Thanks MSM! The sugar maples that gave 3% are out in the open. The other sugars are in a forest. The soft maples on my property are lawn trees. The Manitoba maples (box elders) on my property are in a forested area and I've not yet tapped them this year. I'm kind of maxed out with what I'm getting at the moment and my soft maples haven't even really kicked in yet.

The $30 I spent on ebay to buy a refractometer was worth every penny. Many days it makes my boiling decisions for me. When I collected up the 3% and 3.5% sap today it was the first sap I put into the boil. I can highgrade my sap in order of quality so that I make the most of my day. Tonight the sap with the lowest sugar count (2.25% and 2.5%) is in the big sap bucket to hopefully get a little ice on it tonight. That should spruce it up a little bit!