Tapping now in southwestern Ohio

[Lazarus]

Looks like we'll have quite a warm spell midweek, so I'll post my sugar % then. All my trees are reds, and average 1% on the dot. That sounds low but I'm on high vacuum, so we're pulling a lot more sap, probably double that of buckets.

One benefit of a vacuum sealed system is that the taps stay open for months, being less exposed to bacteria. So hole closure is not as much of a concern for me, especially with our short winters here. I just found 2 or 3 taps I missed tapping last year and not only were they still open, they were running. It's not the holes closing that stops us; it's the early heat waves.

On buckets my average tap time was 2nd week of January. This year on vacuum I started just before New Year's but I'm still a long way from done. Next year I'll probably back it up to mid December if it's cold enough.

[milligkl]

Appreciate you filling me in Buckeygold. I was at the maple day last year, but I'm not going to be able to make it this year (I have a new job where I don't have very much vacation time accrued-need to use it for syrup production). I found it very useful, they had the Cornell guy there last year that gave a very interesting presentation.

[esetter]

Im gonna jump in here with you guys some this year. Theres no tennessee thread. Ive been tapping a few years and built a wood fired arch last season. It worked really well , just need more sap!!

[Stonegate]

Sap was flowing yesterday, January 10th here in the Cincinnati area. I tapped 8 trees last Friday after seeing the weather forecast for this week just to see if the season would start early. Looks promising.

[buckeye gold]

My fall taps are running good this morning so I guess I'll just let them go and see how long they run. I walked my main woods this morning and mapped out my "real season" taps. I may go ahead and put them out in about 10 days, we'll see what the weather looks like. I'm feeling more like an early season all the time.

[esetter]

Put in 4 taps as a test yesterday. 3 reds and a sugar. Got 2 gallons.

[warnimct]

I put out 40 taps in a new woods with sap saks on Sunday, have only had about a gallon of sap so far. This morning I put out 4 taps on 2 trees that I have tapped the past 3 years and had about 3 gallons when I got home from work. Plan on doing a few more this weekend with tubing and buckets.

[Grand Square Acres]

Just put out 300 taps on tube in Central Ohio. Will be putting another 300 out tomorrow. Sap is really flowing on the ones I put out. Sugar is running 1.5% on the soft and 2.5 to 3% on the hard maples. It looks like it might be another year like last season. If you want any syrup you might want to tap early.

[buckeyeboy]

Would like info on Ohio Maple Days in Morrow County on Jan 19th. Can anyone go and where is it held,any cost involved?

[Lazarus]

So we're running right at our average of 1% sugar on vacuum (all reds), but a ton of sap volume. About 7000 gallons since turning the pumps on Wednesday, and we're still only half tapped. Really, really need a bigger RO. But I guess that's what happens when it's 60+ degrees out.