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Is anyone getting any sustained sap flow in the far north (Iron, Vilas, Forest county area)? We've tapped early in the past, gotten the initial flow of sap stored in the trees, and then not much until the ground thaws more. And usually trying to melt frozen sap in the buckets.
We have not checked since we tapped on 2/29. Will be checking this weekend to see what has been collected. At least frozen does not go bad !
I love the optimism. A couple years ago my brother cleverly floated our frozen buckets in the jacuzzi until they thawed enough to put in the pans. And yet we still sucker for tapping too early every year.
Was going to try a few test taps today ...................but now that its raining guess I'll hold off till next week. Looking back in my log book I usually tap the third to fourth week of March. Then looking at my notes if I did tap on the third week I really didn't get a good run till after the fourth week anyhow. Jay
Collected 75 gallons yesterday from the past week on 25 taps. So far season is going good, looking cool this next week.
Bryan
Was able to check the results since we tapped 2/29. My best guess is 60 gal of frozen sap. We will probable thaw in the turkey fryer , RO it and boil all next weekend. Yes next week weather up here looks flat. Looks like some better weather in a week or so. This would be our 1st boil of the season. Last year we boiled 4 times. So you got to start sometime.
Spring continues to be a fickle partner in this sap to syrup business. Although it seemed too early, the long range forecast at the beginning of March called for several days in a row with highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s (ideal) starting on Thursday, March 12th. In anticipation of that, I hurried north to our sugarbush property just south of the Powell Marsh on Wednesday March 11th. It was a sunny, warm day and as I tapped trees, sap virtually gushed out. Whoa, was I a day late? This wasn't supposed to happen until tomorrow. Well, even though most of my taps didn't go in until mid afternoon, my 120 taps still yielded 125 gallons of sap. Sounds like I'm off to a good start, right? No, not so much. The forecast changed in a negative direction and I've see little flow since then. Those multiple days with highs in the 40s turned out to be cloudy with highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s and teens. Some folks are predicting a short and early season. I doubt that. I don't see much of a warm up in the next several days. By then it will be the last week in March - which seems to be when the season typically gets going. Still I'm hopeful that we will have another good season.
Started this addictive hobby in 2012 - flat pan on cement blocks, got 2 pints of buddy syrup from 20 taps
2013 - 50 taps, buckets w/droplines
2014 - 75 taps, upgraded to a Smokey Lake 2x4 drop flue hobby pan
2015 - 90 taps, begin construction on 18x24 cordwood sugar shack, made 39 gallons - banner year
2016 - 100 taps, finish constructions on cordwood sugar shack
2017 - 110 taps, transitioning from droplines w/buckets to bags
2018 - 115 taps, 30 gallons made
2019 - 120 taps, 39 gallons made, another banner year
TedA, my theory is that when you first tap, you pull off a tree trunk full of sap, which is pressurized when the warm temps cause carbon dioxin to come out of solution (instead of being dissolved in the sap, they form bubbles, creating pressure). Anyway, that will be all you get until the tree can charge itself again, which happens with sub-freezing temps condensing all the carbon dioxide, creating vacuum, and pulling more liquid from the roots. However, if the roots are frozen, no go. We've noticed this every time we tap early. Once we had a couple nice days in Feb, cooked a small batch, and then it froze up for another several weeks. We are in Winchester, just north of you, and we tapped yesterday. Running like a sick nose. (bad metaphor?) I'm guessing we'll freeze up tomorrow and Sat, and then it will be game on! I'm actually hoping the sap that collects today will make a nice ice block in the buckets, and help preserve whatever we collect next week, in case we don't get back for another week. That's some real guess work there. Good luck. By the way, we still have about 18" of snow in the woods.
I also tapped yesterday We are South East of TedA and TwoSaps in Sugar Camp Wi. My trees that are usually early risers dripped a little one a fair amount most were dry and yes we also have 18 to 20" of snow still on the ground. Rain today then cold.....................maybe things will start this weekend??? Jay
Got pretty good flow yesterday despite cloud cover. Wasn't expecting much today but those low pressure systems can surprise you. Cloudy skies and low pressure kept my yard trees dripping (albeit slowly) all night and all day today. If fact they are still dripping at 8 pm(but pretty slow now). Collecting is challenging. Neighbor came over to help and used his snowshoes - a bit clumsy but much more sure footed. That 16-18 inches of snow in the woods settled a bit with the light rain that fell off and on all day. Turned to wet snow at 5 pm and the next two days will be much colder. That's OK by me. I could use a few days to recover. Picking up the last two days has been exhausting.