Bigsap Warning 2009

A Bigsap Warning Is Currently Being Declared For All Of The Maple Syruping Areas Of North America Including The Northeastern Us And Canada. A Combination Of Global Warming And Now Global Cooling And Heavy Snowpack Reducing Frost Levels In The Ground Have Made Conditions Very Favorable To Heavy Sap Flows In All Of These Areas In The Next Three Months. Be Sure To Have Extra Storage At The Ready. Tanks, 5 Gallon Buckets, Moms China, Kids Pool, Whatever. Do Not Let, I Repeat, Do Not Let Any Sap Get Wasted. This Stuff Is Currently Worth A Dollar A Gallon Once Its In A Drum To Density. Rethink Watching Watching Sports On Cold Days, Drinking Beer On Cold Evenings, B.s.ing With Your Friends On The Trader To Excess. Do The Right Thing And Tap Every Freakin Tree You Can Get Your Hands On Now, Its An Emergencey!!!!! More Updates Will Be Coming As Conditions Change. Thee(bigsapzar)roon

That $1.00 a gallon has me all worked up

Theron,
You are a nut!! But you are having fun. I would keep a look out over my left shoulder for the guys in the whites suits if I were you!

Theron I hope your wright about Big Sap coming, I Just went down south and picked up two 275 gal. tanks to feed the evaporator this year. Now we just need sap for them!

Now thats what its all about! We dont get quite that worked up here on the other side of the state. But it got a good smile out of me! Thanks BIG "T" Sap Alert man!

Chris :)

Being the BIGSAP allert guy is a BIG responsibility. Keeping the rest of us posted on the latest weather and sap flow trends is not something to be taken lightly! Keep up the good work Theron Tharian The(bigsapczar)ron!

Hurry up and get some sap in those tanks so that us Vermonters can come down to show you how to boil!!!!

Mike- When the temp goes over 32 degrees and the sun comes out I think youll be happy with the results. As soon as I get everything done here at the sugar house were going after more. Ill call you when the tanks are full and you guys can come down and show me how to get it in the barrells the quickest way goin. You guys better get me trained becouse I might put a couple thousand more on next year. Well see how many taps we can run on a 3 by 10. Zar

Hey!!! You guys never told me I had to boil this stuff:)
Patiently waiting for the next BIG sap alert!

Chris

You must be slacking Theron. Friday January 23rd 34degrees with a low pressure system. Test buckets will be watched. What is your high temp for for Friday?

stop it i dont want to hear that yet, ive got 63 taps up and ready and about 300 more to go, i still need an evap, and i dont have my tanks in place and still need a releaser, and i need to finish my tank shed, UHHHHHH

We in NW WIS got above 0 deg F for the first time in about a week a few days ago, and will be above freezing maybe tomorrow, for an hour. BUT, the time is near. I am tweeking the woods, making it just right...
YOU BETTER WATCH OUT, YOU BETTER NOT CRY, YOU BETTER NOT POUT I'M TELLIN YOU WHY, SAPPER TZAR IS TOUTIN HIS DRILL!

Bigsap Warning For The Southern Regions Of The Maple Sugaring Areas Of The Continental United States!!! This Is A Code Blue Bigsap Warning, I Repeat, Code Blue Bigsap Warning. Imminent Warming Temperatures In This Part Of The Syruping Region Could Result In A Serious Sapflow Situation. Use Your Own Judjement On Tapping Dates But Do Not Take Warning Lightly. Have All Your Tanks Clean, Evap Ready, Drill Batteries Charged, Plenty Of Beer And Cigarettes For The Sugar House Whatever Just Get Ready!!! Remember, As Sugarmakers, We Were Put On This Earth To Bring Delicious Maple Products To The Masses (for A Fair Return On Our Investments) And We Need To Take This Responsability Seriously. Good Luck To All. Zar

the pump will be on it way to the big T today see how it goes mite have to hook the leaf blower up backwards to the releaser

lol, let me know how your releaser works out, hey are you maybe interested in building another one???????

Theron,
I know you are a little high strung, but arent you getting a bit ahead of your self with the BIGSAP warnings? We have 2ft of snow and it was 0degs here this morning. and only one upper thirtys day in sight. go have your self some of what you relax with and make plans for more tubing!

