every one of my taps are leaking :(, not much happening as of right now with my stuff other than Leaky MC Leaksters
Printable View
every one of my taps are leaking :(, not much happening as of right now with my stuff other than Leaky MC Leaksters
That sucks, Al. What kind of spiles are you using?
Seems like there is something good happening out there now, out 35 taps this morning 30 were running out of the hole as soon as I pulled the drill. It seems the smaller sugars are flowing better than the big ones right at the moment.
Not much here. Absolutely none of my 50 trees were dripping yet when I checked just before noon. I just rechecked a few and many are dripping but incredibly slowly. If I collect today, I strongly doubt I'll get 1L per spile. But I continue to channel my voice from the movie, Field of Dreams: If I tap it, it will come.
Same here Bushfrosh. Spiles are dripping but they don't seem to be in any hurry.
My trees ain't in no stinkin hurry...they never are :-) Not at all unusual for #5 and #7 to start on the first day, but both #2 and now #1 have all decided to get going. So far, #2's the star, looks like a half-litre between the two pails currently going :-) Meanwhile, #9 and the might #6 Sap Machine are sitting chilly. I know my trees, so not worried!
Tapped until dark tonight,almost finished second bush,seems like there is always distractions,other things pressing come sugarmaking time. Temperature only got up to 36 here today,could warm up just a bit more
38F all afternoon. Nothing but dribbles from the spiles. I'm going to have a one-on-one with these trees if things don't pick up soon. :lol:
Hit a high of 3c at noon then it dropped off and was below zero again by 5pm. Only one bucket produced 3 litres, all the others seemed to be a litre or less. The pipelines seemed to be just waking up when the temps dropped off so they really didn't get far before the day ended. Had to replace part of a line today and it had to be the steepest 45+ degree drop on the property, because of a furry tree rat. So that makes two lines that they've destroyed sections of now, I'm starting to take this as a sign that they might have to be moved or culled. Though in a low area out of the breeze I had just put a dozen buckets in and I stood there listening of the drips landing in the empty buckets-pure music to the ears. :)
Rather disappointing day. Certainly not what most of us were expecting. About half of my taps dribbled for a few hours this afternoon. Here's hoping tomorrow is better before weather warms up too much!
I have 19 taps in at the moment, got 6L total. What the heck??? Colour me disappointed today.
I'm using a mixture of spiles, some are the 7/16th with buckets hanging on them, but most are 5/16 plastic spiles with 5/16th tubing running down to pails on the ground. I think I know my mistake, definetly won't do it again, I don't know what I was thinking when I did it.....yes I put them in to far !!!! I think I was worried that after putting them in the cold snap we had last week pushed them out so I tapped them in a bit more just in case.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
*scratching head* 6l off of 19 taps on the first day? Why so disappointed? I'd be delighted to get that much on day one. Hey I'm happy with less than 1l on the first day! So long as the taps are active or at least showing signs of waking up.
We tapped a week ago and collected last Sunday and Monday before the freeze. Yesterday my stoker boiled off about 50 gallons of sap while my wife and I went for a long walk- that was everything he could get out of the main tank. It started with ~80 gallons, but the last 30 are still solid.:( At least we will have ice to keep sap fresh through the upcoming warm spell. :)
Nothing running on Saturday and nothing on Sunday. Both days were so nice though, we had to spend them in the bush. What are sugarmakers to do when there is no sap running? Tap more trees! So now I have another 45 trees tapped. :lol: When the flood starts, I'll be swamped.
Al - don't worry about it - a bit of damp on the bark around the hole is normal and nothing to worry about, especially in the cold. Lots of mine are "leaking" a bit too. They will seal up on their own as soon as it warms up a bit. Leave them alone for now - if you have a persistent leaker later, give it a couple of gentle taps. Occasionally sap behind the tap will freeze and expand, pushing the tap out.Quote:
Originally Posted by BrutemanAl
That's the plan Eddy, I'm just going to leave them,it's not just wet bark though on most, its actually leaking out and running down the tree, or in some cases leaking out and dripping to the ground.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big_Eddy
Same here! We've got lots of leaky taps. My husband went out today and reset many if them.. some of the taps (mostly ones I had done) had wood shavings at the end of the hole and so were even blocking the sap flow. But it's really good to hear that some leakage is normal.Quote:
Originally Posted by BrutemanAl
Started tapping around 13:00 yesterday. Had to pack down the trail through the bush on snowshoes first. Still lots of snow there compared to home. Only tapped a dozen. Family was all there and my wife wanted pictures. Tapped the ones that I knew would be running.
Attachment 13587Attachment 13588
Picked up a dozen 5/16 plastic spiles the other day. Wanted to give them a try. We'll see how they hold. I like the smaller hole but need to know they will hold a full 2 gallon bucket before I am convinced. I also have a huge skeptic, my dad. He's been doing it since the mid 70's. Why change, everything has worked just fine for 40 years........
Heading out to tap the rest this afternoon before work tonight. Not in any sort of rush. Rain and a NE wind for the next few days will certainly turn off the taps completely until Friday. I have no real choice but to tap though. I work this weekend.
I've switched completely over to the 5/16" plastic Health spiels from 7/16" stainless ones. I see no difference in hanging a 2 gallon pail off the 5/16" ones, even when it gets windy the buckets hang on.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrewCP
We ran the vacuum pumps yesterday, washed the tanks and got all the releasers re-washed. It barely ran despite being sunny. All we got was some slime coming out of the lines. Unless it pours today I doubt we'll have enough sap to fire up tomorrow. Wednesday looks like we'll be able to fire up.
