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definetly vac will make your season as woodburner said . I switched over to tubing afew years ago and vac is the secret to success on tubing. no sighn of budding here at all red and silvers are swelling today though. sugars are tight but that dont mean anything. been a great season so far despite the breakdowns. looking for a couple more runs for march. just tapped on the 15th so just getting going here.
I brought in 30 gallons today - much turning yellow. It was almost 70 here and warm days ahead so even if we get a freeze in a few days, I am not sure we will have much. I will hold out through the weekend and see what happens. I have had 1300 gallons of sap which is 300 - 600 below average.
The sugar maples are tight here so far and the sap started to run later this afternoon and is still going steady. The sap started at the same time the fog rolled in. Temp only made it to 50 here today.
We had a decent run this week and I'm holding out until the last drop. Hoping the cold weekend will get a run next week. the silvers are starting to bud here and the sugars are just starting to swell, so maybe we have a couple of weeks if the weather works. We have a mix tapped on tubing so I'm planning on pulling taps by tree as it buds. look like the silvers will get pulled first, probably next week. sap is getting yellow on those.
Might have to try growing sorghum just to use the pans in the fall.
I would like to try sorghum, but I need a press before thinking serious about it. I hope the storms don't get too nasty tomorrow. I want to empty old sap out of the bags and buckets before it freezes again. Bags and strong winds don't get along very well.
so because after a run,the sap remaining in the tubing acquires and grows more bacteria which leads to darker syrup this is what I have been told anyway does this sound like what is happening and also what do you use to wash out the tubing at seasons end
mapleguy, that sounds about right to me, we should have at least a week or to left of the season easily. I see a alcohol that is used to clean tubing that i am going to try this year sold by lappiere. erwin gingerich has it at his place on georgia rd.
The tornado's missed us and we only had to deal with 2 inches of rain in about 15 minutes. I have never seen water like that. Some serious damage within a couple miles of us.
I emptied the old sap out of the bags and buckets in hopes of one more run this week. They are calling for three freezing nights beginning tonight, but the temp is only supposed to be in the low 40's tomorrow and Monday. We will get what we can and hope for the best!
I got a surprising 80 gallons today after the warmup. Some of the best trees are dry and others running like crazy. I don't expect much more and this will be Grade B, but I will boil one more time. The sap is darker, but not cloudy so I hope it turns out OK. 70 degrees tomorrow so I will start boiling as soon as I get home tomorrow afternoon.
I brought in 35 gallons this afternoon and pulled the taps. I am way below normal, but might hit 75% of a normal year. My wife is getting me a total in the next few days.