St. Lawrence County

[Joust7.1]

Maybe I'm overly optimistic but the 10 day on on accuweather looks great for some good sap flow in my area. My taps are still in but I haven't gathered in almost a week. If the sugar maples hold out for another day or so, can we expect that there will be some good syrup to be made this coming week as Thompson's Tree Farm had suggested before the warm spell? I'll have to search for a few more viable trees as I've taken some offline due to the buds exploding on the silver and reds. May the sap flow clear and sweet in the coming days! Thanks to all for the reply's over the last couple of weeks. This is a great resource for the budding sugar maker.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

You don't want to know!

[Joust7.1]

Weather looks great for the next few days as well as the long range forecast. Hoping I can match last years production by Monday. Spring break for me this week so "LET'S GO!"
Currently just over 1/2 tapped with a combination of cv's w/ stubbies, new leader one piece seasonal cv's (cv2?) and a few lapierre seasonal straight spouts. Probably won't have vacuum until tomorrow as I still have tapping to do today. How's everybody doing in SLC? Thompsons?

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Yes, you can push with water --- any time, you don't have to wait for the end of the season.
Down to 28 last night and running strong right now.

[Joust7.1]

We only made it down to 31* here and we barely got a drip going yesterday, certainly not enough to gather. Last night went to 37*. Tonight might be our last hope before the really warm weather hits this weekend and next week. Thanks for the confirmation about pushing with water. I may wait until tomorrow and see if we get any new sap to add before I push what I have through. Would there be any hope for a run after the warm spell next week, even with fairly fresh tap holes or are we thinking things will be done by early next week?

[Michael Greer]

Nice runs March 8th and 9th in Potsdam. I gathered 160 gallons from 160 buckets...can't complain about that. Silver maples are still very slow.

[Joust7.1]

Michael, sounds like you have as similar size operation. I have 141 taps out right now and just finished my third pipeline to add about 50 more. I finished processing all my sap last night after sweetening the pans on Sunday night, enough to make about 5 gallons. Sugar was the highest I've seen from my woods at 2.5% on my first gather. 250 gallons of sap collected since Thursday.

[Michael Greer]

I have 170 buckets in the Village of Potsdam. After a couple weeks of nothing, the weather has finally come around, and it looks like a whole week of it. We'll probably surpass what we did last year by tomorrow, and I would be happy with this weather for another month. Probably get out-voted on that one though.
The break in the season caused us to have to drain and clean everything, and start from scratch. You know how it goes on the first boil of the season....you bring in 300 gallons of sap, and you boil all evening long, and finally, when you think you might just go to bed, you get that first draw-off. I know the ratio is 42 to 1, but when you start up fresh, it takes 275 gallons of sap to get that first gallon of syrup...

[cncaboose]

Michael, Are you tapping yard trees in Potsdam? I'll have to keep an eye out for your buckets. Our operation is on Giffin Rd in the Town of Potsdam.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Unthawed about 4:00 yesterday afternoon and ran through the night. One more barrel to get 1,000 gallons (last year was 535).