Started tapping late today,drilled about 250,some running pretty good,but still pretty cool.snow(or ice) was crusty and hard to walk on for tapping.
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Started tapping late today,drilled about 250,some running pretty good,but still pretty cool.snow(or ice) was crusty and hard to walk on for tapping.
It is 45 mins north of Belleville on hwy 62 just north of Madoc. This is at least 3 weeks earlier than when i usually would tap any trees.
2009-9 taps, boiled over an open pit made 7 liters
2010- built a 10 x 20 shack and a homemade boiler made out of an old oil tank topped with a 2 x 4 pan
2010-101 taps, made 37 liters
2011-41 taps, made 44 liters
2012-41 taps so far
i am 45 mins north of belleville on hwy 62.Quote:
Originally Posted by MustardSeedMum
Ah, ok. We explored around the area from Cramahe east/northward to Stirling a few years ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maple Jay
I noticed in your sig line that you made more syrup last year with less taps than the year before. Did you do something different? If I get a litre of syrup per tap, I'll be very happy!
All the best for this season! It's going to be interesting for sure, with the weather we're having.
Thinking about tapping near Bishops Mills maybe around Feb 25 or 26 have 2 trees tapped as a test they are running slowly
Well we did it and taped all our 600 trees on gravity feed on Monday, we will wait till March break to put up our buckets, sap is slowly starting to flow, will flush out the holding tanks this weekend and see what the sugar content is on Sunday and we may start collecting then. Still running out the last of the water in the lines it's starting to get sweeter it got to 0.9% last night we should be good by then end of the weekend. Looking forward to that first boil!
First semi run yesterday/tuesday night. Got about 50 gallons off the 120 or so taps. Was still running in about 6pm last night. More frost last night and high today of 4 with some sun so maybe a good run today.
didn't test the sugar content out. Had a really small boil just to sweeten the pan and test out the chimney... shack still standing so all went ok.
wont boil this down until Friday unfortunately... darn early season!
Total this year just over 5000 litres of sap.. Lots and lots and lots of new squirrel chews daily &^%$##
Got more shotgun shells last night. Pity.
In Parry Sound.
Hoping to set out some taps early next week.
Nightime temps -10, so want the trees to warm before we drill.
Got about 30 gallons of sap yesterday..... with the storm system here today and plus 2 this afternoon may get a run... but I must get in the final ice fishing of the year! here's hoping there is still some ice up north!
Is it bad to tap the trees when they're frozen it's -4 here and I was going to tap 20 or so trees this afternoon.
I'm no expert, but I think it's ok to tap. The big guys probably tap when things are frozen.Quote:
Originally Posted by deckers007
Just be careful not to split the tree when you hammer it in.
Looks like it'll be game on this week with nice looking temps!
All the best.
Better not to tap when frozen, less chance of splitting the trees.
Ian
You can tap as long as the sapwood is above -5 C. We put most of our taps in when its at the freezing mark or just below and as long as you don't try to drive the spout like its a 3.5" nail there's no additional damage to the sapwood.
I read that somewhere - tapping is okay above -5C. Dancing is fine above -30C.
Disappointing run yesterday considering the beautiful sunny +8 or so day.
One note to link up with the tapping at -5 thread... I put in my taps when it was pretty cold so I didn't hit them hard. Now looking around alot of them have air bubbles getting sucked into them so I know they aren't sealed completely. I'm using the seasonal clear 5/16 straight spout which you then have to remove the line from to tap them in again... which is a pain in the butt. You can kind of fold the line over and whack them lightly, but on a couple it actually cut through the line.
I tapped 100 trees late on Sunday the 19th. Trees were running well on Sunday, but haven't done much since. I have about 60gallons of slush in the main tank now and a pile of ice chunks in my collecting tank. We collected about 25 gallons last night which seemed low to me given the weather. Hoping today will be a better day.
The goal is to get at least 200 gallons before the weekend so that we can sweeten the pans and start to make some syrup. Be nice to have a little open-house for the friends and family on Saturday if things are flowing well.
