When to stop collecting?

[riley04]

So...a bit of a newbie question. When should I stop collecting sap. We started out small this year with 1 tap. Yes, 1 tap! The goal is 1 quart of syrup, so we figured collect 10-gallons. It turns out that its taking about 50 gal to 1 this year for the local maple folks. No worries though. It's the 1st year with expansion planned for next year! I know they say to stop collecting when the tree buds. Will the sap stop flowing at that point? Could you just go by the weather always staying above freezing instead? Just curious. We have about 12 gallons of sap right now and this week looks primo for some big production days! It's actually kinda good starting this small. You pay attention to every last detail...since you have the time...so we're learning a great deal. We're freezing the sap currently and will start boiling one of these weekends coming up in April. All the advice has been great.