Is it really worth sugaring in the 2023 season??

I live in Northern New Jersey and the weather has been awful for trying to figure out when to tap the trees. I feel that it has been too warm and have been waiting on cooler weather to set in before I begin. I am a very small back yard producer and have been waiting for the temps to drop below 32 consistently for a few days and a forecast for the future (7 day outlook) to be at least below 32 at night and above 32 during the day. So far since 12/30/2022 the temps have been 35+ at night and 45-60 during the days for the past 2 1/2 months (outside of maybe 5 days). The forecast for the next 10 days is 36-40 at night and 50 to 62 during the day!!!! Will the trees really produce anything with these temps? NJ has a short sugaring window usually 3-4 weeks between Feb to mid March. With the rest of the month of February looking horrible will the trees produce or is it just a waste of time and I should keep the gear in the barn and hope that next year is better?? Comments welcomed.

I figure the worst that can happen is you get to experience all the experience of sugaring, but with lower yield. If it was about the yield and not the experience, you can just buy syrup. I'm not really answering the question you asked (because I don't know). But I do say tap! At least if you don't get much, you won't have to boil much!

So yesterday woke up and it was 58 and hit a high of 68. Today it started out at 57 and temps are going to fall to the 30's. Tulips and daffodils are sprouting in the flower beds. I love the experince but I have Norwegian maples and need roughly 55 to 60 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup and I honestly think I may not get that.

One interesting question is how does rain figure into the maple tree sap output. It has been extremely wet this season, it rains every 2-3 days for 2-3 days for weeks, so we went from near drought conditions in August to reservoirs over flowing in the past 2 months.

Get going as soon as a favorable stretch starts.
I was talking to a producer friend today who asked me 2 weeks ago when he should tap, I said to start that day. Since then on 105 buckets he has finished 20 gal, and is still going.
He only makes it for family and friends, sells none, he shuts down when he has 30 gal.

With this warm winter and the forecasts being so unpredictable we tapped on 2/4.Yes we have had days that were too warm to run but also days too cold to run. You take what you get. So far we have made 25 gals of good syrup. The forecast is for mid to high 20's at night most of the days. I just hope that the tap holes don't close up too soon with the warmer days predicted.

I live in South Central Pa. and our weather is certainly not the best for tapping. I hadn’t tapped for 3 years and decided this year I was going to tap again. I put 31 buckets out Jan. 31 and have only collected 56 gals. of sap but I’m glad I tapped. I’ll take whatever Mother Nature gives me and thank her for the joy tapping gives me. It’s great to be out in the woods and that first boil and the first smell of syrup cooking makes it all worth while, so I say go for it.

Have had perfect temps for sap the last few weeks..Tioga county, NY. 7 day forecast looks good too. Just seems too early but I'm going to go for it today. Waited too long last year and it turned warm and stayed that way.

The next 10 day temps look good although we have not had any snow which is a record for Northern NJ. We blew the old record away which use to be no measurable snow through February 6 and the forecast is the same for no snow in the next 7 days. I am going out to tap trees and very excited to get the season started but have some reservations that this season will be very short, like maybe 3-4 weeks. Temps today 40's but tonight 19 and the rest of the week will be 40's during the day and 25-31 at night. Will let you know how things turned out and thanks for the conversations.

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Originally Posted by Leckster

The next 10 day temps look good although we have not had any snow which is a record for Northern NJ. We blew the old record away which use to be no measurable snow through February 6 and the forecast is the same for no snow in the next 7 days. I am going out to tap trees and very excited to get the season started but have some reservations that this season will be very short, like maybe 3-4 weeks. Temps today 40's but tonight 19 and the rest of the week will be 40's during the day and 25-31 at night. Will let you know how things turned out and thanks for the conversations.

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If you have not tapped yet in New Jersey, and you want to tap this season, do it on the next thaw out. I.E. Have your taps in for tomorrow. The season could still easily be very productive for you. You could easily have good sap flow for the next 3 weeks. If that is the case, you will be so sick of sap you will never want to tap a tree again in your life.

So it's been 7 days since I tapped and things do not look good. First when I drilled the hole no sap came out. In the past 6 years of tapping trees some sap had always started to flow before the spline was even put in. Temps dropped that night (Friday) from 40 to 19 and the next day only had a high of 27. No Sap probably frozen. By Sunday it warmed up to 40 and the Sap started to flow, YAY! since then the weather has been high of 40's to low of 30. 50 taps and less than 18 gallons of sap in 7 days. Next 7 days looking to be more of the same temps ranging 50 to 32 I am expecting no more sap, Am I wrong in thinking this?. Is this year going to be a bust??

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Originally Posted by Leckster

So it's been 7 days since I tapped and things do not look good. First when I drilled the hole no sap came out. In the past 6 years of tapping trees some sap had always started to flow before the spline was even put in. Temps dropped that night (Friday) from 40 to 19 and the next day only had a high of 27. No Sap probably frozen. By Sunday it warmed up to 40 and the Sap started to flow, YAY! since then the weather has been high of 40's to low of 30. 50 taps and less than 18 gallons of sap in 7 days. Next 7 days looking to be more of the same temps ranging 50 to 32 I am expecting no more sap, Am I wrong in thinking this?. Is this year going to be a bust??

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I feel your pain. Yesterday I got 30 out of my 60 or so taps, and 17 the day before. Before that, I don't think i had any since Tuesday or Wednesday last week. What a weird year.

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Originally Posted by Leckster

So it's been 7 days since I tapped and things do not look good. First when I drilled the hole no sap came out. In the past 6 years of tapping trees some sap had always started to flow before the spline was even put in. Temps dropped that night (Friday) from 40 to 19 and the next day only had a high of 27. No Sap probably frozen. By Sunday it warmed up to 40 and the Sap started to flow, YAY! since then the weather has been high of 40's to low of 30. 50 taps and less than 18 gallons of sap in 7 days. Next 7 days looking to be more of the same temps ranging 50 to 32 I am expecting no more sap, Am I wrong in thinking this?. Is this year going to be a bust??

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You just tapped 7 days ago so the tap holes should be fine. Next week looks like a great week here except you're thinking your lows will only marginally freeze and that's not good enough. Maybe you'll do better on some of those days?

Well this season is a bust. The trees are budding and I have 26 gallons of which I do not think will be any good to boil. Its taken 4 weeks to get that much and I believe that 4 week old sap would be not be good to boil, is that correct?? It would only get me maybe a 1/2 gallon anyway.

I guess with having a drought through the summer and into December and then temps in the winter which did not drop below 30 for most of the season is the cause. Not sure about the drought part but maybe someone here knows how a prolonged dry spell affects the trees. It did become very wet in December through the maple season but just not cold.

4 weeks is probably too long for the sap to be good, but if you had boiled it as you go and stored each little boiled batch separately in the fridge, you could now boil it all into syrup.

Of course, the worst that can happen is that it will taste bad. You could try boiling now to make sure you kill anything, and give the sap a taste. If it tastes good, you're good and you could finish it to syrup.