Tapping the 2015 Season

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

2015 is here and soon will be the 2015 syrup crop. I am going tot be tapping here this week in southwestern pa. May the sap be with you!!!

Post on this thread how your season is going!!! anybody else charging batteries?

[buckeye gold]

I done some fall tapping and have left those taps out to see what happens. I am seriously thinking of going all in with my regular taps this Friday Jan. 16th. I should really wait but I'm on vacation for two weeks and the weather looks good for Southern Ohio. If the long term still looks good Friday I'll probably take the leap. Typically between January 25th and Feb 1st is normal tapping time around here.

[Dennis H.]

Doesn't look like much activity yet in PA.
My plans are to seriously start looking at tapping after this next cold snap we are getting this coming week.
Now that this week is over I guess I should have tapped already but it is what it is. This coming week the temps are not to get above freezing so I don't feel to bad about not getting them in yet.

I am planning on spending most of this weekend up in the sugarhouse getting all those last minutes things done. I guess I should also get the sap hauling tank onto the back of the truck!

[WernerFarms]

I'll probably be tapping here in the Lehigh Valley this weekend

[unc23win]

I am planning on starting to tap the 5th-6th of February. It looks to be cold here for another week or so. I actually have been charting the accu-weather extended forecast since the Jan 16th (I know kind of nerdy) and it has been showing a warm up of 5-10 days from the 4th-14th it changes some every day, but it keeps showing 5 or more days above 33 in that block so I am keeping an eye on it. Either way I am planning on having them all in by 16th of Feb.

[Dennis H.]

It is looking like today will be the day to tap the trees.

[Dennis H.]

1st boil of the season is now complete!!

I went thru 125 gals of sap in 1 hr 30 min from first fire to shut down. Now that is with concentrated sap with my RO, what a difference that makes.
That would normally be at least 5 hrs of boiling time without the RO

[KV Sappers]

Way to go Dennis. 1:30 wow. Time to add more taps at that rate. It really is amazing what your RO did for you. Great job on the RO build. By the way, the sugar shack is complete. Waiting on the electrician to install some lights. Need to get up with Swensons for the hookup yet. To cold for me to tap with the buckets.

[Dennis H.]

It is looking like I will be delaying tapping again, The 7 day looks to be well below freezing and night times even in the single digits a few days.
Once a see a few days on the forecast that are above freezing then I will decide if it is time to tap.

I always plan to tap the end of the second week in Feb so that I have a time when everything must be done and ready to go. I then adjust the start time as needed due to weather. This season is starting to look like I may actually tap when I planned on tapping.

[Maplewalnut]

Dennis I am holding out another week also. At some point logistically I have to start because it takes me a couple days to tap in but its just too cold this week! I like to get a small run under my belt to work out any kinks, fire up RO, etc. That way I am ready for the real sap.

Vacuum taps will go in first, buckets will be mid Feb or later dependent on weather