I plan to tap another 50 as soon as I get a chance.
Lapierre does make a tool for that so you don't have to remove the tubing to re-seat them:Quote:
Originally Posted by Yellzee
http://www.sugaringequipment.elapier...uit=184&page=1
Its in the top of the picture, bottom on the list (Driver for seasonal spout 7.75”)
They also have a video on their website on how to use the tool.
Since our droplines are not very long (28" to 30") we went with the 90 degree elbow spouts for our one section of the woods, which can be driven in using any hammer, pliers, stick, rock etc...!
thanks Ennis, I have to admit I've tried the stick and rock on the straight thru... the rock I really don't recommend.
bottle batch #1 at 7.5l, I'm grading it medium... tastes excellent... from 70 or so gallons of sap that's not bad.
alot alot alot of sugar sand in there, had a lot of trouble filtering it.. but my helper didn't filter it when going from the pan to the finishing pot.
It seems every year there is a lot of bitching about sugar sand. This year it's our turn.
We're getting so much that we need to change prefilters every 2 litres or so.
What do you attribute that excessive sugar sand, Brent? Do you have any snow in the bush right now and is that a factor?
Got finished drilling here today so am hoping for some warmer weather - maybe Fri/Sat and towards the end of next week looks good! From what I gather the boys that drilled earlier in this area have only had one real good run so far, so hoping I haven't missed too much.
I don't think the excess sand is an issue that has had much research done on it so I don't think my opinion is worth much, but I don't happen to think it has anything to do with what's happening now, specifically the current weather or snow cover. I think the factors that affect this years sap happened last fall. Rainfall, sunlight, and even if there was a late season thunderstorm that passed over your bush and dumped a lot of nitrogen from the lightening.
I haven't had any sugar sand in quite a few years now. I don't know why, but in my first years I only tapped hard maple and now I'd say I have more soft than hard.
When I did have it, I remember years worse than others. In those worse years, my uncle who lives 5 miles up the road was the same. He is all hard maple.
I sympathize Brent - but hopefully this means its your turn this year and not ours! The sugar slime we got last year was terrible. We spent more time changing filters than anything else!Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent
It can all change in a day. Maybe this snowstorm will help?
nothin happening in my woods last few days. maybe today but my gut is saying no.
At least we have some snow in the woods now!
I can see this as being a problem with your filtering. I was wondering what problems this sand causes in your pans? After boiling do you drain your pans and soak them with RO water?Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent
Spud
Forgot to filter out the debris from my sap pan to my finishing pot. So after finishing, I put the syrup through a prefilter.
Darn it, looks like I'm starting to get an excessive amount of nitre. Clogged the prefilter right up almost instantly.
Looks like I might have celebrated prematurely about my sap collection on Saturday. Volume of sap was great.
But when I went to boil it today, my sap to syrup ratio seemed worse than my first 2 boils.
Maybe tomorrow's boil will go better. I'm looking forward to it - cranking up the woodstove early tomorrow in -12C temperatures. With no sugar shack to speak of. :evil:
Stomping off to bed now.
Despite almost being blown out of the bush, we collected enough sap Saturday to get to 165 gallons in the tank. Lit the evaporator for the first time Sunday afternoon - while I was up on the roof replacing shingles, the kids were firing and they were averaging 20 gals an hour for about 4 hours, before we had to shut down for other things. (I don't know how they did it - I kept records last year and the best I ever did was 22 gals one hour, and 18 gals average over a 3 hour period. ) We're getting close to the first draw so may light it up again tonight and finish off what's left in the tank assuming it's not solid after today's freeze.
So far this has been the strangest season yet. I can't decide if this is going to be a lousy year, or if we just haven't really started yet.
I have 100 trees tapped - I'll probably add another 50-100 for the March break week, if the weather seems like it will cooperate. Certainly haven't been overwhelmed with sap this year.
Big Eddy
Glad you got some. I don't like what I'm seeing on the 15 day forecast on Accuweater. Too many temps up near and above 10 degrees.
