Well over a month to wait in the north but getting stuff ready in case an early thaw, it's been a much warmer winter compared to the last five, hope we don't go from winter to summer again
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Well over a month to wait in the north but getting stuff ready in case an early thaw, it's been a much warmer winter compared to the last five, hope we don't go from winter to summer again
Above freezing here in North Bay for today and tomorrow but I don't expect any sap to flow for at least a week or so. Over 4 ft of snow in the bush. Trees will take a while to thaw.
Agreed. Last year was wild. Had a very extended season of near perfect conditions then all of a sudden it was 25c.
Just a heads up for anyone looking for the glass 500ml Kent bottles. They are impossible to find this year. CDL just doesn't have any. The Gateway Home Hardware in North Bay still has 10 cases left. They are my best sellers. My neighbours buy that size by the case to give as gifts to family.
The price of the 1L glass "Grand" style bottles have nearly doubled in price this year. Was 1.26 per and now is 2.08$. Glass must have gotten expensive.
Hello, new to the forum here. This is my first year at trying the maple syrup. My sugar bush is just outside of troutcreek in the nipissing township. I built a small A frame shanty out of 2x4s and vapor barrier this winter to keep my boil out of the elements. Im planning on tapping 60 trees. I have been packing the trail down all winter so it should be fairly easy to access the trees. and I bought a 2x3 evaporator from CDL with a homemade stove under it. Please post when you are planning on tapping. And yes the snow is crazy deep.
I looked at the weather last night and it looks like our area is in the pluses next week. I plan on tapping on Sunday and see what happens. I know of someone that tapped last weekend and has a few start to run a little.
Going to put about 30 taps in today, I know somebody on Manitoulin Island tapped this weekend and said sap was slowly dripping and the temperature didn't go above -4c around here, but the sun was sure hot
Not a whole lot of snow in the bush here and some good crust, also south facing hills are showing a lot of ground
May get some good runs this week by the looks of our forecast, maybe even some 24 hr runs before the next freeze. The long range is changing daily to our advantage yet still not great daytime temperatures after this week. I'm hoping the sun for 2 days then the 20mm of rain opens the flood gates for a couple days.
I guess I have an itch to try my new evaporator and pan
My records show my taps were in on March 2 and March 9 last year and pulled the last of my 51 taps on April 25
200 Taps in and 130 to go. Looks like it is going to be near perfect weather this week in the North Bay Area. I am expecting Light flow Tuesday then a more significant flow to start and continue Wednesday. Some minor improvements this year include a Sap shack down by the lake with the option to keep the pump heated. I also rigged the pump and pump heater controlled by smart plugs so I can turn them on and off from my phone while in the sugar shack. Should save me a couple of hundred trips up and down the hill to the collection point.
I did notice a lot of damage from the winds last week. Lots of branches down from the maples. Hopefully the trees send the sap to the spiles and not to the damaged limbs.
I started tapping yesterday (March 15) Had my 4 year old grandaughter helping so we only got the first 15 buckets in. I'll drill another 25 today. Trees are starting to thaw and my guess is Wednesday will be the first real drips. At least one week early for me. North end of North Bay. Here's hoping for a good season.
I tapped 15 trees on the 7th and collected 3.5l as of last Friday. Only a couple of my trees were thawed out. The fun should start this week.
I got my 72 taps in on the weekend. I'm excited to see how much I get once I go this saturday or sunday. I'm on an unmaintained road and have been using my sled. But Have a feeling there will be a couple weeks where I will have to walk in before I can take my truck. I timed it last weekend its a 1.5km walk and it took me about 20 minutes, not too bad.
Tapped in West Nippissing today, 24 taps and the sap was flowing good, 10 litres in 3 hrs collected from those taps. Big shaded trees are still frozen but not for long if the weather predictor is correct.
I have 15 taps and collected 3.5L last Friday from the week's worth. I collected 3.5L on Wednesday from the previous Friday's run and collected 3L last night from one day. The run is getting better but I'm a long ways off from having enough for a boil. I was able to use my sled in the trail for the first part but now I'm on foot, not too bad as it's in the bush in my back yard. Once the snow melts more I will be able to use the tractor to bring back hopefully larger collections of sap.
Good flow so far today. 600L in the tanks of nice sweet sap. Yesterdays average was a whopping 4.2%. So far this morning it is 3.6%. Will check later on in the day to see what the sugar content of the sap is.
Enjoy this glorious weather. I have a picture from 2 years ago and it was my thermometer reading -28c on the 28th of March.
I'm just north of North Bay and I put in 80 taps (March 16-17) haven't been able to fill a 55 gal. barrel in 5 days. Just got way too warm on the weekend. No freezing forecast until thursday. Guess i'll sweeten the pan tonight and see what happens later in the week.
Well my first little boil down was a success. My Family and I collected 52 gallons of sap from my 72 taps on Sunday. I boiled it down that day on my setup out at the property and I finished it off in a turkey deep fryer at home. Got 4 litres of syrup.
Quick question, with this extremely warm weather do you think the sap I have in my buckets now have spoiled. Im hoping to go to the property tomorrow to check the buckets. I was thinking I could put the sap in a plastic drum and surround it by snow to help preserve it to the weekend. Or do you think I should go around empty my buckets on the ground and start collecting tomorrow for the weekend?
Tough call on that one, they may be ok, if the sap smells bad or looks milky boil a bit and smell it, if it's bad you will smell the sour, my guess would be its ok. If I am not mistaken I believe you said you're on drop tubes to buckets so that may have helped somewhat. Also if there's shade cover that helps also. Not sure how long it will last if it's starting to go bad already
I'm going to west nippissing to check my buckets that I emptied Sunday as well, so we're in the same boat.
