That cooldown is exactly what I was hoping for...
I too am aiming for Feb 1 as the day I tap.
I'm hopeful for a good season!
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That cooldown is exactly what I was hoping for...
I too am aiming for Feb 1 as the day I tap.
I'm hopeful for a good season!
All have all my taps in by tomorrow night and all my collection tubs in place and taking sap. It ran pretty well today.
Yes, looks like a cool-off for the next five days. I'll welcome the ice in the bottom of totes and tanks.
The extended forecast has a nice freeze starting Friday night.
I'm happy to see a good freeze. Hopeful for my Feb 1ish tap date.
How are the rest of you guys doing?
Working on getting ready. Just put up a new mainline, the old one was getting yucky inside. I did not follow the “keep it dry” rule for the off seasons. Now, I have to clean out the collection tank, and string up the laterals. I am trying new ends this year. When I first installed them, I (horrors) put nails in the trees to hold the tees in place and tight. It sort of worked, but I would rather not harm the trees any more than I have to. So the new ends are supposed to go around the tree and hook onto themselves. That is this weekends project. (I’m not sure yet if this is actually something that I can/should do ahead of time or should be done as I am tapping). The pan is clean and ready. I have firewood up the wazoo. I also need to get the RO bucket assembled, shouldn’t take too long. I will pick up some store bought water as an initial rinse.
Getting there!
I also just found a hole in my roof. Yuck. In the barn where the sugaring is. Not a huge deal right now, but would like to replace the disintegrating shingles with a metal roof this spring, after mapling. For any CT people, does anyone have a personal recommendation for roofers? The pitch is roughly 45 deg. Not something I want to be climbing on myself.
Thanks!
Where are you in Ct?
North Guilford
Too far from me to help you fix that leaky roof - You could just get a polytarp stretched over it, for now if you plan to replace it anyway. Make sure it's tied off well, even run some line over it in a few places to keep the wind from getting under it -
Thanks for the thought Mike, I was also thinking of a tarp, just temporary.
Thanks!
Thanks for showing me your RO the other day. Mine is about ready to go but I fear leaky fittings.Quote:
Originally Posted by bryankloos
Difficult to gauge how tight is too tight on those fittings. I do know that I have cracked a couple of plastic fittings on jet pumps a time or two in the past. Think I might try to pre test my rig with no membranes in the canisters. Shut down valves on both waste and pure lines should get my pressure hi enough to test it??? I guess! Unless I am missing something conceptually. As I most frequently am.
I am still on target for Feb 10 - 15 ish. Could push up towards the 5th, but looking cold and glad I did not let the teaser days ( there have been quite a few ) suck me in ... so far.
Came down from the MRV in Vermont this afternoon. Plenty of snow packed into the Mountains and upper valleys now. Get on the boards and go if you can. Just got to stay out of the lodges I guess. Back Country skiers are having the mother of all blasts. Parked on top of each other at the gap trailheads. Hopefully they are not bringing sap lines down the hills with them.
Happy to show you around the mine field. Its a fun little setup I have.Quote:
Thanks for showing me your RO the other day. Mine is about ready to go but I fear leaky fittings.
Close off permeate and concentrate lines and run without membranes... this should show you the leaks if they exist. Start with needles open, purge air/prime, and then slowly clamp outputs down while eyeing pressures. If you have leaks, you will see them.
I've got a few extra fittings lying around if anything needs replacing. I rummaged through my "bits drawer" and found all sorts of stuff I forgot I had. I tend to buy extra quantity knowing I will break things.
I did thaw out my hose and fire up the power washer the other day to clean my IBC and barrels. I think I'm officially ready to go, and I'm getting antsy.
My daughter tells me she wants to go up north to ski. My sources also tell me the snowpack is finally enjoyable. I may take a day next week to oblige.
We managed to get my son out of the house for a walk down to the mailbox yesterday. He's recovering well. Still on a feed tube, but doing well. One day at a time. The Docs were happy with the pathology reports, so I'm happy.
Bryan, If you don't mind me asking what is your son's name, I would like to include him in my nightly prayers.
His name is Boden, but we call him Bode, which is pronounced Bodie as in the skier Bode Miller, with whom he shares some mannerisms...Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
His sister is Anabel, and they are very close. So, if you are praying for him, if you don't mind adding one for her that would be super.
Thank you!
Attachment 21812
Bryan - Bode looks like a trooper! I will include Bode and Anabel in my prayers.
I have some metal roofing that will soon be on Craigslist.
Attachment 21819
Got it covered. By the way the pictures are great. Thank You.
How much roofing do you have? I need to go figure out how much area I've got. rough guess, without going out to measure, maybe a 15 X 15 barn? I could be off.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghost
Was 9x14, 45 degrees, so likely about 1/2 of what you’d need, maybe bit more.
[QUOTE=bryankloos;388931]His name is Boden, but we call him Bode, which is pronounced Bodie as in the skier Bode Miller, with whom he shares some mannerisms...
His sister is Anabel, and they are very close. So, if you are praying for him, if you don't mind adding one for her that would be super.
I and many others will be praying. Go Bode!!
Bryan
Bode is ready to tap. But I will put him in my nightly prayers anyway.