I fear the buds are coming very early. God I hope they're wrong.
I was out in the woods with a helmet on and frantically trying to get the sap and get the heck out of there while the wind was breaking trees around me on Saturday.
finished batch #2 7 litres so up to 14.5 litres to date. More in the finishing pan now, but it will be a smaller batch.
I agree, not really any big runs so far in this area... then it turns real warm with above zero nights according to the weather man. Glad i'm not tapping any soft maple as they look ready to explode in buds.
Definitely more sodas consumed than syrup produced so far.
We put in a few taps two weeks ago, sap ran and froze I collected it Saturday morning and boiled it down. This Saturday it ran again on Sunday morning it had ice on the top so I collected it and boiled it down. Good news the sap that was frozen for two weeks was fine very clear high quality syrup. Questions Will my taps dry out? I use the plastic tubing spout, blue hose into 20 liter pails. Also is it worth while to tap early you end up boiling down very cold sap and ice?
Had a decent day yesterday... was really running about 3pm, had about 60 gallons by 5pm, never got back to see how much more came out. Everyone of my 5/16 seasonal straight spiles were leaking... whacked them all in again... then found a few that had started leaking again. I'm sure I split some trees pounding them in as hard as I had to to stop the leaks. On the plus side, you wouldn't really know they were leakign unless they were clear.... I dont have enough vaccuum to make a noise except the top few on the hill... the rest you can see bubbles coming thru the tap or you can see that there it isn't full of sap.
Yellzee
you don't necessarily have leaks in the sense you think
you will get some wood gas sucked out of the trees even if the seal is perfect
I also found that I have tapped trees that have hollow sections from old damage. Hammer on the tree and you it makes a different sound than a solid tree. Some leaked so bad I pulled the taps and plugged the drop lines.
I got a 1-1/2 Hp high vac pump this year and got 26" for a few days then the motor crapped out. Now I'm back to just one 3/4 Hp Gast dry vane pump and I'm getting 20 - 21" but keeping the system tight is a daily chore. &^%$# Squirrels.
I think I'm past the point of exhaustion, but I found this completely hysterical. :lol: I was doing the same thing, except I had no helmet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yellzee
Wouldn't it be something if all of us crazy maple syrup people had a webcam attached to our persons. To give people an idea of what we go through to make this stuff.
I'm not sure I'd want the general public to see all the activity going on out there... perhaps just a film for the local producers so we can laugh at each other and relate to each others struggles. Whoever that was tapping oak trees for example... now that would be funny to watch. Or shooting apart our own lines with the shotgun trying to get a squirrel (not that i've ever done that)
Try trudging thru wet snow....not too tough
Carrying two 5 gallon buckets that are full......remind me not to gain 100 lbs.
Do it on snowshoes and you sink right to your own "spile"....a brutal 80 gallon collection today
Havin" fun, back at it tomorrow hopefully
TwinBay, I dont' know where you are located in Canada, but around here trudging through snow is not a problem... although it's solid ice where I drive the bike to collect.... yesterday bike and sled started sliding down the hill on me as I was filling it up... looks like another good day here if the sun stays out a couple more hours.
Put our 50 taps in on Wednesday afternoon. Amazing day to be in the bush. Sunny and a warm 10*C. Within a couple hours we were able to go back to 5 or 6 trees and pull out enough sap for our first pot of sap coffee of the season. Sitting on the deck in the sun in short sleeves sipping a sap coffee has got to be one of the top things I look forward to during syrup season.
Sap was showing around 2.25%. No complaints. Already collected 60gal in 36 hours.
Forecast looks poor. Temps are to range between 10-16*C from Mar 11-22. During this time there are no forecasted nights below zero.
Parry Sound-
We still have 3 feet of snow in the bush.
Soggy and wet mushy runoff snow.
ATV bogs down and snowshoes are all but useless.
Dragging 15 gallon totes out by hand and rope.
But at least we finally have something to haul.
Weather looks nuts for next 2 weeks....be a shame to have only one sap flow??