I haven't heard that - but they did stop making the 2L cans a few years ago so it wouldn't surprise me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce L
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I haven't heard that - but they did stop making the 2L cans a few years ago so it wouldn't surprise me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce L
Hi All,
I am out in Winchester south of Ottawa. I am going away skiing with the family next week, so that will be the biggest run of the year! haha... i will tap next Friday the 14th. I hope the weather stays cold till then.
I will have to collect on snowshoes for the first bit as well.
Good luck to all.
because I'm going stir crazy and they seem to have just updated the weather in the Belleville area (environment Canada) to above zero for Fri,Sat and Sun, with Mon and Tues at zero....I think I will tap on Friday if I can get out of work early enough to get at it and finish up Saturday.
Doubt it will actually yield any significant SAP but at least I will be tapped in and maybe trickle enough through the lines to get them rinsed out. Going to really inspect every T this year for any blockages... as seems like every year I end up with one or two plugged up causing issues. Might replace them all if I get ambitious. sure wish I had a tubing tool.. maybe I should have ordered that instead of the digital refractometer!
oops, Realized last night that I left the hose with quick connect fitting that I connect to my collection tank and run to my sled on the ground somewhere near the tank.... Will have to do a little snow excavation to try and find it!
Stll waiting for the weather to warm up here in Cantley QC, across the river from Ottawa. - 19°C last night and a high of -10°C today. Looks like we might see +2 for a few minutes Friday. So looks like Saturday is the day to tap. Hoping to tap about 40 - 50 trees this year so I can try out my new D&G 18X48 evaporator.
Hello all, I have been following this website for a few years and last year I built my first barrel evaporater. It went great and I made 17.5liters of syrup!! I was hooked, and it's all I think about now!!!
This year I purchaced a 2x4 flat pan continuous flow evaporater, confiscated, my mom's shed (new sugar shack) and am eagerly waiting to put my 110 spiles in.
My question is if I tap on Friday and it runs this weekend and then freezes next week will my holes last the rest of the month, as last year I boiled into April. Thanks everyone
Keith
I think you will be ok. Especially at the cold temperatures forecast..
Your tapholes will be fine if it freezes next week. This is the "traditional" time to tap and you can get up to 6 good weeks of sap flow. We got half our tapholes drilled 2 weekends ago and will do the balance this weekend.Quote:
Originally Posted by keith
Thank you both for the quick replys, it's nice to have a sounding board, especially since I'm a first generation mapler. Hopefully it warms up tommorow and I can tap in the afternoon!
Keith
Well, not sure if it was the right move, but I put in all 107 spiles yesterday evening. The sap was running a bit and it looks like we may be getting three warmer days coming up in Ottawa. Fingers crossed.
Keith
I'm near Ottawa. Looks like there will be a couple of days above 0 this week, but I think I will wait until March 15 to start tapping.
What's everyone else doing?
i'll be going the same direction as you Eric on tapping for the 15th, only 100 or do taps so not too bad. It's late this year but I hope it will be a good long run!
Drilled 135 late this afternoon, my Dad and I, but pretty slow going through the deep snow, should have had double that amount in this afternoon. Even if the sap should run probably won't see much until some snow melts, laterals under snow , mainlines under snow, etc.
I put 46 taps in today. Sap was running here.
We tapped about 85 this afternoon. All were dripping but won't amount to much. Probably put some more in tomorrow or Monday.
The posts from today are the most encouraging ones I've seen all season. Ontario's trees might actually be starting to wake up. Bring it on.
Put in our first ever 10 testers yesterday late afternoon! It was def running. Rest are going in this afternoon if above 0 or tomorrow am. Should get enough on Monday and Tuesday to do first boil :)
Starting to run ever so slightly here in Kingston today, can't wait for more,
Turkeyjohn
Well, woke up this morning to the telltale sound of my tin roof *popping*, which means it's getting warm...and heard a robin singing...and while tapping #2, my superproducer, saw some red-breasted nuthatches supervising from a safe distance up. Oh yeah and the forecast was good too, and sunny weather always helps!
At least one of my trees was ready to go (tapping 6 this year, all sugars). Tapped from 11:30-1:30, as soon as I finished drilling the southernmost spilehole on #5 sap began to leak out, within seconds that sweet, steady plunk....plunk....plunk we all know and love began. Yayyy #5!!! :-) And a few minutes ago I went to see how things are going. Trees #7 and #2 also both have one spile apiece starting to drip.
Now let's hope the weather STAYS good, and that I can score some decent firewood...or I'll have a gigantic hydro bill :-/
Happy tapping all!!
I just made my way back from putting in 3 test taps ( 3 separate tree's), glad i took 3 buckets and spiles with me, as soon as i pulled the drill bit out of each hole the sap started running out , I jumped up in the air with excitement seeing the first hole with sap running out of it i ended up going waist deep in the snow and got stuck lol. It was running better than i thought it would, close to a drip every sec at least. Next weekend i will tap the rest .
happy sap'n everyone :)
Put another 65 or so in. All dripping a bit. Expect to be collecting tomorrow. Will need to clear out another 500' of trail or we will be hauling a long way to the tank trailer. Had planned to do that this morning but it was too nice a day and went XC skiing instead. Looking good for March Break week after all.
My Father wanted to relax for the Sunday, sharp cold wind here also so didn't do any tapping. Put fuel stabilizer in the sled, took it for a 15 minute ride, then put it away. Enough of winter, time for sugaring!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I tapped yesterday afternoon but there was a pretty cool breeze. A few trees dripping slowly and an icicle was forming at the end of the mainline so it was running very slightly. Wow is it slow going In This snow!
