Bigsap Warning 2009

Jeff, Maybe would have been ok to leave vacuum on til tomorow. Not really suppossed to freeze til later in the day.

Jeff- I have the same pain with the pumping too. Ive thought before maybe it would be easier to just haul it if a guy had a way but I pump and its ok if things dont freeze up. What I do with my vac pump is usually just leave it run all the time unless its going to freeze up for several days. Everyone needs to do what works good for them. Mine is electric and I dont know what yours is but with the electric its easier to do that. Ive got runs by accident that will pay for a months electric. For instance last week the last freeze was maybe thursday then it was above freezing all that time. The sap never stopped and Ive never seen it ever stop if its above 32 degrees. Itll slow down at night but I still may have like 6 or 800 gallons drizzle in then the next day itll take right off and run fairly good. 25" of vac is an intirely different ball game. South wind and no freeze will slow it down but it wont stop. I try not to shut the pump off till the lats are well froze up too to minimize the sap going back to the holes. If your running gas it may not be possable to do that for sure but thats how I do it. Hope my experiances are of some help. Theron

Thanks Mark, Theron,

I agree, I should have WAAANNNTTED it more. Let the pump run through the night, and drain just prior to freeze up.

I had to go into work and travel to Superior this morning, 70 miles from home, so I was not going to be around to do the drain during the day today. Unless I did it this morning, early. Again, I need to WAAAAANT it! (That's PA-ese for strongly desire)

I am DEFINATELY going for it after this storm, set the pump to turn on at 33 let it go until the buds takes over.

Stick with me guys- I am learning! Don't give up on me yet!!! I will get some pics of the pump houses, Releasers and such.

Hey, I learned another thing. If you get a bunch of guys together to help you tap, PUT THEM THROUGH A TRAINING RUN, AND BABY SIT THEM AWHILE!!!

I had thought with the drops right there by the Maples, it would be a no brainer. In looking for leaks, I have found the drops stretched out to reach a nearby oak, the tap hole put in the middle of a split in the tree, One solid maple growing next to a dead, hollow maple, and yup, the tap in the dead one.

85% where done right, so it was still a big help, but again, I learned something!\

Jeff, waiting on the storm

Big sap here in Quebec finally. I have 4 trees running now. Has to be a drop every 10 seconds on the best ones. The jury is still out on boxelder sap as it seems to have a funney taste compared to the real maples. If it does not improve will pull the taps and put them in out in the forest and haul good sap instead.

Jeff, I had a guy helping me yesterday. I do the drilling, he put in adaptors and pound them in.

I needed more adaptors, said to him I will go to truck and get them, asked him to drill while I was gone. I came back and the holes were all pointed down into the tree, not down and away from the tree.

I think we need to produce the SAPPER HELPER TRAINING VIDEO. Post it online for all to see the basics.

My wife said, put together a cheater card for all the helpers to keep on hand.

OBSERVE tree for cracks, damaged areas. Only drill in sound wood.

1. Is depth stop installed on drill bit?
2. Drill in straight to insure round hole, not waivering, creating oblong hole.
3. Drill at slight angle up into tree so sap runs out.
4. Orient tap (and tube) so sap runs downhill into collection line/bucket
5. Seat tap into hole by tapping in only until seated. DO NOT DRIVE IN PAST TAPERED part of tap.

This is not a drill!! This is a sap tsunami warning for the Catskill Mountains. Tanks were empty at 12:00, tanks were full at 6:00!! Put on your life jackets and get ready to swim in sap!

Rub it in guys. I thought I had a flood for about a hour. Half my trees actually started flowing and then stopped dead and dried up. At this rate I won't need to make my preheater work.

Tanks are overflowing every 4 hours. No time to sleep. must go back and collect.

So...HOLY BIGSAP MOTHERLOAD, is that what you meant?