Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[spud]

My sap started running a little in the early morning hours. It is still running some but the trees just don't want to run yet. I'm wondering if all the snow on the ground is just preventing the roots to thaw. My vacuum is at 24 inches and I know parts of the woods is froze up. By the time all this snow melts we may not have many freezing nights to give us some big runs. I was hoping this week was going to be great for sugaring but it's been real bad so far. Lets hope April will be a good month.

Spud

[MJPJ Sugars]

Pretty-much stopped up here in the NW corner -- more fog than sap in the buckets tonight. Very interesting to hear that the syrup is getting lighter -- my last boil (over the weekend) ended-up a shade lighter than the one preceding.

[WestfordSugarworks]

We never ran that great either since this run began. It was up to 50 today but it never opened up. We've made all DR and AR this season, the first season in our 3 years that we haven't made fancy by this time. Kind of guessing it won't happen this season at all if it didn't happen today. I think we are 2/3 of the way to 0.5 gal per tap but that might be a high estimate. Ready for winter to be over but haven't had a really big sap run day yet and I want one! We had this one huge run last year and nothing to compare it with this season. We've been collecting sap since January 7th and boiling since January 22nd, all tapped in since January 27th. Next week will be 3 months since we've began and I'll be ready for a break when it ends.

[GeneralStark]

Another 30 gal. AR this evening from about 1200 gal. that came in since Saturday. Steady and slow and I'll take it. That brings me over 200 for the season. Sugar still at 2% which is pretty good for my woods in late March.

[tcross]

Sap is coming in very, very well today! should be a great couple of days here with a similar forecast for tonight/tomorrow!

[MJPJ Sugars]

Another pseudo-disappointing sap day, made moreso by high expectations after the trees woke-up fairly early, and the sun warmed throughout the day -- the mosquitos certainly noticed the warm weather! But the trees never kicked into high gear.

I'm wondering if we're now seeing the affects of last year's drought? Perhaps the trees simply don't have the water stored-up like a non-drought year?

[DrTimPerkins]

Sap ran pretty well overnight. About 5,000 gal since about 5pm yesterday. New high-brix membranes just installed today (3rd set) for testing. Hopefully they'll run as well as the last bunch. Should be boiling sometime after lunch.

[spud]

Sap ran great yesterday and we had a little freeze last night. Sap has been running only 400GPH today but it may run through the night. I was able to find and fix some deer chews on some lateral lines today. My vacuum is back up to 27 today. My sugar is staying at 2.1% so I'm very happy about that. I am at 62.5% of hitting my .5GPT goal for the season. Im at a .31 for the season. Should be a good week to come for sap. We still have a ton of snow in the woods and my 4-wheeler with chains is having a hard time getting around. Good luck Traders.

Spud

[WestfordSugarworks]

It's a gusher so far today

[spud]

Im running good today. I should get one GPT at least. May run till midnight or so before it freezes. Should get a bunch of sap in the next 10 days. Looking to be a very good season.

Spud