2018 - NW Wisconsin

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Originally Posted by Austin351

I understand that to be correct with maples, what is happening above ground determines when the sap flows. With birch, it is what happens below the ground (roots) that determine when it flows. (that is why birch tapping season comes about the time that maple has ended.)

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I don't think so....deep frost in the woods does hamper sap flow from maples. I have trees on a ridge and there is a north and a south to this ridge. The frost always goes deep on top of that ridge b/c the north wind blows the snow off every winter, so there is always frost up there most winters. This winter we had very little snow...an inch or two, and the frost has gone down 12-18" with the cold winter. My south trees ran pretty good on Wednesday, more than any day this year b/c there is some frost starting to come out there. I have not got enough off the north side to clear the lines yet. With that being said, the south ones have not run gang busters yet. I don't see any big runs for at least another week, maybe two. One old timer once told me, "the sap runs the best when you can't get to the trees." What do you think that means?

Mark - I don't know your woods but, I do see a direct flow relation in my trees if they are getting hit by the sun (south facing) and those that are in the shade (north facing).

I tapped 20 trees in woods 2 weeks ago, they haven't yielded much more than a quart, 18-24 inches snow. Yesterdayy I put in 6 taps in my yard, and they all were dripping right away. Today I went back to woods, put in another 30 taps, none flowing, although about half were wet. Still over a foot of snow. Cumberland WI

Been tapped since last Sunday. Still not enough in the buckets to make a worthwhile collection. Too many single digit lows at night.

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Originally Posted by Austin351

Mark - I don't know your woods but, I do see a direct flow relation in my trees if they are getting hit by the sun (south facing) and those that are in the shade (north facing).

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Yes, the south facing trees that get more sun also usually don't have as much frost in the ground. My south side had 12" of frost while 300 feet to the north over the ridge and north slope has 18" of frost. Many year we don't get any frost in the woods if we get a initial good snow cover in early december, not the case this year where we didn't get a good snow cover until after January 22nd. My south trees did not run as good yesterday as the day before.....9 above zero for a low = trees being frozen the following day is what is at hand now.

Usually takes a good soft warm rain which really pulls frost out.

Tim and I went out again today to try to tap the trees. I first used one snowmobile to break trails, it's stuck big time. Walked back to the cabin, snow up to my mid thighs. Came back to the cabin only to find that Tim was stuck with the ATV trying to free up the other snowmobile that was frozen in deep snow and stuck. We managed to get the ATV free with the winch, got second snowmobile out and I blasted through the deep snow to try to get it up from the valley. It's stuck. We're done for today.
I am really itching to tap my saplines. Snowshoes don't help with the icy crust on top, (not strong enough to support one's weight) and then the icy ball snow underneath. I am really surprised at how deep the stupid snow still is. My average tap date is St. Pat's so I'm not off by much yet.

Been tapped for two weeks. Not much happening here. Temps have been too cold at night . The trees just start to drip and then the temp starts going down. Have only collected about 100 gallons so far including the 28 gallons we picked yesterday.

G. Cindy, I don't think you're missing much of anything yet. Most of my trees are doing absolutely nothing. I'm hesitant to even start up the evaporator with the 90 gallons I collected yesterday, with the colder temps now predicted for the next few days, there may not be a decent run until late in the week. Every year its always the same; something different.

On a good note, the sap I am getting is 3%. (yeah, 3% is good for my reds...)

Still tapping my foot checking the watch, waiting for the sap to flow...it should be any time now. I might have enough drops in the bucket to collect tomorrow; I hope.

With the colder weather, I've been able to work on my oil tank evaporator adding AUF. Would love to see that thing at 16+ GPH. Wow, that just doesn't seem too impressive after seeing it typed out but am only dealing with about 9 sq ft of flat pan.....

I haven't built my permanent sugar shack / wood shop yet (hopefully this summer) so added a cupola to my 10 x 12 shed over the weekend. Has power and will be nice to boil indoors for the first time.

Had a good first boil of season on Sunday, about 150 oz. of syrup coming from 32:1 sap. Probably the lightest I have ever made, although I prefer a dark amber.

Attachment 18343

Weather has been marginal over the past week, still not spectacular in the woods but should have enough to do another boil tomorrow. The 10 day outlook doesn't look good for flow so will take advantage and head south to see family Thurs - Sunday.

