I have some sap mostly from the bush maples but leaving it out there for now. Enjoy the sledding, there's not going to be too much more from what I see out here!Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
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I have some sap mostly from the bush maples but leaving it out there for now. Enjoy the sledding, there's not going to be too much more from what I see out here!Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
That's for sure! Skiing tomorrow with the kids, and hopefully some more sledding in the evening..but I'll be surprised if the trails stay open past Thursday..although I have a glimmer of hope that I'll be sledding Friday afternoon in +12!! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
JeffB, I love the new addition for sap hauling! And BrutemanAl, fabulous evaporating set-up and congrats on your first boil of 2019. Your little helper is awesome!
Great to hear from you Karen,we have all been wondering about you,hopefully snow will melt soon so we can get a season
KAREN !!! was wondering where you were, it’s been a late start but I have done fairly well so far.Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
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Finally got 25 taps in yesterday. What a late start it is! I second Karen’s comment!! Bruteman what a great evaporating set up! Way to go!!!
Hi everyone. Just joined.
My father-in-law and I started tapping my bush last year and had a great time doing it. Located very near the 401-416 interchange in Johnstown, Ont.
I have a question about spigots. We have a mixture of 5/16 and 7/16 plastic, as well as about 40 aluminum. It's been really slow this year (compared to last) - but the only trees I have dripping so far all have the metal spigots. Anyone know why? I am assuming it is because the metal 'heats up' faster and melts the frozen hole quicker than the plastic - but not sure.
Also, it seems like my trees that are in the low-lying ground start running much earlier than ones on higher ground. Does anyone know why this is the case? Or is it just a coincidence?
Hoping it gets going today with the warm up. I only have 3 gallons of sap so far!
Thanks in advance.
Mike.
Welcome MikeC82! I'm probably your closest neighbour, just outside of Oxford Mills. Lots of good questions but most are pretty tough to answer. Some of the seasoned pros here like BruceL and ennismaple will probably chip in soon :-)
FWIW I would guess that plain ol drainage is the reason your slope trees aren't running yet. Also what species of maple and how big are your trees...are they huge mature sugar maples or much smaller trees? Lots of factors to take into account. You may even have a slightly different microclimate from me even thopugh you're only 20 min drive away.
And.....it's alive.....finally collecting sap, maybe 6 gallons so far, but it's running, even ran overnight with the warm temps, getting my apprentice primed to check the buckets at noon as it's sunny and mild here in Kingston now....he's on March Break anyway and some time away from the TV would serve him well while I'm at the office.....
Good luck all, have a feeling next two days may be the kick off we've all been waiting for....
TurkeyJohn
Hi Galena, For sure - we are very close. In fact, we used to live in Kemptville until about 2 years ago.
We have a real mix of trees silver, red and sugar - some huge ones must be 75 years old + Others much smaller. Tried to limit to tapping only 10-11 inches or larger. It's mixed bush with a lot of big pines mixed in - so it seems the maples have to grow really tall to get at the light. This seems to cut down on their girth overall. It takes them years and years to expand in width - but they grow higher and higher every year. My dad tapped about ten trees here over 30 years ago and he left the spigots in after accidentally burning the sap. Those trees have only grown out barely 1/2 inch around the old spigots since then. Very slow to grow.
We have a light problem here because the bush is so thick. Hard to get sun in- but I think you're right about the drainage. Most of the ones running early are right down near the creek/swampy area.
Mike
I love that little trailer on skis.. did you make that yourself? I'm inspired now!Quote:
Originally Posted by BrutemanAl
Karen! I too was wondering when you'd make an appearance! How are things at your end?
Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
Thanks, yes I did make it... kind lol. The skis came off a trailer used by a snowmobile, picked it up for 25 bucks off Kijiji and then I had the barrel, then just used scrap wood I had laying around the garage to sorta kinda piece it together, I don’t actually drag it around and collect sap in it though, that was my plan but it’s way to heavy and I have some hills I need to get up and it’s hard enough on the atv with another little sled I have that has the camping water cooler containers I use for sap. So this one has a hole in the top, that I filter the gather sap and pour it into it, then I have a small 12 VDC pump ( bought it for 2$ off WISH APP) that I hook up to a deep cycle battery and transfer it to my prewarmer on the evaporator. It is not ideal, but it works for now.
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Today I collected another 100 plus ltrs, boiling again. I forgot to mention that my little event tent has 12 vdc LED lighting in it so I can boil at night.
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Hi Mike, sounds like it's your reds which are running first and of course they like swampier conditions....some friends of mine tap nothing but reds cause that's all they've got :-) Never tapped silvers, I hear they can be very capricious...either masses of sap or zilch. My bush is now all sugars - I did tap a couple reds but they never did much, so I stopped - and true to form my three little bush maples are taller more than wide. Don't have bush as thick as yours sounds, though, at least it doesn't affect the Surprises. My other trees are yard maples, the biggest tree needs at least two people to reach around her trunk. No tree takes more than 3 spiles. The bush sugars take only 1 apiece.Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeC82
Expect your reds to peter out a good 2-4 weeks before your other maples. Reds start first and usually have a pretty low sap content. If you have mostly young trees you might want to compare notes with LesPetras, whose bush is mostly young trees and on a slope too.
