what a weird winter - or lack of?

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Originally Posted by Gord

Agreed. Glad I tapped at the end of January, or I would have nothing to boil. Had a lot of plans and ideas to try this year, but my trees are pretty much done. I'm sure people on vacuum did ok. I'm on buckets, and they are more like decorations than sap collectors.

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This was my first year on vacuum. Last year i had 14 taps on buckets and this year I have 30 taps on vacuum. I ended up tapping end of January because I am near the shoreline and the weather really didn't seem like it was going to cooperate long term. It's been a slow trickle into the tank aside from one good week in early February.

As the season stands now I've made the same amount of syrup as last year. I'm hoping my taps are still running next week and I can get a few more gallons of syrup.

I boiled a bit yesterday and finished this morning. Drew off maybe 2 1/2 gallons of what looks like very dark. Should run here and there this coming week but I think next weekend will be my last boil.

I'm expecting some runs later this week, but I'm very curious to see what they produce.
I'm about 1/2 of what I would expect in a season, and I'm doubtful I'll make it to the average given this weather.
That said, hopefully I'm busier than expected in the next couple weeks.

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Originally Posted by bryankloos

I'm expecting some runs later this week, but I'm very curious to see what they produce.
I'm about 1/2 of what I would expect in a season, and I'm doubtful I'll make it to the average given this weather.
That said, hopefully I'm busier than expected in the next couple weeks.

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Bryan

I have been tapping Red runs on tubing and Sugar runs on tubing and Reds on drops to buckets and Sugars on drops to buckets. It seems to be that the Reds have been knocked out by the warm weather much more so than the sugars. The differential between the two seems more obvious to me this year than any other year.

I know others on this website who have forgotten more about sugaring then I know say there is no difference between the closeup of reds and sugars, but that has not been my experience and ESPECIALLY not this year. I do have a run of Reds on vacuum that I can still squeeze some sap out of eligible days, but even the sugars on drops to buckets (after that warm spell) outperform them. When I first tapped in early February (the 6/7th) the Red vacuum run was outperforming all by sap volume.

If the Reds don't resuscitate after this freeze up, I am going to hold firm to my belief that red taps quit sooner than Sugar taps even though others say otherwise.

But yes, I am curious too to see who is still there and who has quit. My money is on the sugar maples still being there.

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Originally Posted by Sugar Bear

If the Reds don't resuscitate after this freeze up, I am going to hold firm to my belief that red taps quit sooner than Sugar taps even though others say otherwise.

But yes, I am curious too to see who is still there and who has quit. My money is on the sugar maples still being there.

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I didn't tap until 2/11 because of time and money. I have a mix of sugar and red maples. Both have been flowing when they should, at least for me in the northern most part of the state. My past experience has been that the reds will stop producing sap before the sugar maples but I've never had bad (buddy) sap from the red maples. With the stretch of warm weather that we had, I do think that the trees were close to doing that and a few of them may have. However, I've since tapped more reds and sugar maples and they were both producing sap when I tapped them.

Of the next three weeks, this up coming week looks like it will have the warmest weather from what I can tell but its too far out to know for sure. I'm hoping that will keep the trees running for me.

Dave B, I seem to be just across the line from you in MA. Do you think the trees will start producing again? I have only been at this for a few years, its more of a hobby than anything else.

I haven't collected more than 90 or so gallons of sap I use drop lines into buckets. years past, i would have at least double that. I hope with this cold snap and snow, the trees reset and we can start the season over again.

thoughts anyone?

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Originally Posted by DaveB

I didn't tap until 2/11 because of time and money. I have a mix of sugar and red maples. Both have been flowing when they should, at least for me in the northern most part of the state. My past experience has been that the reds will stop producing sap before the sugar maples but I've never had bad (buddy) sap from the red maples. With the stretch of warm weather that we had, I do think that the trees were close to doing that and a few of them may have. However, I've since tapped more reds and sugar maples and they were both producing sap when I tapped them.

Of the next three weeks, this up coming week looks like it will have the warmest weather from what I can tell but its too far out to know for sure. I'm hoping that will keep the trees running for me.

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Very interesting

Over the next 3 weeks, I think you should be anywhere from OK to GREAT on the sugar take based on your tap date and the forecast and your location.

I rank New England tap zones/climates on a 1 to 6 scale. 1 being the warmest and 6 being the coolest.

GENERALLY speaking, it goes like this, BUT the numbers can stray within zones/climates due to variations of geological aspects within those zones.

Anything below the Merrit Parkway is a 1 zone

Anything above the Merrit Parkway up to Hartford is a 2 zone

Anything north of Hartford up to the center section of the Berkshire Plate ( Great Barrington MA ) is a 3

Anything from the central Berkshire Plateau to the Vermont border is a 4

Anything from the Vermont border to Rutland VT is a 5

Anything from Rutland to the Canadian border is a 6

I rank both my tap locations as a Zone 2 and bout smack in the middle of it.