We got the last 450 taps in yesterday morning. I need to be on the lookout for the ****ing deer that loves to chew tubing! It will taste good on the BBQ when I find it! Took me 2 hours to get 100 taps drilled because I spent most of my time replacing a dozen or more droplines, several laterals cut in half and buried beneath the crust plus a few trees over the lines. Sooooooo frustrating!!!
Just finished looking at my records and figuring out which trees did best during which years...very telling to see upward, downward or hold-steady trends for each individual tree. No surprise that #6 is my rock star, it outperforms all the others...but in 2011, when I didn't tap it, #2 produced 146l all on its own, more than the other 3 trees I tapped then! So although #6 gave me 104l last year, I'd love to see it beat #2's record. Even though #6 is about 40% smaller than #2, I think it could do it :-)
Got less than 1/4 litre per bucket today. 12C
Colour me confused. With these temperatures, shouldn't sap be really flowing?
Probably not deer its those fuzzy cute little squirrels. i had just finished replacing a section of laterals today and had moved up the line 200' and I looked backed and the little bastard was back chewing on the new line had just installed. Must have been the salt on my hands he was after.to bad I didn't have my rifle with me.
Sometimes in the first part of the year the trees are still frozen pretty deep and it may take a couple of warm days to thaw them out.
WOOOOOO ! IT'S RUNNING ITS RUNNING WOOOOOOO! ! :)
Just went out and did my first collection of the year 149 liters.
BRING IT ON ! ! !WOOOOOO !!
(does my maple sap happy dance)
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ! ! !
:lol:
Thanks for that information. I'm still on 2nd year jitters, but enjoy learning from those with experience.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quabbin Hill Farms
Attaboy Jeff! Buckle down now for when the real sap tsunami starts, muwahahahaaa....
67Heaven, what Greg said. I bet anything most trees are still pretty well froze in the middle and thus just teasing us with little dribbles. I collected just under 2l sap today from only 2 of my 6 trees, and I'm not worried.
Has everyone forgotten what the most telltale sign of a tsunami is? It's watching the ocean vanish. Exposes shorelines, leaving boats, fish etc stranded on where the ocean floor just was. But don't worry, all that ocean and then some will be back in a big ol hurry and everyone will get slammed and be complaining about being unable to keep up! So relax, and enjoy watching the ocean vanish, while you still can.
Same small collection today as I did yesterday. Galena, I'm thinking about spreading out a towel on the beach while watching the ocean recede. I hope to be running for cover soon.
Lake Erie still has ice on it trees where slow to wake up pumped up 125+ gallons today should run through the night I need 300 for days boil
Attachment 13597
Geese came to the pond today first time this year
Attachment 13598
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oh nononono....you don't want to run for cover, you want to head for the hills!! I have my towel on the sand too, but also a go-bag of survival gear right close by and good running shoes. I predict that in a week's time, we'll be swimming. Get yer floaties on!Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
Oh and just a random thought...FoodChem 101....was watching MasterChef or something similar and was reminded that water comes to the boil faster when it's covered. Sap is approx 98% water. So in order to get my measly 1.78l to come to the boil quickly so I can reduce it down to 500ml or so, I covered the pot, and once it was boiling - cover off. Steam is just hot water, once you haz it, you need to get rid of it!
Did my first collection at the end of the day, total of 47 gallons. Things are starting to wake up, and I was thinking that it was a pretty nice day out.
Hey Maxj,Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxJ
Your just up the road from me.. How many taps do you have? 47 gallons is nothing to shy away from! We in Inverary have collected 85 litres today from 42 taps! Currently on our second boil down.. Totalling 120litres.. Will keep posting progress!
As for beach blankets.. I agree some of the trees are frozen as some of our taps have zero drops of sap yet!! It does suck.. Waiting while being so excited can be very hard.. Like Karen mentioned before it like Christmas time .. But still waiting for Santa Claus 😉
Good to know MaxJ. The dozen I put in will be under high scrutiny for sure. We'll see where we're at in another 3 weeks.Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxJ
Have fun with the second boiling Lesley. I'm going to get things cooking tomorrow with the little bit that I've collected so far. Can't wait until I'm being carried out to sea by the tidal wave. Fingers crossed.
Tapped the last 50+ today for a total of 65. Most trees were running a little which was very surprising based on the weather. Was able to pillage yesterday's buckets and come up with enough sap to make the first pot of sap coffee this season. Always a family favorite. Set up our collection tanks and inventoried filters and bottles. I think we're pretty much ready.
I did a count this afternoon and it's now 65 buckets, 30 being tapped this afternoon. I only tapped 6 trees from the previous two years, everything else is on new trees as an experiment to see how they'll run, if good I'll do pipelines next year on them.
95 taps are on pipeline still have three lines to repair and that should bring it up to 190 total taps. 6 of the lines are north facing so they're slow starters but they seem to like the later season. I'm probably going to regret having this many taps as I remember getting 95 gallons off 65 taps last year. :)
I honestly wouldn't fret at this point.. I don't have much experience, but I do remember once the season really started last year.. We were all pretty overwhelmed with sap!! Including you! I agree it's been very hard to have to wait so long.. But I do think trees are still a bit frozen yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
OK you got me interested in this "SAP COFFEE" tell us more? I thought your trees would be running pretty good as well Drew your not that far away. I'm still cleaning dried sap off my eye glasses as I got splattered a few time hammering in the spouts. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by DrewCP
Our trees are usually pretty stubborn. On top of a hill and not too far off Mississippi Lake. Wind is always a factor for us early.Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxJ
Sap coffee has been something my parents have been doing since I can remember. Spring starts with sap coffee around here. Simply boil sap in a pot for about 6 or 7 minutes then pour it over coffee grinds instead of water. I hate sugar in my coffee but can't imagine spring without this coffee! Probably wouldn't try it with a Keurig....
Wow! That sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing!Quote:
Originally Posted by DrewCP