Yep... what Ennis said. For 20 taps run buckets to get things figured out and have some fun and even 100 isn't too hard to handle... unless you are walking 3 km both directions, up hill, in deep snow. :D
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Yep... what Ennis said. For 20 taps run buckets to get things figured out and have some fun and even 100 isn't too hard to handle... unless you are walking 3 km both directions, up hill, in deep snow. :D
ok, what are the plans for tapping out there.... looks like very end of feb or first weekend in March for me.. more because of travel schedule than anything else..
We'll get some of our CV taps in on the Family Day long weekend (Feb 19-21) so we've got a head start and don't miss the beginning like last year. If we get 1,000 or so in we'll be in decent shape no matter what the weather throws at us. If it doesn't start earlier we'll get the rest in March 5-6.
I'm planning to put in taps any time after Feb 1.
With the CVs I think we now have a lot of latitude and that can really take the pressure off. If we get one warm day and the sugar shack isn't ready, at least the tubing gets cleaned.
Buckets, spiles, storage tanks, evaporator all cleaned, and ready to go..
Nothing to do but wait.. and wait and wait.. is it spring yet?
Now we get a new dumping of snow :(
I think the hardest thing of this Maple Madness Disease is the waiting..
thoughts?
Hey Brent,Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent
you are on Duffy's lane right? Right on! I ahve been tapping a property over on Homber Station for a couple of years now. maybe I'll come by and chat one day (hopefully before the rush)
You're welcome any time. I'm still working a day job so better call ahead.
oooops duplicated
Well I was thinking again this morning about hanging some 60 or so buckets out there this morning to get a jump on things. We probably will not tap for the tubing system for another 2 weeks
I think most folks would say that's backwards. The bucket taps will dry up before the tubing taps, so generally is would be better to do the tubing first ... especially if you're using check valves.
Maybe,
But I have noticed that around 90% of the taps with buckets stay good right up until mid/end of March and then I start getting a really cloudy sap from them. I wonder if this could be do to contamination in the spill bore hole (from being in that long)
Going cloudy is generally what happens as the tree starts to bud out in warmer weather. Not the same as holes drying up with bacterial coating inside. They shoud be yielding sap with the freeze thaw cycles but don't.
I would not tap your buckets first unless you plan on reaming them later on. or move them to different trees later. I always do the tubing first, and now the check valves absolute first, then the non-check valve new adaptor, then buckets or bags last and usually when you already have gotten a good run out of the tubing, then its time to get to the buckets and to maximize production there.
Whats up every one im new to this haha idk how this works yet but i was woundering you guys tap your trees this month ? i live up near sault ste marie do you know when i should tap my trees ? i have reds and sugar maples im planing to have 21 taps ... i thought march was a good time to tap but this month was not the time yet..
First full day working in the sugar shack, the evaporator has been stripped, re-bricked, sanded, painted, new seals and gaskets and a new stack put in. and for tomorrow, all new plumbing form the tanks to the evaporator. Then house clean the shack, were on or way to another fun maple season
does anyone have one of these plastic water totes with the steel cage for sale around the ottawa valley? or even any other type of storage unit that s plastic....
The only folks I know of that have them in stock is Atkinson .... just a 5 hour drive into the sunset for you.
PS and their's all seem to have been used by the local coke or pepsi bottler. The vanila smell is very strong but I never had it come out in syrup. We did a lot of venting and pressure washing but it still smelled strong. We've had about 7 of them. Three in the bush with releasers on top.
We cut a bigger hole in the top to make cleaning easier.
Just before Alfred Ont on the 17 about 45 minutes east of Ottawa, not sure of the buisness name but it is just before the Kubota dealer when headed east.Quote:
Originally Posted by butler
Cheers, Gary
hi Butler i pm u with a guy near pembroke that has them
Maybe you already have, but try TSC (Arnprior) or maybe Country Depot (Almonte).Quote:
Originally Posted by butler
Was looking at tapping last Sunday but decided not to. We are going to run 50 buckets this year so really it will only take a few hours one morning to get them all hung.
Other than this coming Saturday, all daytime highs are predicted to be in the -*C until essentially the 14th. I'll make my decision Friday.
