2010 Sap poll-closed

[mapleman3]

Compared to other "normal" years how is your sap flow this year... this also will take in to consideration sugar content. express your answers on the poll , no need to post answers, you can if you like though to get it off your chest.

[ejmaple]

for me the sap flow was good when the weather coperated, which wasn't very often this year. as far as sugar content, i seemed to be on the high side in relation to others in ma. or area had a high sugar % this year starting around 3.5% and is still at 2.5% at last run. our area did get some of the highest damage in all of state from last years ice storm, i read that stressed trees will put out a higher sugar content than others. i think i read it in the current issue of farmming.

[gator330]

Mine had about the same sugar content amount of sap is not for shure but I made 1/4 the syrup. So it most be down 75%. Bottled 5 1/2 gal. of syrup for the season. :cry:

[dano2840]

Crap Load Of Nitre!

[ejmaple]

ya dano lots of nitre!

[Maplesedge]

Define normal.

Out of 7 trees, haven't got less than 3 1/2 gal/day, and not more than 12 gal/day. On average about a gal/day/tap.

That's down from about 1 1/2 gal/day/tap in 2008 (I didn't tap them after last years ice storm) but I figure between ice storm damage and weather conditions, a gal/day is still pretty good for a tap.

[3rdgen.maple]

Well let me say for the past 4 years I have been disapointed so I keep adding taps with higher expectations and the end result is I make hardly any more syrup than the year before. This year instead of adding a 100 I doubled up. Stuck out 800 on my little 2x6 and same results so far. Bottom line is it has run everyday fro 9 days straight and the best run so far was 1/2 gallon per tap. Right now I am getting realy fustrated with it. Just how does a syrup producer fill orders when mother nature is fighting us. Nights have just not been cold long enough. It seems when the temps dipped in the 20's it was there for such a short period of time it made little difference. Now we are getting close to a week of above freezing nights and then down to the teens. So lets hope it turns around quick or I am gonna take a big loss this year and have some pretty disappointed customers. Right now I am rethinking about any future upgrades which is not like me at all. Tough sinking thousands into an operation and getting little to no return. I am an optomist but reality is starting to get the best of me. So it is either go big or go home next year. 5000 taps or back to the good ole days of 200. Don't hold me to this though probably change my mind tomarrow.

[PerryW]

This is my 21st year sugaring with my current setup and this is the second best year so far and the most Fancy we have ever made. Only the year 2000 exceeded 2010.

I am at 69 gallons and expecting 120-130

[deacm]

I've had my 40 buckets hung for a week now. Warm days and cold nights until Wednesday this week....then just 50-60 degrees day and night. Not good. I've gathered three times, about a gallon per bucket on average each time.......and that was two day's worth of run. Finished off this morning for a total of three gallons of syrup. At least I have my Christmas presents covered now !!

[Maple Restoration]

460 taps on gravity feed and got 30 gal. one more week and the temps should be back to normal up here.

[Mackdaddy]

My sap ran pretty much the same as years past. The one big change I have seen this year is sugar content. It has sky rocketed for me, I am running 34/1 when in years past I have been closer to 50/1. All I tap are sugar maple, same trees from year to year. Of course, I have only had 8 good days of runs. Season came in a month late and now a warm spell, so I am curious to see that if a cold spell comes back in if the sugar will drop. I know that usually sugar is high right after a real good cold spell. Anyone else had similar situations?

[farmall h]

Above normal as far as am starting ...breaks loose at 9:30-10:30 in the am. In the years past the sap wouldnt be running until noon. Have 600 more taps than last year...will need more storage for next season. Didn't boil in the years past until mid march...boiled 3/3/2010. Made fancy for a change...now it is at medium amber.

[Amber Gold]

Sugar content's low again this year. Started at 1.6%, dropped to 1.5% for a couple of weeks, and now it's at 1.3%. Last year the sugar was at 1.2% by the second week.

Total sap I've collected this season is probably more that the same time last year, but I don't see the season lasting 5+ weeks like it did last year. I'm hoping for 4 weeks.

[Clan Delaney]

I've put a copy of this poll in The Sugar Inn for more exposure.

[red maples]

my season started out great I was excited because of the early start. and the sugar was high about 2 for the reds and 3.5 the sugars and now its really low 1.25 averageapprox. and I don't think there is going to many more runs.

last year we only really had a few weeks sun. So the trees didn't have a good chance to make sugar. I think it was a good growing year though I think a few of my trees put on an more than 1/2 inch in diameter.

They updated the forcast and it looks like a possible frost on tues and wed. so thats encouraging.

so far I am at .126 gpt ...blah...I said it before and I'll say it again. thank my lucky stars I got this vacuum because without it I wouldn't have much at all.

[TapME]

I can't tell if the sugar is high or low so I marked normal. All I know is it started out taste-less and has come around to be nice and sweet to the taste.
How about how much wood you have burned or oil poll?

[Saw Filer]

We put in 30% more taps this year and made 25% less syrup. Sugar seemed normal and we made more light than years past, all our syrup was very nice this season, with no real nitre or filtering problems for a change. We moved up to a flue pan evaporator this year so that probably explaines alot. Our big problem this year was NO SAP!! early it never got warm enough during the day, late it never got cold at nite. We only had two real runs in a season that only lasted three or four weeks,and now the cursed frogs are out.

[cpmaple]

This year i up my tap count to 180 from 105 last year. Last year i made 17 gallons of syrup and as of now i've only made 4 gallons which i lost 200 gallons of sap early in the season. Still have 119 gallons to boil off which i'm getting ready to go do. And all my syrup is coming off really dark good flavor but, not med. like i was making last year. Dont know why but, i just i will just have to live with it for this year.Cant wait for next season and upping the tap count to 350 to 500 for 2011.

[Peepers]

Has anyone tried correlating bad years with el nino? Looking at the NOAA ENSO site http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/index.shtml it looks like these years also had strong el ninos like the current year:
2003
1998
1995
1992
1987-88
1983
does anyone have experience or records to show that those years were poor also?

[can'twaitforabigrun]

I know 1998 was a bad year here. I know it has sonething to do with El NINO. Wonder if anyone else thing the same?

[Cardigan99]

Ok, terrible year here.

Increased tap count by 50%.

Gallons of sap only increased by about 19% (less than 5 gal per tap on gravity).

Gallons of Syrup up by about 25%.

The only good thing I can say about this year is the our sugar content stayed relatively high. Sap at last boil was a hair over 2%.

Solution: More taps.. Bigger evaporator!

[Revi]

We had about 20 more taps this year and made at least 5 gallons less syrup than last year. It was lighter and the sugar content of the sap was okay. We had a great time, and the sap showed up at the perfect times for boiling, so I'm not complaining. All in all it was short and sweet.