AUF recently added seemed to work pretty well although I need to add some baffles to get air directed a little better. The cupola recently added to the shed seemed to work pretty well also. I did need to keep the door open for draft but, didn't have any raining / dripping from roof.

nice looking first syrup. I wish I could make some. All mine is dark and I got some metabolic flavor. I'm 5 miles due south of winter on a hill. Where are you? I have an oil tank evaporator too and can get 15/hr when I crank it. Crude preheater really helped.

Things finally seem to be getting going. I boiled twice only this season. Sugar was high though at 3.4 and 3.0 %. Pretty light too. Not quite Austin light, but close.Attachment 18347

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Originally Posted by OCHTO

nice looking first syrup. I wish I could make some. All mine is dark and I got some metabolic flavor. I'm 5 miles due south of winter on a hill. Where are you? I have an oil tank evaporator too and can get 15/hr when I crank it. Crude preheater really helped.

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I am across the Brunet River from Dix's Chalet. Cant see house from road (the way I like it... ) :) Are you off W? Only maple I know down south is Brad and Linda's.

I boiled about 35gal of sap on 3/18 and got 64oz of light golden syrup. I boiled again on 3/25, about 48gal of sap and 128oz of syrup, still light golden. Sugar content was in the range of 2.5%-3.0%.

Sap flow is all over the map. After a week my bags were anywhere from empty to full and overflowing. With a few warm days this week I expect to have 50+ gallons of sap by the weekend. I'm going to try and get all of my bags emptied by Saturday. The low Saturday night is forecast at 8 degrees and collecting blocks of frozen sap is no fun at all.

Austin, I'm off old J. Cabin can't be seen from the road. I see you have reds. I tap all sugars. Around 3.2% which is highest in 5 years. 75 bags and I've made 4.5 gal. so far which is really poor. Taps will dry up soon. Some bags a third full on days when it gets up to 40. Other bags made me look up to make sure I tapped a maple, only a few tablespoons. Weird.

I would call today, the first day of my season with real flow. Had the manifold on bypass, went down to put the battery on the pump, and there was a good steady stream coming out the bypass. unfortunately, the next 10 days are pretty much shot due to temps...

First time this season we've seen any decent sap flow here in Sarona too. Tubing and bags were both running well at 10:30 this AM. Looking forward to finally getting a decent run, but not too excited about our prospects for the next week or so.

One of my first posts. Thanks to all the people on here for all the information they share. Question for the group. I have my taps near Siren. Boiled last weekend and heading up again today. I can't make it up to boil there the following weekend - 4/7. With this cold weather, will I need to make a run up there on the weekend of 4/7 to dump the sap before I can make it back on 4/14? With the cold weather and all the ice that will be in the buckets, will the sap last for that long?

Mpester545 take this with a grain of salt - I'm a small (30 taps) guy - weekends only, when the sap runs in day and freezes at night, I've cooked 2-3 week old sap and it came out great. Longer than 2 weeks, I ditch it. As long as it has that clear (or in my mind, that slight blue) color, I cook it. Everyone loved it.
Tom

Mpester... If the weather would stay cold, I think you'd be fine, but dang, it's gotta warm up sometime this spring. I'd plan on heading up next weekend, and if there is another week of cold temps forecasted, then decide to wait longer. It will likely make for darker syrup but whoop-D-doo. Sap keeps a long time at the beginning of the season, but towards the end it goes bad fast, sometimes only lasting a day. By calendar, we should be approaching late season at that time. Mother nature makes all the rules though and this season could stretch out to Memorial weekend.

Looks like sap in the bags will not be a problem with the weather we are going to have! I bet I do not even get more than five gallons from my 24 taps this week. It will be a solid block of ice so I will take my chances and skip next weekend. Made about 1.5 gallons of very dark syr'p (people make fun of how I say it so that is how I spell it!) yesterday before the snow. We got 8-10 inches up at the cabin near Siren.

I have not been able to get into the woods to hang my sap lines, or tap bags. (Well, I could actually have tapped the sap sacks, but I had no way to go collect due to still at least knee deep snow) Now another 8+" on top of that, more expected tomorrow and Tuesday. Highs all week below freezing....I can't believe this season. I am hoping to be able to bottle 80 small handled bottles for my daughter's wedding in Sept. but at this point, I have no idea if it'll happen. It's going to be fast and furious when it does start up here.