Good luck to everyone this season.
Drew.
i was thinking of tapping a few trees this weekend hoping to get some sap to start boiling down next weekend. the weather looks pretty good right now i hope it stays that way
9 taps in 2009
101 taps in 2010
10 x 20 shack
2x4 pan on a homemade evaporator (oil tank)
2002 polaris magnum 325
Ok well I have not tapped a thing yet...has anyone tapped yet? I keep looking at the longrange and nothin?
I got 400 in last weekend and we'll get the rest done this weekend. I can't risk missing the start because our volunteer help is only available on weekends. Wheelers got enough taps in to get some sap during the thaw 2 weeks ago. Not sure how much syrup they made - with their 3 evaporators in series it takes a lot of sap to sweeten the pans!
Thinking about tapping every day,then temps like this morning change that .It was -16 F here this morning!!!!
Tapping tomorrow, maple flu... looks like a few decent days in the next week.
I am tapping everything on Saturday, buckets and all. I can't wait any longer. too many volunteers
Put out 34 today and maybe more tomorrow if it's not to wet.
Hello everyone! I got 40 taps in yesterday and another 15 today. Today was a little slow, as I had my 3 year old son in tow with me. I think we spent more time looking at deer and turkey tracks then we did tapping trees! Still lots of fun! Anyway of the 40 taps I got in yesterday, all but 5 holes were wet and running a little. Today only a couple of the trees had wet holes. One of the five silver maples gave me 1.5 gal of sap yesterday. The sun shine sure does make a huge difference because it was only -4 C (24.8 F) here yesterday. I am going to try to get the rest of the buckets up this weekend.
More cruddy weather coming. Could get 2 inches of rain and some freezing rain this weekend. And it looks like 2 nights it isn't going to freeze.
Got a good thousand in so far.
So does the flow stop with only 1 night above freezing? I have about 33 taps in, but from now until Sunday I think it will be above freezing.
It will stop overnight whenever it freezes. But there are exceptions. It has been documented that there can be a freeze at ground level and the tree tops are in a mild inversion, so it can keep going. Under some circumstances
you get what is called 'dark surface radiation' that will freeze the tree tops when the temp stays above freezing.
If you have a real hard freeze and just above freezing the next day, the tree may stay frozen all day.
In a nutshell ... it depends.
got in 78 today.. almost there... nothing really running until about 6pm when I noticed a couple of the lats had bubbles moving along... most of the holes were wet for the last part of the afternoon. I think maybe it warmed up a degree or two... we might get a good run tonight with the warm weather and rain moving in over night.
Check out this link on the lang range temperature trend. If I lived north of HWY 7, I wouldn't be tapping until at least next weekend. I need to see at least 4 consecutive days over four above in the 7 day forecast forecast before I get think about getting the drill out of the draw. Has anyone in Ontario got over .5 gallon per tap this year?
Got in 30 more so about 108 taps. Might have gotten 30 gallons of sap in the past 2 days total. Looks like cold is here for a while now, but at least I'm ready.
Brent you guys tap yet? We tried on the weekend but we broke several tee's on the branches to the spils so we decided to stop (-9) on sunday we ended up tapping 165 buckets for the kids. I really want to get these lines in before the weekend but I am not sure that we are going to be able to do that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent
We've had a bunch of bags and buckets out for a week or so and have not had enough to fill a 5 gallon pail. but I think all that changes this week.
Still working on the evaporator so I'm not unhappy about the delay in temperatures. Still looks like a traditional St Patty's day start.
I've been tapped for over a week now with less that 10 gals from 100 trees to show for it (and another 30 gals of ice in the pails) Maybe it will warm up enough by Wednesday. By this time last year, we were just about done.
I'm south of London (near Lake Erie)
I put 40 taps in between Wed and Friday and by Sunday I had about 10-15 gallons to boil down. I think I got maybe 1 litre finished syrup in the end. I did a lot of it in the kitchen as it wasn't enough sap for my 2X4 pan.
I think some of it may have been rain water as the buckets don't always sit straight under the lids. I'm thinking the smaller 2 gallon buckets are better than the 3 gallon (plastic) buckets for this reason.
I'm hoping for much more by next weekend!
Chris