Tapped 1 tree 4 days ago,yesterday when the sun came out it was 1 drop per second. No snow, no frost and extended forecast no big changes.
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Tapped 1 tree 4 days ago,yesterday when the sun came out it was 1 drop per second. No snow, no frost and extended forecast no big changes.
What are your thoughts about tapping?
The rookie in me sees two weeks of potential tapping and who knows what weeks three and four hold.The rookie in me sees the bird in the hand and says tap, tap, tap. However what I have learned are three things, the weather is unpredictable, your ability to start up quickly and pause can be a big factor in your decision and the clock starts ticking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
What is your ability to pause your operation, because whether you get two weeks or maybe three weeks of this weather, it is only January, so some winter will return? If you are boiling on flat pans, steam pans or pots, your ability to pause is much easier than if you are using a divided pan.
The other concern is that the clock on your taps starts ticking. My guess is you normally tap about 7 weeks from now. If you tap now, there is the potential for your taps to close or slow just as your regular season is starting.
That is the big gamble, will there be a regular sap season this year and if so for how long. Maybe you get sap now and maybe the season starts early and you get the early flows as well. Or the weather corrects itself and there is a regular spring and you miss out on some of the later sap flows.
The weather is always the unknown and even the two week forecast could change and not be conducive to sap flowing.
The bird in the hand.
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If it would stay cloudy I would feel better. But as soon as that one tap I put in catches that sun about noon,drip,drip drip. Is this the new normal? Looking back at past issues of The Maple news there sure is alot of articles about early tapping.I know most of those guys are on vacuum and I am gravity, but?:confused:
I'm not ready yet to tap, although I do agree it feels like sugaring weather. I think it's too early to tap for my operation but I'm all on buckets. I think there's still winter left to come. My father-in-law says usually the weather goes through a two week pattern-gets a little warmer for two weeks, then a little cooler.
AS much as one side of me is saying go, the smarter side is saying wait until mid-February. That's going to be my plan as of right now, even with the temps. being what they are. I can always throw out a test bag to see what kind of flow is happening.
There has been a lot of discussion about the wisdom of early tapping.
You might want to take a look at this study from a few years back which our Dr. Tim participated in.
http://157.245.92.171/wp-content/upl...juvenation.pdf
Those folks tapping early also tend to have TENS OF THOUSANDS of taps (or more)...so they NEED to start in January to get all their spouts in by the normal season (late-February to early-March in those areas). I can guarantee you that they would prefer to tap a little later if they could...but given the huge number of taps they need to drill they have to start early.Quote:
Originally Posted by toquin
The other folks tapping now are from WV, NJ, VI, KY, southern Ohio, IL, IA. If you're not in that area (or some other place that is warm)...you probably should be holding off...especially if you're on gravity (buckets, bags, etc.).
They WILL also experience some loss in yield from the early-tapped trees due to the start of taphole drying (compartmentalization), but not in the trees that were tapped later. This is an acceptable loss given the need to start early to finish in time.
As nhdog suggested...read http://157.245.92.171/wp-content/upl...juvenation.pdf
I should have said early tappers are making syrup earlier. Sugarmaker in Vermont 12/23,Sugarmaker in New York 1/15/20. The next 10 days and the last 4 have been good days for sap flow in S.W. Michigan. Sugar is a little low,1.7%
Surprise the weather forecast changed for Michigan and despite the mild spell there are a lot fewer flow days as compared to a few days ago.
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