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Starting tapping now at the UVM Proctor Maple Research Center in Underhill Ctr., Vermont. A crew of 2 tappers, sometimes with a support person walking ahead clearing lines. Good going....not much snow on the ground. Hopefully we can have it done before we get much snow. Should have it done with a few weeks.
Line and chainsaw work for about a month before this.
Should have about 5,000 taps this year.
Lots of work left to do to get the sugarhouse put together....more to update on that later.
Running chainsaw in the woods now trying to clean things up. I have about 1100 tapped so far. Hoping to be done mid to end of next week. Looks like a cold front is coming our way. Good luck everyone.
Spud
I've been replacing a section of woods that had the oldest tubing and re designing the layout hope to be done soon and start tapping the first weekend in Feb.
though it sure seemed I should be tapping in Jan. but I think it will be relatively cold the next few weeks so should be OK.
I've been fighting a stomach bug and nasty cold all the same time sure hope to be back to par soon Looking forward to the season as we all are!
Funny, to me they suggested adding oil for the summer or running it periodically which I have been doing. Glycol would be easy though. Thanks for the tip!Quote:
Originally Posted by wsugar
Washing and rinsing ro now to be ready to boil tomorrow. Since Sunday afternoon when I closed the valve on the bulk tank I have pulled in about 800 gallons from 400 taps, 3/4 of that since some time overnight. Temp. went over 40 today and it is still running pretty well. Sugar at about 1.8 so not bad for January
We've made 170 gal so far. First year ever I have tapped in January. Sap is running today plan on boiling tomorrow. Looks like I have a little time to do some tuning in the woods. The new evaporator is working great.
This is my first time tapping in January but I'm thinking it won't be the last. Kind of like a dress rehearsal for the real thing...
We did not have a solid freeze here thursday night so I awoke to 1000 gal. of sap. I have 1100 of bulk storage capacity so I fired up the ro and squeezed that and what came in yesterday until about 2pm down to about 200 gal. The sugar content over the last week ranged from a low of 1.6 to a high of 1.8. Filled the evap. and boiled for about 2 hours and sweetened pans and made over 10 gallons. I haven't filtered or graded yet but looks GD to AR range with decent flavor. A little bit of a "tang" which I suspect is from the tubing...
Things froze up last night and it looks like winter is back for a bit. Going to finish up changing drops and tapping to be ready for the next warm-up.
On a related note, I found a couple smart spouts that were defective and leaking. I didn't notice it while tapping but then they were manufactured, the mold did not completely fill so it left a void in the drop connector. In both spouts I found leaking around at the drop, the leak was due to an inadequate seal. If you are using CDL smart spouts, something to keep an eye out for.
We finished tapping yesterday , Started two weeks ago and have collected a bunch of sap as we tapped , Ran the RO a couple times also , Sap ran good that last couple of days here and also got a little bonus run this afternoon . we will boil tomorrow first time in January for us .
Surprise runs this weekend and pulled in over 1 gpt sat. and sun. It's amazing what vac. tubing can do at 33F. Not enough to fire up so will let it freeze in the tanks until the next warm-up.
Finished tapping Friday and working on the list of odds and ends that need to be fixed this week. Thankful for the cold spell cause i'm going to Florida with my girlfriend from Thursday until the following Tuesday. The weather has worked out near perfect for us so far this year. Good luck to everyone. General Stark, hopefully that smart spout problem is not widespread or else there will be a lot of sugarmakers upset this year.
Hi!Quote:
Originally Posted by WestfordSugarworks
Is there a general/average/ballpark price anyone can share for selling sap?
Thanks!!
JQ
Really too many variables to answer that. Location, volume, who is trucking.Quote:
Originally Posted by MJPJ Sugars
Gotta say I've never been so happy to see 0 degrees as I was this morning. Long term forecast shows cold for the next couple weeks at least.
I am almost done tapping. Looks like nothing but cold weather for a while. I would be just fine with my season starting mid March.
Spud
We're still tapping on the hill here. I'd be good with your timeline though.....lots to do in the sugarhouse to be ready for the season.Quote:
Originally Posted by spud
The most common system in our area is payment based on a determined percentage of the bulk value of the syrup produced from that sap. Sap sellers are usually paid somewhere between 60-65% of the bulk value of the syrup that the buyer boils down from their sap. That is how everyone I know does business around here but i'm sure there are different ways people go about it. Every time our buyer picks up he records the sugar content and volume of sap and then we get a check at the end of the year based on how much syrup our sap was turned into.Quote:
Originally Posted by MJPJ Sugars
Thanks!! Found a (relatively) simple explanation of the formula -- makes sense. Thanks! -- JQQuote:
Originally Posted by WestfordSugarworks
https://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/wilmot_pricing.pdf
No problem. My advice is don't let anyone pay you less than what you can get for your sap. You should be able to clear 62% of bulk in your area and don't let anyone try to convince you to accept less. You can probably get 65% including their trucking if you ask around. Maybe not though, with the bulk price expected to be lower this year from what I hear. Who knows. Margins might be getting thin for some people.Quote:
Originally Posted by MJPJ Sugars
Terrible accident in Vermont, Interstate 91 north at exit 27 in @NewportVT has been closed due to a #Maplesyrup spill. Fire dept is on-scene working on clean up.https://twitter.com/VTStatePolice/st...15858499424256
Some of the comments after the announcement were pretty good.
1 barrel spilled. some of the comments are funny... many cliché!
Looking for advice. This is my second year, last year I had put out 10 taps originally in Feb on buckets and by mid march they dried up and I had to tap 5 more. This year I am looking to do about 60 taps on 3/16 gravity vacuum. I really want to tap because with the weather coming next week I should get some sap but I don't want to tap to early and have my taps dry up. I was wondering what people with experience think.
