sugaring in iowa

[tbear]

I hang aluminum buckets so my season is shorter than those with tubing. Looking at Accuweather, Feb. 26 looks good. I'm afraid to tap too early and have the holes dry up before the main flows start. But then, I'm afraid to tap too late if the weather gets too warm too quick. It's always a crap shoot. We'll know in April if we tapped at the right time! Good luck Everyone! Ted

[upmep]

pete and tbear, I just talked to a guy who lives close to me and this is the first time he has tried to make maple syrup. He put his taps in about the middle of January and he said he has gotten sap a few times already. From the weather for this weekend and next week I think I am going to tap either Friday or Saturday. I will be tapping mainly silver maples. I will keep you posted on what happens and looking forward to hearing how you guys do. upmep

[150ish]

Tapped Saturday 2/4 and collected 435 gallons total from 180 taps on Monday and Tuesday.It's the best run I have had and the next 10 days are looking very good. Best of luck to everyone this season

[tbear]

Hunter and I tapped in today. Right or wrong...here we go! Ted

[upmep]

tapped last Friday and Saturday and collected about 60 gallons on 50 taps since then. upmep

[tbear]

How deep to you drill your taps in Upmep?

[upmep]

tbear, I drill in about 2.5 inches. How about this weather. They are talking 60's on the weekend. Is that going to end it for this year? If this keeps up we will be able to plant orange trees in Iowa. upmep

[tbear]

Same depth as me. I hope the trees run again after the warm spell as I'd like to make it to 15 gallons this year. I probably won't but it's a goal. So far this week we've boiled 180 gallons and have 115 ready for tomorrrow. First two batches graded out as "Golden". Pretty stuff. Oranges in Iowa, rodger that! Ted

[IowaSap]

Well this is a first! Put in a 100 bags on February 16th!!!!. They were all running like a phaucet. Never tapped so early! Going to the state wrestling meet today. Hope they don't run over. Good luck boys!

[PKerns]

We tapped last Friday and Saturday and we've collected and boiled about 200 gallons from 130 taps since then, today we do a big boil after lots of sap flow yesterday. I'm hoping that this weekend and early next week won't wake the trees up. On Friday the 24th it's supposed to go back down below freezing. I hope it does and we get another run!!!!