Probably about 60 left to go. Curious to see what today and tomorrow bring
Woke up to a fresh 3" of snow. Forecast last night was for 1-3cm. Maybe they meant inches?
Haven't tapped yet. Does not take long to throw up our 50-75. No rush though. The forecast looks terrible. Short of 2 good looking days the rest of the next 2 weeks are dismal. Some lows in the -17 range and nothing above 0. Booked off Mar 13-19 to boil..... Maybe I'll tap on the 14 or 15.
Yeah, there's at least 3 inches out there....and I thought the forecast for after the cold tail end to this week was improving. Dang EnviroCan forecast!!! I just hope there is one helluva run this year when it finally goes, cause I have to pull spiles the last weekend in April.
Just heard on the radio that the Rideau Canal is now closed....so that's a good sign, I think, of upcoming good weather. Being some 60km SE of Ottawa we don't seem to get quite as much cold. At least that's what I tell myself!!
Got between 5 and 6 inches of the fresh 4 letter word starting with "S" last night , tried to get the generator down into the building to be prepared, it was dangling from the loader of the 4x4 tractor as it is a heavy beast, 12000 watts and 20 hp gas motor. Anyway, tractor got stuck, wasted 2 hours shoveling to get it out, and brought the generator home as we couldn't get near the shed to put it in. Think I'll skip trying to get it in for awhile and go back to wading through the deep snow to try and tap some more. Anyone complains about the cost of syrup this year won't be greeted kindly!!!!!!
This is way more fun thAn a cruise! Another maple first as I tapped trees with a headlight on tonight to try an catch tomorrows run( hoping). Some trees we're running pretty good. Think I am up to about 120 tapped in now. Legs and hips killing me from wading around but the snow really dropped today. Made up a new tool for inserting taps and t's that I should have bought years ago! What a difference! Found a nice younger maple that I just started to tap is rotten in the middle. Depressing!
I'm all in at 90 taps. Got 3/4 gal in about 10 hours on 1 tap, some not much at all. Hope I have to gather 2 times tomorrow:cool:
Calling for another 4+ inches of snow tomorrow and temp around -10. Crazy. Looks like I'll be pulling another 11 hour all nighter in the BR-180 grooming snowmobile trails on Saturday night. Really thought I'd be done with that by now.
Kind of glad we are late anyway. Talked to my dad a week or so ago. The new pan I thought was ordered and would be ready soon was not really ordered...... Had to rush around to try and find one. No luck locally. One place claimed to have one "on the truck" but it never showed up. They said it would for sure be in next week. But they were sure it was on the truck last week too. Whatever. Emailed Atkinson's. Ordered a new 2x4 pan and some other goodies. Shipping cost to my door is $35. Blown away by their service. Everything done via email and online ordering. They truly understand the importance of keeping up with technology. I am that impressed and I usually hate everything equally. If I can't deal locally in person then you better believe I will be going directly to them again!
Slowly dripping all night long.. Hopefully speeding up a bit with that sun out now!! Took a skidoo ride around my 79 acres and stopped at each of the 90 taps to check it out. I have perma grin on my face.
Haha Vandy, there's nothing like the first drips in your buckets :)
Sent from my GT-S7560M using Tapatalk
Hey All,
Was hoping the sunny weather would have my taps all dripping like crazy, but now wondering if I put them in to early and they've dried up? Put them in about 10 days ago on that nice weekend. Could they have dried up and I need to redrill?
Let me know and good luck to all,
TurkeyJohn out!
TJ, your taps are just fine. The trees are still frozen. Even my two fresh taps are dry.
Thanks Karen,Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
Makes me feel much better, would hate to miss out on the first run,
TurkeyJohn
As already confirmed, you'll be fine. Just too cold. The only issue you may come across is the odd "weeping" spile hole. I find that in temps below -14ish our taps always seem to pop a bit. Usually need to give them a few hits with the hammer to tighten them back up. That is the main reason that I have not bothered to tap yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by TurkeyJohn
I have 18 taps on silver maples at my house. They always tend to start later than sugar maples, maybe due to the size of the trees. Anywho, my wife informed me that today even with the mild temps there wasn't even a drop. I think my sugar maples at my other tapping site may have run, but wont know until I get off work and drive out there.
Checked at lunch time and the only one with any juice is a fairly young Norway maple that I'm tapping for the first time. Have a couple of Silvers, not a drop. Other Norways & Manitobas on the back side of the house dry it seems, but a little juice at the bottom.
Thanks folks for the advice, just can't wait and with 20 cm of snow tomorrow, may end as soon as it has started, at least for now,
TurkeyJohn
Drilled lots today, lost count but somewhere between 4 and 5 hundred in so far, hope to finish one bush in the morning before winter sets back in. Fresh taps were running good, but after a while quit or slowed right up.
We had 50 gals of sap when we collected tonight. 150 trees on buckets. Those on the hill top in the sun were flowing alright. Those in the north slope not so much. Hopefully have enough by weekend to boil. Not looking like much the next few days.
Got maybe 25 gallons from 120ish taps. Put in another 10 or so and they weren't running. Sap sealed up in a drum in the shack waiting for more. On the plus side evaporator back In place and chimney hooked back up. Just need to connect float box and level. Down side the gravel it sits on is flooded with ice so once it thaws a bit I will have to re-level