I like the way you thinkQuote:
Originally Posted by Sugarmaker Dave
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I like the way you thinkQuote:
Originally Posted by Sugarmaker Dave
I've got a few hundred gallons of sap in my buckets/tanks - but with cooler temps moving in this week - will put off collection and boil until next week when + temps return.
Finally got into the bush this weekend... The snow was tough to work in. Got my 200ft main up and 125ish taps on 3/16 tapped... Trees were producing a little bit... I let that run to the ground, to flush out my lines.
Hung another 300ft main and marked trees for it. Should be able to get another 100+ taps or so.
Bigger producers around this neck of the woods, were getting tanks etc set up, Saturday.... Not everyone is tapped yet though. One fella got all the roadside buckets tapped on my road, Saturday... Some have an inch in them and some are empty as of Monday AM.
With the exception of Wednesday +4, it looks like we will be at freezing temps till next Monday. I think my timing is pretty good, this year.
Just received 10 of the Sapmeister tip n dump bag system for my red maples up my lane. Tapped the trees today seems like a cool system anyone else use these before? Not sure about bags hope they hold out in this windy Bruce county lol
Well collected my first bit this morning. Prob around 65-75g gal plus another 20 or so at the shack. Finished hanging and tapping the last of my gravity lines so they could flush with today’s run. Much better working in the bush today. Sap was running good so I’ll prob collect again in the am. start my first boil tomorrow. Looks like a few slow cold days coming up. Time to plan my new lines thanks for the push Dave lol.
Was hoping to be up to the cottage/sugar shack yesterday but with the change in weather and some cool stuff - decided to put off until Sunday and plan to stay the week. Weather looks good with warmer days and cool nights. Pleased to hear the sap has been running despite cooler temps - I might be pleasantly surprised with what waits for me in the bush when I arrive.
Harold - like they say go big or go home!
I'm in eastern Ontario and i tapped a couple of trees last week..they've been running but not well.
I'm hoping the best runs start after the 14th when the time changes but it looks like l might have to tap next week!
we started tapping last thursday. So far gathered about 950 gallons off 345 taps. Looks like it might freeze up again until monday.
Good call on holding off Dave. Been pretty cold the past few days Monday looks to be the restart. We had a few day with decent temps though so depending on the last time you were up ya might just be in for that surprise.
Today's the day...!! (for me)
Finished tapping and setting up over the weekend... Did not get a chance to test my shurflow pumps because everything was froze stiff... but they are set up to turn on at about +3.5 degrees... Which should be around noon today. (I set it a little warmer than usual for the first run, just to ensure everything was thawed before they try to start) .... I'll be at work, but Dad will swing by and see what's happening this afternoon and report. Have about 200 taps on shurflow and 30 on a roadside gravity line.... Fingers crossed.
Edit
Temp here has gone from -18 to +8 in about 12 hours.... Unreal...
Just got the report from the bush... One of my 3/4" mainlines is running some sap, but not great... The new one with 70 taps seems to be dry. (gauge is showing about 10inhg running dry)... I suspect the trees are just taking their time thawing out.... The first line has some roadside trees on it, that get more sun... That's my theory anyway... Only other thing would be a big gaping hole in my mainline where the sap is pouring onto the ground.:lol:
Well was running today but not as good as I was hoping. Expecting the same tomorrow. Think it’s time to try vac pumpkins get things jumping. I’ll be adding more taps this week that’s for sure. I’m ready to be swimming in it.
Tapped on the weekend, first collection was this afternoon - 620L from 137 buckets, not a bad start!
How have the rest of you SW Ont folks done this week,? I've had a few leak problem to contend with... But aside from that I'm still finding the trees a little stingy. Only about 2.5 Litres per tap since Monday...
Was a bit slower today, 2.85 L/ bucket average. After 2 days collecting I have just over 1000L from 137 taps
I am in the Barrie area and was surprised at how little sap ran over the past few days. Only about 6 litres per bucket over the 3 days and lower amounts on 3/16 lines. I always believe that a rainy day with low pressure will allow the sap to flow best. Let's hope tomorrow things turn around.
It’s been dismal for me so far. 835 total Litres collected on 90 buckets is not ideal.
Yes, it has not been great. We have about 1100 L so far using 84 buckets. That's since Feb 24. Looking good for next week, hope the forecast holds!!
So how much trouble will that insane warmth have caused? Any or will trees go immediately back to producing when these cool nights show back up?
Should not cause any issues as it was only warm for a short period. Problem with prolonged warm stretches is they promote bacterial growth and tree healing so the tap holes can start to seal off and reduce sap flow. One hot day should not have much impact.
Things started to drip a bit yesterday afternoon but nothing crazy. Natural gravity lines were real slow drip but the vac lines produced ok. I let the pump run till midnight and it was still flowing when I shut it off. Loving my new shurflo setup wish I did it a few years back lol.
Hi! First post - just wanted to stop lurking and thank everyone for the inspiration. Collected about a half gallon of sap from a sugar maple on my front lawn in a few years back, and surfed this site to figure out what to do with it. Boiled it down on the stove and it was superb.
Moved to Paris area now, but all I have is oak, hickory and box elders. Planting lots of sugar maples for the next generations, but also tried tapping one of the box elders yesterday just for fun. About a half gallon per day from one hand carved staghorn sumac spile. Starting small, but, if I can make friends with the guy down the road who already has a acres of sugar maples, maybe I can expand... ;)
Cheers
I had good flow on Sunday. Collected 350 litres off of my 90 buckets. As of Saturday morning they were empty.
Nothing really today on the Bruce for me. This week is looking good so hopefully it stays like that. Been a real disappointing season for me so far.