On tapping early on buckets... I have tapped as early as January and had the trees run well into April, but they definitely do slow down with time and some will stop running before the season is over. If you have only a few trees I would wait until it starts running and then tap in. I do this now myself. I have a couple of trees that run early and I tap them when it looks like it will run that week, when they start I tap in the rest of the trees. Can make for a frantic day with my 70 taps, but it maximizes output. I will already have storage setup and my dump stations are cleaned and ready before the first tap. I also have some "extra" trees that I can move taps to as trees stop running. You can also tap a second time on one tree if they are large enough to do so... do one early and one later in the season.
I will likely tap in the test trees next week, though I think the trees will take a bit more time to startup now that we have snow I am always fully tapped in by Town meeting day regardless of weather since that gives two months max of sap. If it's running in May I am likely already out of wood :o.
Have fun cause its almost time :lol:
Thanks for the info smokey. Maybe I will just tap the trees Saturday and see when it starts to run. Then I can do the rest like you said. Thanks again.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Quote:
Originally Posted by rfogg
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Battery's on charge and drills are ready for Saturday
Here we go!!
Saturday is going to be 42 and sun. Might see a little sap. I'm buried under two feet of snow so I sure hope there is no lines to be fixed. We may even get some sap on Sunday. Lets hope a bunch of this snow melts fast.
Spud
Hello all - I hung 5 buckets this morning here in Peru VT. Just a very slow drip in a couple of them. The forecast calls for several more days in the 40s this week. Shouldn't we expect a run? Maybe we haven't had enough nights below zero (I read somewhere that the sap doesn't flow unless and until there have been 100 nights below zero....)
I will put up the rest of my buckets (45) tomorrow and Monday, I think.
I think it must have meant below freezing. Being below zero (0 deg F) isn't important.Quote:
Originally Posted by pen61guin
More likely the slow start of sap is because tree stem temperature lags quite a bit behind air temperature. While the branches might thaw out some, if the trunk isn't thawed out, the sap won't run. We've had some really cold nights....takes a bit of time to thaw out those big stems once they are solidly frozen. In addition, the deep snow keeps the temperature down around the base of the tree. Give it some time....when it finally thaws, there will be a gusher.
Dr. Tim and everybody else for that matter, do you think it will let loose next week? I'm currently out of town until late next week (but in theory could come back sooner), but luckily ready to go, but wasnt planning on being tapped out until march 1. Do you think I will miss a ton? I'm in Central VT, and the snow is deep there, but it looks to get pretty warm next week:/
Based on the forecast it would appear that much of Vermont could get a good sap run next week, but you never know for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by sugaringcrazy
As for how much you might lose....if you provide me with a detailed forecast for the next month (which nobody really can....despite what Accuweather seems to think) then perhaps I'd be able to tell you. Could be a little, could be a lot.
Thank you Dr. Tim! (Are you like the Dr. Phil for maple addicts? :D )
Yes, you're quite right - it's 100 nights below freezing, not 100 nights below zero. I could pretend that I meant zero Celsius, but that would be an alternative fact
Looking forward to a run this week - as you say, the big stems take a while to thaw out, so maybe we'll get something going by Tuesday or Wednesday
Wow....I hope not. Not a real fan of Dr. Phil.Quote:
Originally Posted by pen61guin
I think what you are referring to is the chilling requirement to break bud dormancy. Different northern tree species have different cold temperature requirements necessary to break down growth inhibition compounds to allow the buds to become active. Sap flow in maple is a very different biophysical process. It will happen any time the leaves are off and the temperatures go from below to above freezing.Quote:
Yes, you're quite right - it's 100 nights below freezing, not 100 nights below zero. I could pretend that I meant zero Celsius, but that would be an alternative fact.
Closer to Gandalf I'd say........Quote:
Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins
had a fairly decent run this weekend considering there is 3-4 feet of snow around the trees! we tapped Saturday a.m and by the time we were done the trees were dripping. between Saturday and yesterday we were able to flush the lines and clean the tanks. I shut the valve on the tanks yesterday at 10 a.m and we were able to gather 125 gallons from my 200 taps between then 7:30 last night. sugar is low... 1.6. if the forecast comes true this week, we'll be making syrup by the end of the week!
Sugaring has started for me. I got 1.5 GPT in the last day and a half. I am running terrible vacuum right now at just 20 inches. It appears me and my friend missed several drops during tapping. Going to head up in the woods and try to get them today and tomorrow. Snow is still very deep making it hard for me to get around. Should see big sap this week. Sugar levels seem to be a bit higher this year for me. I have a funny feeling sugaring will be over by the end of March in my area. Time will tell. Good luck everyone.
Spud
I'll take that :cool:. You should have seen me during my recovery. Didn't shave or cut my hair for a couple of months (I did shower though :D). My nieces and nephews started calling me Santa. Finally trimmed the beard and got my hair cut a week or so ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunday Rock Maple
Tapped in on Sat and every tree was running ! Collected last night and got around 30 gallons on 60 taps. Looking like this will be THE week for me ! Time to get the evap setup ... yikes :o
I decided the weather was too much for me to wait it out so I tapped one big set of trees that is about half red maples. I kept another set of trees untapped as a sort if insurance plan just in case winter sets back in for a few weeks. Looks like we'll be boiling by mid-week for sure.
I am going to tap Wed. afternoon and Thursday. I was worried I might not be able to because of my knees and the deep snow. But we lost so much snow I can probably tap without snow shoes and my knees should be able to handle that.