Likely early tapping again in Berkshires

Looking over the last 12 years, average best tapping date for me at 900' elevation in the foothills of the Berkshires has been Feb 20. But the last two years the best date was Feb 9 and Feb 5. Two years ago I just wasn't buying it, and I waited. I missed a big first run, and did not make it up in the back end. Last year I tapped very early for me - Feb 5, and wound up hitting it right on the money. Had my biggest season by a mile.

All that is to say, I am going to try to be prepared for a very early (first week in Feb) tapping date again this year. I have plenty of wood stacked, just have a few chores left to do (repair the insulation on my evaporator, sanitize some taps and tubes, and other minor stuff). So I think I can be ready.

What are the rest of you thinking?

Gabe

Also, this year, I'm downsizing a little bit. Last year was overwhelming. I was swimming in sap, and very stressed by having insufficient firewood. I know having too much sap is not a bad problem to have, but not if you have only around 1/3 of the firewood you need! I wound up pulling taps about a week before I should have, though most trees were still producing.

In addition to downsizing the number of taps, I have a lot of firewood stacked up. I hope it's at least a season and a half. I hope to increase that to keep a full extra year's worth of firewood on hand so I'll be able to handle it next time I have a monster season like last year.

Gabe O

I tapped 30 out of 165 last Sunday (1/21) so that I could test out my new pump setup for this year, planning on doing the other 135 the first weekend in February. Pretty decent sap flows this week so far and it looks like the temperatures will stay pretty good next week too. I'm down in Easton MA at 112' of elevation so my temps have been a bit warmer than what your seeing!

Change of plans! The weather for next week looks promising so I'll be tapping the other 135 later on today.

Good luck to you both!

I resist chasing abnormal warm spells. Nothing wrong with it at all....but unless it's clearly going to be a long and prolonged early spring I have been going with the first week of March for the past 20 years. I'm at a very cold and snowy 2,000 elevation. I am not a huge fan of the early syrup. And during short warm spells when I have tried maximizing a run I invariably end up with not quite enough raw sap to feed my pan sufficiently. Then I have to drain the pan and finish elsewhere which is not something I prefer. Yeah, for what it's worth, I tend to pass on the early season runs.

Good luck to everybody. Last year just as I was amping up to get my season going that 42" storm we got completely shut me down and we never recovered. Missed the entire season. Excited for a better year.

Eric, did you get some good sap through this warm rainy week?

Aaron, have you tapped yet?

BigSchuss, good luck to you too. Hope you get good snowy trails for your tapping this year, instead of a whole lotta mud.

Forecast has changed a bit. Now the first week of Feb looks seasonal, which is to say too cold. I'll keep an eye on the forecast and probably shoot to tap the next weekend - 2/10, unless something changes between now and then. That would still be quite early for me, but within the range of successful best tapping dates in the past.

GO

Hey! I'm glad I got everything tapped, I have new pump (Guzzler 400 series) and manifold setup that I wanted to test out. I spent a significant amount of time fixing old leaks in the lines, and still cant figure out 3 of the 3/16" lines, so I have those shut off for now.

Vacuum was staying around -25 at the pump until Saturday morning when it dropped to -10, I couldn't figure it out but replaced the diaphragm on the pump this morning (found a small tear) and will reinstall the pump when I get home tonight. It was only at 150 hours but I'm glad I had a spare on hand, replacement was pretty easy and only took 5 minutes.

Sitting on about 150 gallons of sap right now, should start evaporating early this week. Hope the season goes well for everyone else!

Hiya Gabe - Aiming for Saturday, and your right - the weather is looking cooler than it did yesterday on the local weather. AccuWeather still looking good through the 12th so we will see. I'd love to tap earlier but this weekend is 6 weeks from the usual end so keeping a close eye on things. I may tap a few more mid-to-late Feb to keep things going till the peepers start chirping :)

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Originally Posted by berkshires

BigSchuss, good luck to you too. Hope you get good snowy trails for your tapping this year, instead of a whole lotta mud.



GO

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Thanks Gabe. So far so good!!!

Blair