Done

[SapSipper]

40+ taps went dry this week. Burned the last of my supply last night.

Not worth the struggle at this point. Anyone else packing it in?

[valleyman]

I have 55-60 gallons for a boil in the rain tomorrow up in Ansonia. I'm going to keep them in until I can see the end of next weeks forecast. But I think the reality is I'm done too. Too short of a season.:(

[SapSipper]

Seemed very short - I agree. For the most part the sap never ran clear and once it warmed up the insects have become terrible! 100% of our taps are bone dry.

[markct]

yup i think its over, my last boil was that stinky commercial syrup, and my gravity lines have given nothing for over a week, and my vac line gave about 60 gal a day off 300 taps last few days, then today only maybe 30 gal. and either way its commercial syrup. made 30 gal syrup off 480 taps, 300 of which are on vac, what a terrible season its been here. i feel bad for one local sugarmaker just down the street i see has a bunch of taps up on state land, and looks like by the time he got them all hooked up the season was over before they flowed!

[ebourassa]

its not looking good i got about 23-25 gals so far, i brought some tanks home tonite to clean, im not sure i will reset them, I guess i start cleaning everything and wait and see, well the up side is i got a great start on my wood for next year.
Erik

[ctjim]

yep we're about done too i collected about 15 gal and boiled off the last 50 gal this afternoon. drew off about 2 qts and called it a day. going to let it sit this week and then check the weather next weekend, but i will most likely be pulling all taps next weekend.i don't even think we used a 1/2 cord of wood, just a terrible season all around.

[dhbiker1]

I do not have much anticipation of the season going longer now that I have been dry for over a week. I pulled all 155 today and sucked a bleach solution into the lines at every dropline. I will rinse Sunday and start tearing it down next week. I think I might hold some kind of record for lowest amount of syrup per tap drawing off just under 1 gallon for my 155 taps. I estimate adding under a gallon extra once everything is boiled that is still in the evaporator. Very disappointing after the work that went into it and I will have nothing for friends, neighbors, and family who purchase syrup from me each year. If anyone sells bulk I might be interested in buying 5-10 gallons of dark in the next few months.

[farmall h]

dhbker, your DONE! I went to your album site. You mean to say your taking everything down? Once you rinse with water you can leave it up year round. Just hang your spouts. Seems like alot of work setting up the wire and all. Just my opinion. Sorry you had such a short season...did the Bender work good after all the tips?

Bob

[Mike Van]

I'm going to hang on. NOAA site shows it freezing here Monday night, all 60 of mine were still running Thu, so we'll see. I've put 3 five gal. pails in the freezer that need to be finished so far. So maybe 12 or 13 gallons or so?

[dhbiker1]

farmall,

On top of me thinking that there won't be anymore runs, I am getting a 7 week old labrador retriever pup next week and want to be mainly cleaned up before I get her. My setup is at my parents house and being so close the the house and front yard I think they prefer it doesn't sit out there all year. I take down all the laterals, but the mainline wire stays up and last year I actually left the mainline up as well. The releaser started working great with the new valves and plumbing! Hope you have a good season! I try to get up to see friends in the Stowe/Johnson area quite a bit and will probably be at Jay for the pond skimming in April. Let's hope you will probably still be boiling then!

[wkies]

Done in Stamford as well. Made just about 30 gallons this season, the least amount I have made in seven seasons. The season wasn't even a sold four weeks long!

[lafite]

too bad it was such a short season. I loved my new evaporator but she really needed to be filled more often!

I'll be trolling the site throughout the year.

Good luck all!

Steve
Cheshire

[valleyman]

I boiled off 60 gallons this afternoon in the monsoon. Hope to finish it tomorrow. Think thats it for me. Somewhere around 4-41/2 gallons for the season. Way too short.:(

[ctjim]

thats a good amount of syrup for the # of taps you have valleyman, we have almost 200 and didn't get much more made than you have. this has been the worst season for me since i started 4yrs ago, my 1st season i think i had 6 taps and made over 1 gal.

[hodorskib]

Just came back from washing all 40 of my buckets and hope that the metorologists are off by a degree or two this week. I bottled up my 5th gallon of syrup Friday night (darkest we have made in years) and if this is the end we will be down 50% from our average. Checked the entire area for any signs of buds coming out and right now not even the red maples are showing any sign of popping. We are going to try and stick it out at least through next weekend.

[valleyman]

Ctjim,
A more accurate amount is probably 3.75 gallons. That includes the 1+ gallon I did on Saturday That was an adventure to say the least. I read how much other folks were getting and I was surprised on how much the trees I tapped were putting out. I tapped 8 very large Sugar Maples in a park across the street from my house. Almost all of them are perfect in form. They put out a lot of sap.

I tapped the trees on valentines day and the two weeks after that the flow was heavy. I didn't keep real accurate records but I was filled a 55 gal barrel, 60qt and a smaller cooler several times.

I gave sap away because I couldn't keep up. For my second season, I cant complain.

[ctjim]

valleyman no complaints on that amount, those park trees and yard trees seem to be the best even for me. the tall trees and very full crowns make all the difference, my woods trees are almost all reds w/ tall trunks and almost no crown they seem to do the least mainly since they're reds, but i still have some thinning to do. the elnino pattern i think was the biggest issue this season. on the bright side we still have loads of firewood for next yr, and probably won't have to cut much, although i have about 2 cords that need splitting that i cut last spring. good luck next yr i can't wait and my taps are still in.

[Littlesap]

Pretty sure I'm done. Drained the 2x6 and am boiling on an outdoor propane lobster pot right now to finish the ~35 gallons of sweet. This stuff is much darker than anything I had last year on my flat pan. Not sure I did everything right this year - carried over sweet sap in the pans from one weekend to the next, maybe it spoiled?

Very humbling. Fairly certain I will try vac next year.