Next 5-6 days look promising in Grey county but man after that shows a week above freezing night and day man I haven’t had much luck with the sap this year hoping this week I can get a decent amount
I feel your pain... Fingers crossed for a great run this week. Good LuckQuote:
Originally Posted by Falloutshelter
I'd like to give mother nature a good talking to, to be mindful of all the farmer's, for all the seasons. Lol.
I consider my trees to run poorly. I have a lot of soft maple, probably 60% at least. So far they have given me 4040 USG/3363 IMP. gallons/15271 litres since March 1st off of a little over 2500 taps. Still boiling. Made 137 litres so far.
We had good runs on the 3rd. Also on the 9th and 10th on nights that weren't supposed to freeze, but did.
I agree the 2 week looks stupid after Saturday night. Low double digits and no freezing for a week
[QUOTE=argohauler;394002]I'd like to give mother nature a good talking to, to be mindful of all the farmer's, for all the seasons. Lol.
I consider my trees to run poorly. I have a lot of soft maple, probably 60% at least. So far they have given me 4040 USG/3363 IMP. gallons/15271 liters since March 1st off of a little over 2500 taps. Still boiling. Made 137 liters so far.
Wow that doesn't seem like much sap for 2500 taps. We have collected 2500 USG on 425 taps. Lucky though we have hard maples. I know that helps with sugar content but maybe sap flow as well. I never trust the long range anyway. It has been changing constantly.
Box Elders are a maple ( also called Manitoba maples or ash leaf maples among other names) and will make maple syrup. Back about 45 years ago, I had 1 sugar maple with 3 taps, and up to 7 taps in box elders. That made excellent maple syrup. Back then we didn't even boil it until near syrup density. We just had 2 large pots on the wood stove in our living room and it slowly evaporated but never a boil. Then as we thought it was getting close We combined it into 1 pot and finished it on the gas fired kitchen stove. If you try that, be sure you keep some windows open to get the steam out. We kept 2 partially open, one each side of the wood stove, for the kitchen boiling, we opened another in the kitchen. We did it well enough that the wall paper never came loose.Quote:
Originally Posted by NextGen
Yeah, I don't know why exactly because there are hard maple that are under performers as well. My guess is the soil, mostly sandy with a bit of clay, swampy bush we have. Go up the road 5 miles towards Cayuga to my cousins, with the clay and ravine cricks and it's like night and day how they run compared to mine. Same with friends near Clanbrassil
Im around 1900L collected so far this season since tapping on the 6th. Missed a couple days it ran in Feb. I'm up to 150 buckets now, so 1/3 to 1/4 of what I would hope to collect in a "typical" season. Doesn't look great after Sunday, but it wouldn't be the first time the weatherman is wrong! Here's hoping for a few more weeks of cold nights!
Quite disappointed so far, but I wont give up hope yet... about 1500L of sap from about 200 taps.... Ran it through the RO to 10%. I don't have enough to think about firing up my little 2x6 yet.... Might get a decent run this week, yet.... and if trees don't start to bud, it looks like the week after next could have a couple cool nights. Finger crossed.
Past two days things have been pretty good in my bush. Hoping to get past the warm spell and maybe catch that cold snap in the week after. I think I had a drip all night. Ran my pump till 3am temps were at about freezing. Maybe I could have run it all night as I don’t think it for much colder and the sap was still flowing. Fired it back on at 9am and going strong at -25inHg.
Surprised that for not freezing the night before, that they had enough power to carry on till around 6 pm when they were noticeably slower. Good run I guess. Some trees are just getting going I noticed from the last gathering. Disappointed in some that only had 4" in a 3 gallon bucket for 2 days of running.
My friend that is helping me, his son in law tapped the trees around his house. In the morning his buckets were mostly over flowing. Did an errand and a few hours later some of his buckets were half full again. Mine have never done that ever.
Today was my best day so far this season, 633L on 150 buckets. Sadly many were overflowing by the time I got out to collect after work. Yet some only had a few inches. 4.22L per tap on average
Getting a great run today on the Bruce for me.
It’s been good for me as well as of late. I’ve collected more sap in the last 7 days than in the previous 2 weeks. Tomorrow and Sunday should be gangbusters! Sitting on about 500 litres right now and expect to get another 800 L or so over the next 2 days. All off of 90 buckets.
Sunday will be awesome.
Everything had some dripping going on but nothing crazy for me. Thought it might have been a better run today but them are the breaks. Hope the trees can make it through the next couple days and might get a last run or two with next weeks kinda cold weather.
Pretty good run over the weekend here...
Would have had a bit more, but had a freeze-bust problem..... My little pvc manifold on shureflow at the bush, busted the screen filter sediment bowl in half and blew the end out of a 3/4" pvc pipe cap.... This happened at only about -4 degrees... Weird????... I've been using these things for 3 or 4 years at much colder temps, without any freeze damage..
Going to freeze tonight, so might get another decent run tomorrow... Soft maples are budding here, and its going to be hot this week... Not sure how things will look by the weekend when its supposed to get cold again...
Vacuum pump was the only thing that put any sap in the tank over the weekend. Warm weather has likely ended my season very short of my goal this year. I’m thinking if I pull my taps and lines then you guys might get a few more runs. That’s my kinda luck and If I leave em in then it’s probably over lol. I’ll be finishing and bottle the last batch today so I guess we will see. I’ll be lucky if I can hit the 60L of syrup from 160 taps. Was shooting for 100L this season.
So rough calculation each of you taps produced 15L which when i compare to mine - mine produced 8.5L. You were almost double my output - which speaks to your vacuum as being the way to go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hkb82
I ended my season with 63L from 300 taps. Was expecting to hit at least 100L of syrup.
Already planning how to improve my output for next season and looking at going with some sort of vacuum setup and going deeper into the bush where some bigger maples live.