having. It isnt stringy yet and is filtering pretty good yet. Yesterday we made about 350 gal of med color with a little off flavor but not a bitter buddy taste. We talked to Andersons and they were still making some also but would probly finish over the weekend. We are going to finish up today. We are over .4 gal of syrup per tap for the year.

[Haynes Forest Products]

OH YEA the old it still tastes pretty good yet. Wait till you open the bottle in 6 months and it all slides out in one big snot on your plate and the kids hurl their Eggo's all over the floor:emb:

[BobU]

Hey Haynes, "That" syrup is the stuff I give to the mother-in -law in hopes that it turns snotty. :evil:

[PETE FELCH]

at 2 something a pound we will go as long as we can

[markcasper]

I think Haynes is just jealous.

[PETE FELCH]

Mark are you still going Im cookin the last time now vacuum pumps are off

[markcasper]

Pete,

Am headed out to run the last through now, will finish the stuff in the pans tomorrow. My pumps are all off. Still got a good amount off the north sides today.

[Rhino]

Finished yesterday, like Pete said, good taste yet, not stringy, ours was dark though. Being in a really low area/cold area helped alot that the sap stayed good up to this point i think. Happy Easter!

[Haynes Forest Products]

Mark I could have stayed a few more weeks if the oil and money didn't run out. The wife and kids didn't have to get back to work or school so yea I'm a little disappointed that the oil prices put an end to the fun. That dang George Bush and Chaney are still getting rich of of me:lol: Now if I had a RO I would still be going.

[bison1973]

We tried to go as long as we could and would have made a good amount of more syrup. But, here like I said it became stringy. Too bad because the sap was still coming. Must just depend on the area and from year to year if the syrup does this.

[markcasper]

I never ran into any stringy sap, one tank last week was border line and thought it would show up in the evaporator but never did. I talked to another guy about 4 miles west of me last night that is still going. Hes got 400 taps on a steep north side west of Knapp in the Knapp mountains that gave a gallon per tap Sunday on vacuum. (He's using check valves by the way)(It was 28 Saturday night) The syrup was a little off but not bad, I tasted it. He told me he is going til May.

All of his south bushes he pulled the plug.

[Jim Schumacher]

We finished boiling on the 1st of May up on the border. I and another medium sized producer had record production this year. .38 gallons per tap. We left about 40 bags hanging in order to collect enough sap to clean the pans. On Sunday the sap in the bags was still very nice. No sign of buds on the sugars, reds are pretty big. I am absolutely exhausted. If I had pulled when so many in my area did I would have missed over half of my production. It was a very interesting season. I learned perhaps more this year then I did during any other one year.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Thats because you visited my operation saw what it takes to make it in the BIG TIMES. Then when you saw how easy I made it look:cool: I showed you how you do it while drinking Coors Light:D Then I sent all the equipment back with you that needed fixing because something went wrong:o

[Jeff E]

Wow Jim, May syrup.
This is a wierd year.
I shut down the vac on 4/22. The last 80 gallons of syrup were good looking, filtered poorly and did have an off flavor. Not bad, but not right. As it was Light and Medium amber, it will no doubt be blended by a large bottler for commercial grade.
Still pulling taps. I do it with the vac on, and suck water through each tap to rinse the lines. Most of the sugars with check valves are still making sap. That is sap from March 2 to May 3. Pretty amazing.

Thinking about starting a thread for production levels. This is the first year I had a 100 gallon day, and a 1000 gallon season. I was just as happy when I made my first gallon, had my first 10 gallon season. It never gets old.:)