Your probly right Dave but I think Im smelling BIGSAP in the air. You know I always go a little haywire this time of year. You guys just have to humor me till I get myself tired out down the road a little bit. Ill give you guys a heads up when I cap the first drum. Im thinkin that its soon going to be running HARRRRRRD. Theron

I'm all about having BIGSAP, but don't be calling for the sap gods too soon. I still have 200 more taps of tubing to run and an evaporator to brick and plumb up. And if it's going to be that good of a year I'll need to get more wood.

PA,
I don't think the BIIIGG SAAAAP is in our near future!!
It hasn't got above freezing here in more than ........... well I can't remember when, but it's been a while!!
Those trees are sooooo froze they won't be thawed out before July!!!
We're still getting below "0" at night!!!
I know what your smelling, it's the neighbor's pipe, any quesses what's in it!!!
Hey you just keep pumping us up!!!!
I figure another 21 days before we tap, if then!

Dave

Hey Theron,
Thank you, thank you, thank you! You gave me the push I needed w/ your "bigsap" report! My neighbor has been wanting to sell me five adjoining acres for 30K. It only has ten Maples on it, but I figured w/ the "Bigsap" coming it would be well worth it. The "Bigsap" would probably pay off the land in no time. To make sure I got it I offered five thousand MORE!
As I gave him my check and walked away, I thought I heard him say "What a Big Sap" I turned and asked, "Oh, you heard about it too!?" and wondered as I walked away why he let it go so cheap!!

Might be sooner for some than others ... go WVM go!!!

http://www.accuweather.com/us/wv/bec...Chg=1&metric=0

Danno,

It looks encouraging but they have a problem with the next day, much less 2 weeks out. We'll see what happens but I would rather wait until about the 7th to 14th to tap. It's been a very cold winter here so far, so I am not holding my breath.

Here's more like what the next 10 days look like. My sugarhouse is aprox 30 minutes from where I live and weather is sometimes 10 degrees colder there. I have found Acuweather about as accurate as my 3 year old.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/recre...opnav_outdoors

Brian- Theyre saying 39 here tomarrow but who knows wait and see. Main thing is just keep on getting ready. Theron

Down my way they are calling for Mid to High 30's today and Friday being in the low 40's.
Theron is getting me wound up about tapping but I think I have to take a deep breath and relax. We've had 2 weeks of really cold weather, just like everyone else, and I think it will take more than 2 days to thaw the trees out.
Now if I was on vac I would be on board with Theron, **** THE TORPEDOS, FULL SPEED AHEAD.

But you have to Theron some credit, he sure does know how to get everyone chatting on here.

Brandon those temps look pretty promising. My drill finger is getting itchy looking at those. If your sugarbush was at those temps the sap would be flowing. Can you pull up a forecast for the area where you tap?

It's 19 degrees here this morning which is warm compared to what it has been and there are no above freezing days in the 10 day forecast. Because of this global warming we aren't going to have a January thaw this year.

You may get a kick out of our forecast for NW Wisconsin:
Friday, high of 17, low of minus 11
Saturday, high of 8, low of minus 11
Sunday, high of 8, low of minus 12

Then the long range for next week is highs in the teens, lows around 0

It will be a while, so I can keep on putting more trees on line.

Inspired by PATzunamiSapTzar, and going for BIIIIIGGGG SAAAAP (for me)
I cant wait to make it happen.

Im definitely getting you guys excited at least. Thats half the fun all the anticipation. I dont know about buying ground on BIGSAP speculation though. I kind of did when I bought my place but Im a nut. Brandon- I wish I had my releaser hooked up in your neck of the woods. Do your vac guys make syrup now or do they wait? Taking off tomarrow. Getting stuff ready. Plumbed up the vac pump, hooking stuff up, Im gearing up for the big one. Plowing out a spot for the semi trailer saturday and I think Ill get it next week. Made a lot of changes again this year but should be pretty neat once things start. More reports to come. Theron

WVM...what's the elevation down there in beckley? i'm just wondering how my area west of gettysburg pa compares to your area. your target dates for tapping were about what i had in mind as well.

Holy Cow Sugarnut, there is another sugarer here in south central PA!

How far west of Gettysburg are you? I am located about 20 min north of Carlisle.