Strangest season I've seen. We've made 18 gals of syrup so far and we have run the RO once. With pails we were able to take out ice and have 4-5 % sugar. Some pails have a qt or more and the next has a tea spoon. Some collections were 60 gals and the best we had was 218. Cold keeps coming, yesterday and today we had -7 and up to 30. I think when it comes we better be ready. Remember a few years back when the season was over in 3 days.

Weather forecast says nothing will break loose until at least Monday, Tuesday looks better. Tough season... hurry up and wait, freeze up for 10 days, then hope there is enough weather left to make some kind of a season up here.

Long range forecast looks really good April 10th - 19th. Hopeful for a couple weeks of flow, could really turn the season around up here.....

My saplines end at the bottom of a NW facing hill that has tried on several times to kill me this year. This **** snow. It's still past knee deep in the woods. Soft and mushy yesterday. Finally risked taking the tractor down there to get the ATV unstuck from 30" on the trail yesterday. WOW, what a job. Got said tractor stuck a few times, but the husbands skill managed to free it. Went to town and spent $300+ to get a pump, hoses, and extension cords to try to pump the sap up to the ATV tanks. Pump wasn't strong enough. At this point, I have collected 0 sap, and the nighttime temps aren't going to be favorable. I am trying to look on the positive side, no pan to clean, and it's beautiful out. Just sad that I completely missed the season.

Sorry to hear that, I feel your pain. I have yet to light up the evaporator either. I'm just glad I am not doing this to support my family, this year.

Same story here in Oneida County. I had a few test taps in since 3/11 yesterday I went to check and "MAYBE" the sap run is finally starting? I tossed the one gallon of sap that I got from the 4 trees since 3/11 and am hoping for enough warm weather to melt snow but colder nights than they are forecasting. Like Grandma Cindy deep snow super high snowbanks where I did plow and now horrendous mud trapped in between............is there such a thing as "Mud Shoes" so you don't sink to your chin? Jay

Here in Hayward it has been a crazy season as well. Tapped the first weekend in March through deep snow. The weather has not cooperated at all. Sometimes it was 7-10 day before there was enough to collect. It was too cold at night and took all day to start dripping for maybe a hour then would stop. Thought this weekend would be good but now is too warm during the day. Sap starts to drip in the morning and stops mid afternoon. Last night the temps here were 27 degrees but suppose to be in the high 50's today. Have made a little over 11 gallons this year though. Hoping for a little bit more. Would like to make at least 15 gallons but will take what mother nature gives. Trying to put off the tough job of cleaning everything up after pulling taps. G'ma Cindy I am sorry you had such a tough season. Maybe next year will be better.

Went into this week with just over 4.5 gallons of syrup after being tapped for 5 weeks. The last 5 days brought me another 5.5 gallons of syrup off of 68 taps. Had some long days and very long nights keeping up with the batches and decided to pull the plug in the woods today around 4:00. Sap went cloudy and the reds look to be ready to pop. Decent sugar % for my season, most of which was 2.6 but yesterday went to 2.2 and then today was 2.0. Will have to finish / bottle what is in the pan tomorrow, I'm beat.

Looks like today may be the last day for collecting here. The forecast looks like it won't run. It will be a long time until the peepers are singing. We still have snow on the ground and over 20 inches of ice on the lakes. So far we have made 13 gallons of syrup. I am considering looking for a used small press. After 16 years I am really tired of the cone filters but will continue to use them until I find a deal on a press.

Thanks Merklin. I certainly hope so.

Gonna tap this weekend or at least get the 3/16" lines strung on some new tapping property. Snowshoes again this year....

Its time. Seems like a lot of frost, but with the warm week next week, it should be starting. As late as it is, we are still going to have decent taps into mid April for sure.

I am a little concerned that this year will be a very short season.....

Tapped today in northern Ashland county (my fence is on the Bayfield county line). 84 taps. All of the reds are awake and each had about 2 inches in them about 2 hours after tapping. A dozen of these taps are in sugar maples and they are not doing anything yet.

The snow is deep in the woods and hauling sap is going to be a challenge. First time I have ever used a snowmobile to get a 4-wheeler unstuck; lots of hard work today. Snowshoes are a must, snow is at least 18"-24" deep if you step off with just boots on your feet.

Joe

We have been doing the snow shoe slog for about 10 days now. We have about 1500 tapped, about 1000 to go.
The last 2 days we actually saw sap moving, enough to find the 150+ squirrel chews!!! This is the worst I have seen the critter damage in my woods.
Chewing taps and tubes...little B'srds!

500 gallons collected yesterday. It begins.