Thanks for your offer on fittings. I did test my RO and to my utter surprise no leaks. I guess the threads are so small they seal pretty well with the tape. When I use larger polyvinyl on jet pumps I usually have leaks or crack the fitting trying to make them go away. Larger threads easier to leak ... even with tape ... I guess. Regardless I was in great fret I would be making a home sprinkler system instead of RO system.
Did have one small leak and it was the second temporary needle valve ( brass compression which I think was flawed ) at the permeate outlet only used in this test situation to build pressure in the membraneless system. The one at the waste line worked fine. Had a filter in the system and that was it. Tested at 100 PSI. Will probably run it a little higher with sap.
I hope its not one of those crazy sapless years now!
Needle valves were a PITA for me too...
I found the ones with ferrules and tube supports, and they seemed to help.
Ghost - just took a closer look at my barn - it is at least 15x15. most likely bigger. So thank you for the though on the roofing, but you are right, it is not enough.
Thanks
The mild winter we were having seems to have turned more 'normal' I can't see any sap here in Kent anyway, for at least 10 days into Feb.
I was thinking of tapping but now it seems I may hold off until the second week of Feb.
Things look pretty cold on the 10 day, with the exception 1 day...
I'm getting very antsy!
Has anyone else tapped yet, and if so how are things progressing?
BK
Down closer to the coast, it looks a little more promising. I am also getting antsy!!! I might be tempted to start after this cold snap and snow, in a few days.
Last week looked like today was the day to tap, with beautiful weather on the horizon. Now, I see what you see. A day or two this week that look good, then back down below freezing until the 14th. March better stay cold or this will be an incredibly short season.Quote:
Originally Posted by bryankloos
According to the Saptapapp no subscribers to the app in CT have tapped yet. It will be interesting to see if that changes by the weekend.
The sap tap app buckets near me were overflowing Thurs-Fri, but now nearly empty. I’ll hold off til next week, which is a blessing as I have more prep to do!
A dozen or so years ago, one February was so cold here I had no sap at all - 0 -
i think i,m going to wait till the weekend of the 13th, hopefully mother nature will start to cooperate
Nowadays people get angry at just about anything.
Especially a winter that somewhat resembles a normal winter.
Lets look at the bright side ... at least a few of the animals that should be hibernating this time of year actually are.
That's a good sign for a promising sugaring season to come and if the tank may not be half full with actual sap, at least it is still completely full with the spirit of things to come.
Not for nothing but I'd be willing to bet I'll have sap flowing when I get home from work tonight....
Maybe some the next three days as well.
Yeah, I work in New Haven, and I bet the trees around here are flowing like crazy right now. Certainly the snow is all melting fast. And tomorrow and Sunday are both supposed to break 40. Good luck to anyone around here who's tapped already - away you go!
Gabe
I managed to get my second COVID shot today, so depending on how I feel I may tap tomorrow...
I need a run to rinse/clear my lines. It may happen tomorrow.
Nothing running here in the North East corner. I tapped a cluster of reds back in January. I wanted to run my new RO to see and fix any problems that might have come up. Ran 55 gallons through and all is well. Also wanted to check out all the new toys and gadgets I added to my evaporator and filtering process.
I don't see too much good sap running temperatures in my area for quite a while.
Woodsrover, I didn't notice that you are way up in the Berkshires. Very different from coastal Connecticut! Did it turn out you got any flow, or did things stay all frozen up?Quote:
Originally Posted by berkshires
GO
So my memory from tapping in the early 1970's is coming back to me this year.
Sap will not run so well on the first few promising days if they immediately follow a well frozen ground with a good size blanket of snow over it.
I guess we can all surmise ( need no proof ) that the ground condition and roots has a say in the matter of sap flow.
And give us all the more reason for us to be predicting record sap flow rates for this year. Perhaps at least for our region.
But life brings no guarantees, not even that there will be a this year or the entirety of it. For anything or anybody.
So more importantly then anything ... just make sure you have fun with ... and tie some good salmon fishing flies if ya got no sap to watch or equipment to set up.
And pray that the Canadian Border in navigable by late June so that one can even get to the salmon.
After a fairly cold spell, the water in the stem will be somewhat depleted due to sublimation of water vapor out of the branches into the air, so the moisture content in the tree starts out low, so flow will be minimal the first time or two there is a thaw. The soil in the woods rarely freezes solid more than a few inches at most, but if the snow is packed around the stem of the tree, the stem will be solidly frozen and water in the soil cannot be pulled up into the stem and branches until there is enough melt to get the snow away from the stem a bit. Once this happens, during a freeze water will be drawn up into the stem and branches and will flow out the next time there is a thaw. Kind of like priming the pump...it takes a little while for the process to really get going well.
Are you saying the roots that are below frost line will always be available for decent water/sap flow, but that the stem itself may not be? Especially if the frozen stem is insulated by snow surrounding it.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins
I've got 5 collection tanks 1/3 full of frozen sap. Looks like it'll stay that way for a while! :lol: Oh well, I'm not too worried and will see what happens when we start to thaw. It'll easily be the latest I've had my first boil since I began. I'm imagining a furious 3-4 weeks when the weather starts to warm....Quote:
Originally Posted by berkshires