Schenectady-Albany-Saratoga Counties

Hi all,
I'm just curious who else is tapping around the capitol region ? Ive seen reports that some out in western NY are tapping and sap is flowing already ! I always come here to see what others are doing before I pull the trigger and start our season. The temps do look favorable to tap , even though I'm no where near ready . We are out on the western edge of Rotterdam , up in the hills, and with that we have a little temp difference than those in the valley areas.

This will be our third year doing Maple syrup. We're up to about 50 taps this year , which is plenty for the wife and me. we do it on a homemade arch with 3 steam tray pans . It seems to work very well .

I'm excited for another Maple season , and hopefully it'll be a good one .

-John VanDenburgh

I'm not sure what everyone is doing. I'm in northern Saratoga county similar to you in the foothills of the Adirondacks and the weather is strange to say the least. I went for a ride this morning to talk to a larger producer just north of me and didn't find anyone around. I also didn't see much sign of anything going on at his sugar shack so I'm sure he is waiting. I'm pretty sure it's going to get pretty cold around here again before it's all over. Last year was super warm here and then a Feb cold snap and still didn't start getting SAP until March 1. I'm small enough I can get everything in in a day or two so I'm not concerned.

Hey! We are down in Schoharie County. I had my son pop a couple of test taps on pails today. He said its running good but there is no way I will tap my main trees this early.

I just tapped 360 on 3/16 gravity. It was running good. I'm in southern Albany county.

One of 4 test taps. less than 24hrs. Hope the picture works...

Attachment 15098

Kevin keep us posted on what you get, I'm anxious to see what the new 3/16th lines I ran do.

I had 275 taps on the same system last year and I got 6000+ gallons of sap from them. I tapped January 26th last year and my last boil was April 10th.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by red/one

One of 4 test taps. less than 24hrs. Hope the picture works...

Attachment 15098

---

You sure that's a maple? Never seen grooves that deep on any of mine...decent production all the same.

Seriously considering putting in a few taps with the forecast of high 30s and 40s with below freezing nights for at least the next 10 days. We kicked our last jug of syrup two weeks ago so even if I make enough for our purposes from a couple of my trees further out I'd be pretty happy.

Can't we just have a "normal" winter. This is late January, We should be frozen solid for another good month at least. Hopefully it's not start and stop for another 2 months before the old fashioned normal thaw. Plus I still am procrastinating cleaning my stuff from last year.