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Thread: 2017 Missouri Tapping Season

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Florissant Missouri
    Posts
    137

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    I did get in one mainline and one of the laterals. The 60 deg temperatures melted the top 1/2 inch of ground making everything very slippery. All of my trees are on the bluffs of the Missouri river so putting in those lines was extremely treacherous. Last week there was snow on the ground. This was definitely worse. Tomorrow I will continue to work on the laterals. I have not tappped any trees yet. Did you get any sap collected Ray? I saw that you had tapped last week. I watched your video of your stove. Your sugarbush looks pretty steep as well in those revines.
    Crazy River Sap
    55 sugar maple, 15 walnut taps on plastic buckets and tubing
    Block arch on driveway

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Florissant Missouri
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    137

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    Buckeye Gold I did not know the season started so early there in Ohio. You probably have very similar temperatures to here in Missouri. I may have to experiment next year with a few December taps.
    Crazy River Sap
    55 sugar maple, 15 walnut taps on plastic buckets and tubing
    Block arch on driveway

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Florissant Missouri
    Posts
    137

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    Welcome Esetter. Tell us a little bit about your setup. We are mostly hobbyist here. I tap about 35 trees along the bluffs of the Missouri river. Take a look at some of the pictures in my galleries.
    Crazy River Sap
    55 sugar maple, 15 walnut taps on plastic buckets and tubing
    Block arch on driveway

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    92

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    Quote Originally Posted by RiverSap View Post
    I did get in one mainline and one of the laterals. The 60 deg temperatures melted the top 1/2 inch of ground making everything very slippery. All of my trees are on the bluffs of the Missouri river so putting in those lines was extremely treacherous. Last week there was snow on the ground. This was definitely worse. Tomorrow I will continue to work on the laterals. I have not tappped any trees yet. Did you get any sap collected Ray? I saw that you had tapped last week. I watched your video of your stove. Your sugarbush looks pretty steep as well in those revines.
    Funny you should mention that. Yes, it's very steep on my property too. I live in a "holler," which provides really nice views from the house because we've got a wall of nature when we look our our windows. But it also makes it tricky to traverse.

    Last night just as I was finishing up collecting sap, I slipped in the muddy topsoil and lost all the sap I'd just collected. I was bummed. It wasn't very much sap...only a few of my trees are running at this point, and they're not running much. So this morning I ordered some metal spikes I can strap onto my shoes. It's always slick when I'm collecting sap because of the freeze-thaw cycle, so I'm hoping the spikes make it easier.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    92

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    For what it's worth, I probably tapped too early. My logic went like this: The temps looked good in the 10-day forecast. Our season typically ends about March 1st. The taps should be good for 6-8 weeks before they start to dry up. So I may as well tap 6-8 weeks before the end of the season.

    That said, I'm not sure I'll get much over the next couple weeks.

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    203

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    Hobbyist level here. Been tapping for 4 years. Started out on stove top , then turkey fryer. I moved up to a wood fired evaporator I built in my shop. I tapped 12 trees last year and processed 50.5 gallons of raw sap. Im in east Tennessee. I tapped 4 yesterday as a test. 3 reds and 1 sugar. The sugar put out over a gallon and the 3 reds combined for a gallon.

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    92

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    Wow, how big is the sugar maple that put out a gallon yesterday? And is the trunk in full sun or in a forest?

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Florissant Missouri
    Posts
    137

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    Let me know how the spikes work out. I tapped maybe 20 trees today. It got up to 67 deg today. It is suppose to get below freezing tomorrow night. I hope to get another 10 or so trees tapped tomorrow. I will take a few pictures.
    Crazy River Sap
    55 sugar maple, 15 walnut taps on plastic buckets and tubing
    Block arch on driveway

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Florissant Missouri
    Posts
    137

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    I tapped another 10 trees yesterday. I set out a 3/4 inch maiinline along a hillside and tied in 4 5/16 inch laterals. There are a total of 9 trees on that system. I probably could have gone with all 5/16 inch tubing insteas of the 3/4 inch mainline. I will tap another 10 or so trees today. I also need to tap 12 black wallnut trees. Last year the black wallnut tapping and syrup making did not go well. I only collected about 40 gallons of sap and waited to long to cook it. This year I am going to store the sap in a refrigerator.
    Last edited by RiverSap; 01-13-2017 at 12:09 PM.
    Crazy River Sap
    55 sugar maple, 15 walnut taps on plastic buckets and tubing
    Block arch on driveway

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    203

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    Trunk is probably 16'' and its in the edge of a forest , not full sun. I just collected my 5th gallon. Wish I would have tapped more.

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