"Not so Good Friday" disaster

[Run Forest Run!]

Thanks for your reply John. And Dr. Tim, thanks so much for the information about whether or not to keep my spiles in, and for the insight on the timeline of recovery for damaged trees. I feel so much better now about how best to handle the remainder of the sugaring season. During the coming growing seasons I'll keep an eye on the damaged trees and make sure that they get adequate moisture. I can at least manage that fairly easily.

The ice melted very quickly when the sun came out yesterday afternoon. Everyone around here was holding their breath. Without a breeze there was no additional damage done overnight. For that I am thankful. On the plus side there's no shortage of wood for burning now.

As for my experiment on whether I could still get sap from the fallen trees, I drilled many tap holes into them but got nothing. Even though some of the roots were still in soil, there was not a drop to be had. Oh well. At least I know there's nothing going to waste. I was able to detach the collection jug from one of the trees and poured out the sap that was in it. I got its last 1 litre of sap.

[5050racing]

WOW sorry to see what happened,as long as it didn't get u n family,every year is a different experience ,not a good year!

[ennismaple]

The trees are very resilient Karen. We lost 55% of our crowns in the '98 ice storm. Some trees were snapped in half, some died within a few years but many we are still tapping.

[Run Forest Run!]

I'm happy to now report that the limb damage to the trees on my property appears to be minimal. I guess it was 'all or nothing'. Either the trees crashed to the ground, or only lost a few limbs, no grey zone. Judging by all the advice I've been given in this thread, those trees should completely recover from the damage. Thanks everyone.

However, I think the sap gods are trying to send me a message. The spot where I park my car to collect sap down the street was covered by a downed tree when I went to empty the buckets this afternoon. (Thank goodness I didn't go to collect there yesterday afternoon when the wind started gusting or my car would be under the tree.) But, ten minutes into my sap collection this afternoon a 100 footer came crashing to the ground in the forest. I heard some cracking and crunching, and then down it came. That gets your heart started. I quickly gathered all of the sap and left. Buckets would be all overflowing by this evening, but they can stay that way for another day.

[TerryEspo]

Hi Karen:

Just saw your story, nasty storm and your poor trees. Looks like your going to get through this mishap though.

Best of luck for your trees recovery.

[saphound]

Just seeing this now too. Holy crap!, I don't think I've ever seen ice that thick before. Sorry about your trees, Karen. So glad to read that since that storm you got your sap tsunami and saved your season. Mother nature owed ya one!

[Run Forest Run!]

Thanks saphound. Yes, thankfully my season was saved with the constant gushers after the ice storm. I'm hoping for another run or two this week and then it's time to pull out the chainsaw and the clippers so that we can clean up the carnage in the yard. It's quite a mess out there.

[Run Forest Run!]

Today I see that two more of my home trees are down. One was a three banger, and one a single trunk. They are ones that I had hoped to clear a path to this year so that I could tap them next year. The bad news is that they are down. The good news is that I don't have to take time to make the path....

[Galena]

Aw Karen, that sucks...wish I could help!

ETA: Ow ow ow ow.....I was out checking trees and breaking off sapsicles and slid on some frozen leaves (wasn't wearing icespikes, didn't think I needed them on plain ol snow). Crash down I went on the side of my left thigh, gonna have a giant bruise soon. Heated it for a bit, but whenever I sat down it hurt like snot. Now using a trick from my years in the horse biz and sweating it with some IcyCold. Wonderful stuff!!

[c0ps]

Hopefully there won't be anymore!