Theron I forgot all about the Semi trailer that you are getting. I am assuming you have a way of moving that thing around?

it going to have to get pretty warm befor i can tap my big bush is on a hill side on the edge of a 100 acre field the snow drifts are 10 to 15 feet deep in places

i'm down here on the edge of the michaux forest in waynesboro. :)

Dennis- Im hiring a guy to just bring it out and park it. I just want to use it for storage. Theron

Sugarnut, that is only about an hour south of me. It is good to see someone else making syrup in this neck of the woods. There isn't many people around here that makes syrup tat I know of. I believe you are the closest one to me.

So I see you have around 70 taps, did you get more or are you waiting to see how this year goes for you before adding more?

So when were you looking to get going this year? I went out today and man am I thinking I might tap some trees Friday or sometime this weekend.

due to some major budget issues, i may not be able to get the entire 70 in this year. maybe so if i focus on buckets and jugs...i dread the thought as spread out as the trees are, lol. i wanted to run a few more sections of tube, but i will be lucky if i can afford the taps. i will still tap something for sure.

seeing the sap running from sapsucker damage today, i was really tempted to start drilling. i just hate to see them sit frozen with the next round of cold weather. i thought last year was terrible. after a little up and down weather, we had a big freeze at the beginning of march followed by 70 degree temps a week later. many of my trees seem to break bud early. i have no use for buddy syrup, although i was surprised to see folks mention it can be sold commercially. i am too small to worry with it.

so what do you think about the upcoming weather trends? it would be nice to see 10 solid days forecast favorably for tapping. i am just not sure we are there yet.

how big is your operation? it would be nice to see another tapper in action. i would love to see how real equipment is used. my only experience is with my flat pan and a gravity tube setup that only worked marginally at best due to dips from no wiring and a few snake turns, lol.

Russ,

The link I posted about 10 posts ago for Meadow Bridge, WV is real close to my sugarhouse temps. Tommorrow is 49 with lots of sun and it was the same today and close to 40, but then no sap weather for next 10 days. I doubt I would get much if any sap tomorrow as it has been cold for most part her since Nov 12th.

Sugarnut,

I am around 2,600 in elevation where I live and where I tap even though the temp is close to 10 degrees and sometimes 15 degrees colder at the sugarbush. Last Friday night is was 1 where I live and -14 at the sugarhouse, aprox 20 miles the way the bird flies.

my trees are at @ 820 to 870. i'm in zone 6, but really close to zone 7. i'm just "over the hill" from gettysburg and gettysburg seems to get some influence from milder "coastal" temps at times. it just seems that spring comes in spurts here and the changes are somewhat drastic. it's like it will hit the 40's for a 2 or three days, jump into the high 50's and low 60's and then fall back down to a high of 30 in just a week, lol. repeat the cycle a few times and suddenly its 70 degrees.

i get the feeling that it would actually be better to be further south than i am as i wonder if the changes are a bit more subtle.

Sugarnut That is exactly how it is here also. Big Temp swings, Last year I tapped late and I think I missed the best run, I tapped the 2d week in Feb. This year I told myself that I was going to be tapped in by the end of Jan and I am still hoping I can do that. The time to do it isn't the problem, it is the weather.

This warm up that we just had kind of caught me off guard. It wasn't till the 1st day of the warm spell that I realized I should of tapped. Now it looks like Mon of Tues to tap for the next warmup coming Wed.

My OP is very small. Last year I started with 40 taps and with the wonderful weather we had last year I made just 2 1/2 gals.That was the most expensive syrup that I have ever owned. This year I amd adding 100 taps and figure I can deal with having too much sap it that happens.

ALERT!!!! ALERT!!!! BIGSAP!!! BIGSAP!!! False alarm must have just been a dream. Ok guys this is my prediction for at least our general area down here. February and March are going to be cool months. Theres not a lot of frost in the ground to go away so I think there will be a lot of small runs on vac, but maybe a lot of them. The gravity guys will have to watch for the better days. Maybe it will be a bit for that. I have two points I want to make. If the frost isnt there on account of the snow I think they will run after a cold spell better than we think maybe. This is the other point. Last year on vac, and this is the truth, after the sap started running I never saw a time when it was over 32 degrees when it was not running to some extent. That includes three days without a freeze. I can honestly say I never saw it stop untill I shut the pump off at the end of the season becouse I was out of wood and generally sick of it. Just a little insight into my experiance. I know a lot of those days it wouldnt have run on gravity. I think the two are just two different ball games. I think on gravity its smart to wait till the big runs start but if your on vac it could be a little different. Just my two crazy cents. Theeron