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Hey All,
Figured I'd get this going as it's now 2024...
I hope everyone had a good off-season, and is busy getting ready for 2024.
Needless to say, its been an interesting start to the Winter.
What's new and when are you thininig about tapping?
Best,
Bryan
There have been a few days in the past weeks where I think I should have already tapped, but I’m holding off. I’m shooting for late January, although the CT maple meeting is next weekend, so I will see what everyone else has to say. Last year I was not ready and missed the first week, a big run from what I hear. Trying not to let that happen again.
Need to hear from SugarBear, the oracle when it comes to tapping date… IMHO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkunkWorks
Hope all are well.
In the entire scheme of things, much like the rest of us, I am a know nothing.
But since you asked, my suggestions are in this order ...
If you have more than a few thousand taps start tapping in July. (only kidding for the tight folks out there)
Accept that this season may be a poor season compared to some other season or might be your best season.
*
Read the Kentucky Blog and others for their early success rates. While things do vary measurably just ridge to ridge this still tells us something important about general trends.
Be patient and set your tapping date for no earlier than February 1. I usually tap February 14th but if still frozen then February 21.
Wait 2 or 3 days after the first good temps if things are frozen or are deeply frozen perhaps 4 days. But it depends how good the good temps are.
If you are south of the Merrit in CT down off the Escarpment, then back up my numbers 7 days.
Don't let the world con you in to thinking it is just not going to happen anymore. It will.
Sugar Bear... you are better than a bottle of Xanax.
Thanks for calming my nerves.
I'm moving indoors this year. Feel free to come join me at some point!
That invitation goes for everyone else out there as well.
Bryan
I gave up on weather.com - so many ads running the page wouldn't load 1/2 the time. I use this one now https://www.wfsb.com/weather/ they seem to get it pretty good. After the 15th, they're showing some cold weather coming, for how long who knows? This could be our new 'normal' here in Ct. Time will tell.
Who is going to the Maple Syrup Producers Association of Connecticut (MSPAC) meeting this sat? This will be my first year going, as I just joined this fall.
Was hoping to but the mountains of Vermont are calling me....
Any discussion of this crazy warm weather?
One of the speakers said go with your normal tap date, minus a week. Tap holes are viable for up to eight weeks, maximum, so look in your records to your average date of your last run, and go back 6-8 weeks. Then, to account for global warming, he goes back another week.
It was a really good day, with lots of vendors, and really good talks.
Hello, this will be my second season tapping, I was hooked from the first drop that landed in my bucket and I have anxiously awaited the 2024 season. On my property I have 6 Red Maples, 2 Silvers, 1 Sugar and then on my in-laws property there are three large sugars and 5 reds. Last year I was able to get about three gallons of syrup with the majority of the sap coming from the sugars and the silver maple. I barely got anything from the Red Maples. I would have to say that 2 or three of them didn’t even fill a buckets worth throughout the season. I am in the Hartford area, my property sits a bit low so in the spring the soil is a bit sloppy but my in-laws is not. Questions I have are:
- Is this quite normal for red maples?
- Does anyone else have this issue?
- Could I have tapped incorrectly?
Would like to know because My neighbor has 8 really large red maples she said I could tap but do not want to Either waste the resources if I could find something else or, assuming I tapped incorrectly, make the same mistakes.
Thanks for your time and any advice is welcome and appreciated.
Very typical of red maples. They are finicky on buckets/gravity. Under vacuum they run great and will produce the same amount of syrup per tap as sugar maples that are on vacuum. U of V did a great study on it
https://youtu.be/ncnlc3tLBt8?si=SPO6cRQ0PmimOEvy
Thank you for replying to me. I gathered that they are finicky based on things I read here but I wasn’t sure if there was a way around it. Unfortunately, even though I would love to have an operation that ran on vacuum, I am stuck with buckets, bags, and drop lines into 5 gallon buckets.
Is anyone looking into using the new Middle Valley Spouts that UVM created?
Thanks again for the replies.
Hello, have you decided on when you are going to tap? This upcoming week looks like it will be 40s during the day and freezing at night. Only my second year so ai am afraid to tap too early because I don’t know if that can throw my trees off and screw up my entire season.
Not sure if that meeting helped you to decide or not.
Hope I am not a bother asking. Thanks.
Haven’t decided yet.
I’m still eying the first week in February as the warm up next week won’t do much for flows as it will be above freezing for several days.
I usually do well tapping around Feb 1, though I’m on vac so that helps extend the season.
Anyone else itching to tap, or holding out?
I think I am going to tap this coming weekend , I’m on vacuum as well. In Madison CT, last year I tapped February 4.
I put up a few runs this past Sunday. Will do the rest this coming weekend. With luck I'll be firing the evaporator the first weekend in February.
My 13 year-old has talked me into some buckets after a break for a couple years. Hung around 70 of those too.
Last year was really warm and unusual in that we didn't have any long sustained cold weather. I've been sugaring for 32 years and keeping weather records for 38 and last year was one of only 3 for me like that. I also tap mostly reds (nothing wrong with them) but I've found that the best sap runs even with good freeze/thaw cycles is after a good period of cold in January. We didn't have any long periods last year. I think the past 12 days will be bode well. Looks like an early run later this week and more seasonal weather next week?Quote:
Originally Posted by MapleCaddie
Looks like there could be an early run this week after the cold that we had but I think I'm going to next weekend (2/3). Next week looks seasonal around me and I don't think I would get enough this week to make it worth while. After the mild winter last year I was so happy to get a solid 12 days of below freezing weather...hope that bodes well for the season!