I rank your location in Stafford Springs, CT as the high side of Zone 3, because you are up near the latitude of Great Barrington MA and also high in elevation ( generally Stafford Springs is ). Now yes of course, if your bush has a strong southerly exposure that pulls your zone down a bit.

But based on what you say and the forecast, I bet your in good shape in the coming weeks and with the Reds too. But just my WEG which could be blown away by the vicissitudes of the world we live in.

On the other hand, IMO, Generally speaking, the duration of sap flow, is much more closely related/similar in a 6 zone then it is in a zone 1 with regards to Sugar Maples VS Red Maples. I will take that opinion to anyone, anywhere anytime. Even if they have forgotten more about maple sugaring then I will ever know.

And yes, tubing and vacuum pull any differences together to some extent at any location.

I went out today & tapped 30+ new trees, at 3 pm the last one was just starting to drip. It was 12F this morning. Whatever isn't running of the 1st batch is coming down this week. End of last week i couldn't tell what was on the end of a run, still froze, of just 'dead in the water' One of my best areas did the least this year. Anyway, good weather ahead, as long as there's no 60 degree days, we'll be o.k. I have the 2nd graders coming on the 8th.

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Originally Posted by Sugar Bear

Very interesting

Over the next 3 weeks, I think you should be anywhere from OK to GREAT on the sugar take based on your tap date and the forecast and your location.

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I
rank your location in Stafford Springs, CT as the high side of Zone 3, because you are up near the latitude of Great Barrington MA and also high in elevation ( generally Stafford Springs is ). Now yes of course, if your bush has a strong southerly exposure that pulls your zone down a bit.

But based on what you say and the forecast, I bet your in good shape in the coming weeks and with the Reds too. But just my WEG which could be blown away by the vicissitudes of the world we live in.
...

And yes, tubing and vacuum pull any differences together to some extent at any location.

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I do have a vacuum pump so I know that helps. I started looking at vacuum 20 years ago when we had a really warm winter and producers that had it did better than I did. It took me 10 years to get it but that's why.

I think zone 3 is a fair assessment. There's a rule of thumb in weather forecasting that every few hundred feet of elevation is similar to being a certain amount of latitude north. I'm at 650' at my house but one of my sugarbushes is around 1-1200' and is north facing. I also have one at 300' in the valley where my sugarhouse is (it's on our farm in Somers where I grew up) so a good variety.

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Originally Posted by Mike Van

I went out today & tapped 30+ new trees, at 3 pm the last one was just starting to drip. It was 12F this morning. Whatever isn't running of the 1st batch is coming down this week. End of last week i couldn't tell what was on the end of a run, still froze, of just 'dead in the water' One of my best areas did the least this year. Anyway, good weather ahead, as long as there's no 60 degree days, we'll be o.k. I have the 2nd graders coming on the 8th.

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I saw the same thing on this side of the state. It seemed like it took a while to get things going but I saw some action before I headed home.

For what it's worth, I think things look good the next few weeks. This Thursday looks like the warmest day but consistently below normal after that. I use this site to get a consensus on temperatures. Focus on the graph on the right. Every one of those of those is a model and I look at the mean value. All below normal:

https://www.wxcharts.com/?panel=defa...18&skewtstep=0

You can click on the map for a graph for your location. It's been very consistent with that which gives me hope going into March.

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Originally Posted by DaveB

I do have a vacuum pump so I know that helps. I started looking at vacuum 20 years ago when we had a really warm winter and producers that had it did better than I did. It took me 10 years to get it but that's why.

I think zone 3 is a fair assessment. There's a rule of thumb in weather forecasting that every few hundred feet of elevation is similar to being a certain amount of latitude north. I'm at 650' at my house but one of my sugarbushes is around 1-1200' and is north facing. I also have one at 300' in the valley where my sugarhouse is (it's on our farm in Somers where I grew up) so a good variety.



I saw the same thing on this side of the state. It seemed like it took a while to get things going but I saw some action before I headed home.

For what it's worth, I think things look good the next few weeks. This Thursday looks like the warmest day but consistently below normal after that. I use this site to get a consensus on temperatures. Focus on the graph on the right. Every one of those of those is a model and I look at the mean value. All below normal:

https://www.wxcharts.com/?panel=defa...18&skewtstep=0

You can click on the map for a graph for your location. It's been very consistent with that which gives me hope going into March.

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I started a 12 volt Vacuum on my Reds last year and they out produced my best sugar run which was doing up to 16 inches of Merc on 5/16 natural vacuum. On some days I was getting 1.5 gallons of sap per tap last year on them.

Again, got good output this year on the Reds from the 6th to the 16th but have since shut down and not really outputting well at all on eligible days with the booster. And could be done for the year if they don't do anything this week.

My sugars will produce this week, confident of that. Might switch my pump over from the Red Run to the sugar run this week. Why not?

I would be VERY surprised if your season is anywhere near being over at your location and having tapped on the 11th. Even with the warm we have had. Especially if you have had your taps on vacuum and tubing.

But it seems like the sun rising in the morning should no longer be taken for granted after this winter.