Hopefully our season is going to start, daytime temperatures have been near and above double digits since the 17 and night temperatures have not gone below +5*c since the 21st.
The predictions are for a week of decent weather coming and with the rain and ground somewhat thawed out now we should expect some decent runs to come.
So far this season 150 litres sap from 52 taps 4 litres of syrup at 68 brix, (I like it thick). I would consider that a tease not a start
It's so amazing how good fresh syrup tastes compared to last years, tasting them side by side and same grade.
Greetings. This is only my second year at it but thought I should jump in.
Im near South River Ont. Tapped 75 trees this year on Mar 7. Collected about 300 liters of sap so far. Sap was 2.3 brix. First boil was this past Monday Mar 22 and got 8 liters of syrup. Sap was hardly running at all this week. As the rest of you have said, our nights never went below freezing. Yesterday was the first time I could collect buckets without wearing the snowshoes!
Although it rained all day yesterday, my trees all opened up after a week of sitting dry. Went out this morning and we had a fresh layer of snow. Removed all the ice from my buckets and collected roughly 40 gallons of concentrated sap.
My trees opened up as well. I collected 23L from my trees Saturday. My biggest haul yet. Yesterday was 17L. Hoping to see what the week brings so I can do a decent boil on the weekend.
I collected 150 litres since Thursday and boiled today. Here's hoping we have another week or more
Had a great run Sunday trough Tuesday evening. Collected 150 gallons from 75 taps. My trees had a strong steady drip all day despite the crazy wind on Monday, and then late into Monday they continued to drip. Temperatures look good for the next two days and then high double digits again for late Easter week end. Probably be the end of my season.
Hows everyone else up here making out?
Still going over here as well, yesterday I collected another 175 litres since Monday morning and expect the same this weekend after this deep freeze.
Well I had lots of sap to boil down for the last couple days. I had 50 gallons stored in a barrel. Once that was boiled down, I checked my 72 buckets and pretty much everyone of them was full, and they each had 1/4 to 1/2 ice. I dumped all the ice and kept on boiling. Brought a bucket of syrup home, going to finish it off this morning. I was still able to snowmobile into my property so that saved me some lugging.
Best Easter ever, sap is clear and full flow today, buckets are filling fast
Collected 255L from April 1 to April 4, but the season is more than likely done in the north as well with temps in the mid teens all week
I think today is going to be the last run. Forecast isn't good. Its a tough choice because my normal "tells" just aren't there. No buds on my trees. No peepers in the pond. The sap just isn't flowing. Maybe its time to finish up and hit the smelt run.
Not sure how everyone else did. I am down at least 40% of my normal production. Really low sap this year. Syrup is darker than normal but has great taste. Lots of fine sands in it and a bit harder to filter. Sap is still clear and about 1.6 Brix from what is coming in.
For all the newbies getting in on the action, don't give up. This was a very strange year for sap. Last year I did my final boil on May 3.
I pulled all my taps yesterday. (Apr. 6) 3 weeks earlier than last year. I too am about 60% what I made last year, although typically I push it until the last minute. I basically had 2 good runs this year and boiled twice. Made about 20 litres. All dark but very tasty.
Have a great summer everyone.
I have been reading this thread, just to get a feel for when the tapping season starts. Not sure if just north of Parry Sound is Northern Ontario or Central Ontario to compare to.
One of the things that surprised me is the number of Litres produced per tap. I was thinking it would average 1 litre per tap, but reading a number of the outputs, it is far less than that.
Is there still snow on the ground, when the tapping season concludes? I keep good photographic records of when the snow and ice is gone each spring. In general the snow is getting pretty sparse two weeks or so before ice out, which makes my plan of storing the sap in snow banks, less feasible.
Attachment 22486
As an example to compare last year I tapped March 7 and pulled the taps April 8. I'm just east of North Bay not too far from you so your results should be close.
Looking at your chart it seems that on a good year I could have a couple if additional weeks of tapping.
Talking to the locals around here, in a normal year they get their litre a tree and one guy who sells it says he averages about 1.8 litres a tree, but he said every tree is different snd the sugar content is different every tree. Perhaps he is tapping early and late.
I was trying to plan my logistics for the spring run. I will base it on a litre a tree.
Hey Swingpure. Im also Just South east of North bay. I typically tap sometime between last week in Feb or first week in March. I run about 370 taps on lines and 20 or so test pails near the sugar shack.
Been doing it for about 20 years and the 1L per tap is about right. Some years is lower some higher, but on average it is 1L syrup per tap. I used to get more but was running the very late season stuff. I don't do that anymore because I won't sell it and there are only so many ginger molasses cookies a man can eat in a year. I still have very dark syrup still from 10 years back that I occasionally use for BBQ sauces but thats it.
Thanks, I will plan and hope for the 1L per tree. I just found out tonight I can access another property, so I will be close to 50 taps. Hopeful,y I will get enough sap that I will learn from my mistakes as. Go and still have lots of quality syrup.Quote:
Originally Posted by 4Walls
My goal is to make Grade A syrup, even though I am not selling it. So much to learn when I actually do it.
I am thinking now that on the days that I have more sap then I can boil in that day, that I will plan on removing the most concentrated pan around 4 pm, stop adding firewood, but still boil and reduce the water content of the sap in the pans, with the residual heat, to give me a head start for the next day. Stopping around 4 should allow me to finish and bottle that day’s syrup. If I can boil off all of my available sap, I will stay and boil until I have.
Thanks again for the tips and I will wait for next spring when you say you are stopping collecting, to help me also avoid eating too many ginger cookies.