Very cool information to have. Thank you for sharing. All of my taps are on gravity, primarily buckets and sap saks, a few lines that drop into 5 gallon pails…Can tapping this weekend hinder my season at all if it is “too early”? Unfortunately some things are going to make it impossible for me to boil for a couple weeks in february so I am hopping my taps can last til mid march….I believe I read on here one time that buckets can only last 4-6 weeks before they close up. Can anyone confirm? Last year I collected my last buckets on March 22, and they were flowing over. It was unbelievable but I had to pull them. I am so addicted I selfishly want it to last forever.Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveB
To my fellow Southern CT Sugarmakers - I just wanted to let you know that Lafite (who posted here often) of Greenwood Estates Maple Syrup in Cheshire, sadly and suddenly passed away this past June. Condolences to his wife and two children. When I was sugarmaker at Brooksvale Park he came and soaked up the little knowledge I had about sugarmaking and created his own label and enjoyed every sweet minute. He also willingly shared his syrup, gave us some to sell at the park as the Friends group is a non-profit and loved sharing the craft of sugarmaking with all who inquired. As this tapping season approaches in our area, he will be sorely missed.
Godspeed Lafite.
Time to tap??? I have the itch! For where I am, North Guilford, the next week looks like some good runs. I still have to clean out my sap collection tank, but that will be done today. I may tap some and see what I get. Anyone else?
I tapped about 50 yesterday. Then broke my vacuum
Pump so waiting on a new guzzler , upgrade from the Shurflo I hope. Have about 130 taps to put in. Will do them this week . In north Madison
Planning on starting tomorrow -
I'm hoping to get about 75 taps in tomorrow.
Then another 75 later this week.
Buckets will come a couple weeks later.
At least, thats the plan...
Put in all 151 taps today. I had to chase some squirrel chews and a tap or two that were cracked, but all is good and the first run is running to ground to clean the lines.
Hopefully I can get the evaporator filled up in the next couple days and sweetened. Fun times!
The weather on Sunday was just too dreary, hoping to tap later this week or this weekend.
I tapped 40+ taps on tubing today. Will see how much I get tomorrow, to see if is enough to consider the tubing “rinsed”. Ran out of daylight on Sunday after cleaning stuff. I still have about two dozen trees on buckets to tap, large, so two taps each. Let the festivities begin!!
I'm all in. I tapped 55 tubing yesterday and it was running pretty good. I will tap the rest today. I was going to hold off a couple more weeks, but it looks like we'll get 6 or 7 good days coming up. That's a lot of sap to pass up.
sap was running here in Kent, despite another crummy 34 degree day with no sunshine.
Starting tomorrow here in Pomfret should have all 50+ in by saturday.
I collected 105 gallons of 2% sap today off of 97 taps. I wasn't expecting anything today but it was still flowing.
Running well for me too! I do not expect to be able to fire the evaporator until this weekend, hopefully this sap does not spoil.
we really need a frost - I think it's coming tonight, Sat night for sure.
So last year I tapped this weekend. I was looking at the weather, thinking I should this weekend again, but now it looks TOO warm so I am going to wait until next weekend as of now.
Last year, I think, was a little too early because as everyone else was getting good runs, mine were drying up. I only have the capacity of about 55ish taps, so even though we had a few more trees I stopped at about 55-60 between my house and a friends house. So, when I saw that some of our best trees were giving probably ½ what they were earlier in the season, I decided to tap a couple others just to see, and they ran like I would have expected. I do think that my tap holes dried out, because we did get a week almost of 50’s temps IIRC. I heard at the yearly preseason meeting, a few guys say that you want to find the best 20 days generally over time that you have and plan around that based on weather.
Next season I am really going to see about using a vacuum, but I absolutely have to upgrade my RO first or I’ll just be dumping it on the ground lol. The idea of vacuum also interests me, because then we can get a large tank or 2, and just run everything into there, making collecting MUCH easier in the dark at night!
SOOOO excited to get started tho. I sold it for the 1st time this past year and I couldn't believe how much my "regulars" loved it! Bring on the sap Mama Nature!!!
Also in Northern CT... Interesting about the Red's I did not have GREAT luck with my Red's this past season and my silver gave almost nothing.Quote:
Originally Posted by MapleCaddie
Hey... welcome! I wad there too!Quote:
Originally Posted by therealtreehugger
Sorry...I listed an Ad but don't see the pics there, so I must've done something wrong. Sigh. I have misc. supplies including a finishing pan, with burner, 3 metal and 3 plastic buckets, spiles, hydrometer, a new drill bit, a dial thermometer, etc. A $1200 value give or take according to the recent Bascom catalog. I'm selling the lot for $500. I'm no longer teaching at Brooksvale Park and I'm hanging up my Sugar Mama hat and concentrating on my art and writing. kirstenwalker.com I used this equipment as an on the road teacher during Covid and to tap my own trees. It's all in good condition. If you're starting out or teaching the next generation, I'd love to sell it to you. If you live in CT we can arrange to meet. If you are not, it's probably too costly to ship. Thanks!
I had 2 moths in a bucket yesterday, don't think they saw their shadows though. Little early for moths - But with no snow, ice, or frost in the ground everything else is early too. Maybe our tax return will come early too -