Bet you're glad to have escaped KemptHaven....ugly little houses sprouting like mushrooms everywhere now :-( Glad the blight hasn't yet spread to my area too much *crossed fingers*
haha - yes - very happy to be out of Kemptville and back in the wilderness where I belong.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Hardly got anything yesterday - only 7Gals/26L and that out of maybe 12 trees - the rest of the 80 still doing nothing. Very weird too. I went out and checked this morning and most of the ones that were running have stopped. Can't believe it with these temps. Starting to get frustrated. Worried I tapped too early.
M
I may have a combined 10 liters in my buckets when I checked late last night.. checked a few this morning and no change (although no big surprise there..temps stayed up overnight). Hoping when the temps drop this evening and overnight some flow will happen (although if it never went up, will it come down? :confused:). High winds overnight too so that's not great. Next week is looking promising. I just got my new boiling pans so I'm anxious to try them out..but I don't think that will be this weekend.. May have to collect what I have and freeze it until next weekend. I'm a bit worried about the hanging buckets..they'll be sitting in +9 for a lot of the day today..not that there's much in there so if goes bad it's no biggie..the ground buckets are sitting in snow and what little is in those should be fine.
Attachment 19701
I tracked yield last year vs. temp trends - last year was based on 65 taps in mixed bush, red, silver and a few sugars. Different sizes of trees. Mostly 1-tappers. Yield is in US Gallons.
I wouldn't worry about having tapped too early, esp for this area. You've only tapped for one year so far, that's not enough time to get to really know your trees. Each time I collect I keep track of how much I get from each tree, each day...so now I can look back over 10 yrs worth of records and see what the historic record says for each tree. Mind, my bush is only 8 trees! :-)
I've only got just over a gallon of sap so far but my big trees haven't even started yet, and generally don't really get going til a good 2 weeks in. My little bush maples are the ones producing the most so far, and stayed pretty consistent from start of the season to finish. Just be patient, this warm weather should help.
If you like I can visit and take a tour of your sugarbush and give you the benefit of my experience.
The reasons we do so many is my mother-in-law does gluten-free, non-processed sugar baking and sells in the area. They were spending up to 1500 a year on maple syrup lol, so we decided to get it for free! By free, I guess I mean 1000s of hours of labour and 1000s of dollars in buckets, pans etc. I just have fun doing it.
The trails are a bit dicey - we have about 75 acres here and I am thinking about moving farther back in the bush to where the trees are closer together. Right now everything is close to the house just for convenience, but there are better trees farther back on the lot. Once the snow melts, we will be able to get across the bridges to the back. It would be great if you could come check it out then and see if you think its feasible. Should be good to go by Mid-April.
Thanks for everything.
M
Wow, that is a lot to spend on good ol tree blood...but like you see for yourself, the amount of time and work you put into it to get it for *free*...:-)
Will be glad to pop by this weekend with my snowpants and most waterproof boots and go for a wade/walk and see what you've got...though I don't know if you want to wait til mid-April to tap those trees farther back. May be way too late. But this season has been wonky all along so maybe it won't make any difference! I am available most weekends, late morning to mid-afternoon works best for me. Let me know when would be good for you.
ETA: Karen, just saw your post re using a disposable aluminum roasting tray for prewarming sap....how do you support the weight of it over the main pan?
The aluminum tray is the same width as my steam trays so it sits nicely on top with three sides resting on the steam tray. It doesn't budge or slip one bit and holds the weight of the sap without any issue.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Hey Paul. Things are just beginning around here for me. I gathered my first sap yesterday and couldn't stop myself from boiling it down to one litre of really light syrup. It felt good to fire up the propane and fill the air with steam that reminded me of a blend of cotton candy and honey buns. There is nothing better!Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
Hi Galena,Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
I mean't more in the sense like after the season when the trails in the back clear. I wasn't planning on doing anything more this year - out of time and out of money lol! But next year, I might want to move the whole operation to farther back on the lot into the bigger maple bush. I would appreciate your input then and see if you think its possible. Right now everything is right up close to the house - which is easier logistically - but not as many good trees. I did 104 this year - but even yesterday things were really slow. So much ice still everywhere and the snow is super deep. Hard to get to the buckets and I'm worried about the ATV getting bogged down once things soften up. Cold this AM - maybe that will restart some of them if it goes above 0 later today. Things look very good weather wise down here towards mid-week though! Have attached some pics. My wife and I have a new assistant this year and hoping that he is going to get some good days outside.
Mike
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Attachment 19715
[QUOTE=MikeC82;367281]Hi Galena,
I mean't more in the sense like after the season when the trails in the back clear. I wasn't planning on doing anything more this year - out of time and out of money lol! But next year, I might want to move the whole operation to farther back on the lot into the bigger maple bush. I would appreciate your input then and see if you think its possible. Right now everything is right up close to the house - which is easier logistically - but not as many good trees. I did 104 this year - but even yesterday things were really slow. So much ice still everywhere and the snow is super deep. Hard to get to the buckets and I'm worried about the ATV getting bogged down once things soften up. Cold this AM - maybe that will restart some of them if it goes above 0 later today. Things look very good weather wise down here towards mid-week though! Have attached some pics. My wife and I have a new assistant this year and hoping that he is going to get some good days outside.
Mike
Hey Mike, New assistant looks cute...and as at least one other MT'er has discovered, they can fit into a 2g pail without problem, in snow gear and all. Just saying ;-)
Yeah I hear you on the whole plans for expansion, that's what most everyone does...find more trees to tap and upgrade gear as you go. The maple bug is insidious and there is no cure. And with all the snow we got this year even stomping through my little half acre makes for a good workout. How those with bushes that really are bush managed to do it, without getting bogged down in ATVs etc is a miracle. And this weather is sure making for a very late start to the season out our way. If there is a warm enough spell the trees can run all night, which will help with the catching up aspect. But if it stays the way it is, it could be a season of fairly low yield. I sure hope not!
About half my trees have a slow drip today.. surprising considering it's below zero. Sun is very warm though. Looking promising for the week I hope (after the first few cold dips we are anticipating).
First boil of the season. Very very cloudy!! 130L of sap made 4.35 L syrup, sap:syrup ratio, 30:1. Sugar content 2.88%
(Rule of 86)
Attachment 19722
Very glad to see that all my spiles and pails had sap today, just around 15l collected this pm. The little bush maples are really chugging it out, the big ones are just waking up. So far glad to see that the North spiles are producing quite well, thankyaverramuch.
A 30:1 ratio?! Wow Lesley that's awesome! Did you have to do extra filtering to deal with the cloudiness or are you just going to let the nitre settle out and pour it off?
Paul, never give up hope. Even up til this morning i was worriedly peering into the dry pails of my favourite tree, #6, and wondering if it was heeding my maxim of 'Give me sap or give me firewood!' Thankfully #6 has since woken up and will soon be in neck-and-neck competition with #5. They are literally often 1/2 cup of sap apart.
Well my first batch is done... Just over 8 Ltr of syrup. Today I only collected 35 Ltr, trees didn’t start to run until just after lunch, the last 2 days there was not much running, I just worked on boiling the 320 ish Ltr I had collected during the week.
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We tapped ~150 last Saturday. Not a lot of snow in our bush compared to even a short distance to the north.
Had good flows on Tuesday and Friday. First boil yesterday.
Went to collect last night and were not able to. With the melting and refreezing, our trail has turned into a skating path and there was no getting anywhere near the trees with the collection tank. Today's challenge is to figure out what to do about it. If I can't get up the little hill with an empty tank, no way I want to be coming down with a full one!
And carrying sap from 150 trees in pails 500m then down the treacherous hill is not a plan.
Every year there's a new challenge!
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Woot! Big_Eddy, good to hear from you :-) Yeah that's going to be a fun problem to solve...just be safe.
The kids were skating on our back field yesterday. We put in about 30 taps yesterday with mostly dry holes. We will finish this afternoon to be ready for this week.. Still too cold...
As it's going to be a slow day today I figures I'd catch up on record keeping from last year...and am somewhat astonished to see that my official total of 801l gathered last year is wildly off...apparently by almost another 20l!! So am going to finish wading through all those daily figures til I can figure out what I missed before. Then will run a test fire in the new sugar shack :-)
Too much snow and ice in the bush yet for sap to run,got another mainline tied up today,will get laterals hooked to it tomorrow if it stays too cold for sap to run
Had our first boil yesterday. 100 gal of sap from 110 taps. 2.75% sugar. Pans are sweet now. Still have 20 taps on tubing that went down over the winter and froze into 4” of ice. Will put them in if they thaw out in time.
Anddddddd I have poison ivy for the first time in 2019 lol, and only got 20 L sap today.
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So, you are 'starting from scratch' again this year? Try the chicken, I'm here all week. :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by BrutemanAl
Sorry to hear about your misadventure so early in the year Al. I can't imagine!
Poison ivy in March...that must be one hellaciously stubborn poison ivy patch you got there Al! Get some dock leaves! :-)
Hey everyone!
Good to be back on the forum reading everyone's post.
We're just getting started as we spent March break up at the cabin.
Set two "test spiles" yesterday to see how one of the maples was making out. One taps was dripping about a drop / 2 seconds the other was barely doing anything.
Today, after the kids head off to school, I'll get the rest of the the spiles in and buckets hung.
Then onto the evap.....we'll get it out of storage, in position, gravity tank installed and then give it a good clean boil so we're ready to go.
Bumping up to 14 taps this year, 1 or 2 will be on Norway maples so we'll see how that turns out.
Good luck everyone!
Oh man..that sucks! Sorry to hear that. I have heard that poison ivy never sleeps.. I guess that's what they mean. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by BrutemanAl
Wow Al, that's terrible about the poison ivy! I didn't even know it was a possibility this time of the year, now I'll know to be a little more careful.
Got the remainder of the spiles and buckets up just now, 14 in total, a few were dripping at a decent rate already.
Fingers crossed!