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Thread: Early Tapping

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Glencoe, MN
    Posts
    44

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    Anyone thinking about tapping for the coming warm-up this weekend?

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Marshall, MN
    Posts
    321

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    I'm still of the opinion its way too early to be tapping. But the NOAA long-range forecast seems to be showing warmer than normal over the next two weeks, then something closer to average after that. So, given the minimal snowcover it sure looks like another early season is in the works. So maybe tapping is only 3 weeks or so away for SW MN...?

    I've got a couple test holes drilled with a 3/16" bit. Will post when/if I see flow. TooManyIrons, SDDave, anyone else - do post the same! Good luck all!
    Dan
    -15 years sugaring and counting - hoping to create a tradition my kids will always remember
    -400 taps, mostly buckets (Silver Maples + a few Boxelders just for the heck of it)
    -Custom-built 2x6 evap with Smoky Lake Maple raised flue, boiling in dad's old farm granary, now converted to sugar shack
    -Cobbled-together RO with XLE4040 membrane
    -New in 2021: experimenting with 3/16 tubing & a Shurflo pump.

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Marshall, MN
    Posts
    321

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    Quote Originally Posted by SilverLeaf View Post
    I've got a couple test holes drilled with a 3/16" bit. Will post when/if I see flow.
    Shoot. Now that I just said that, both my test holes are dripping today. Hole on north side of tree just a little bit; but the one on the south is wet all the way from the hole down to the ground. This is on a yard tree in the open with good sun exposure.
    Dan
    -15 years sugaring and counting - hoping to create a tradition my kids will always remember
    -400 taps, mostly buckets (Silver Maples + a few Boxelders just for the heck of it)
    -Custom-built 2x6 evap with Smoky Lake Maple raised flue, boiling in dad's old farm granary, now converted to sugar shack
    -Cobbled-together RO with XLE4040 membrane
    -New in 2021: experimenting with 3/16 tubing & a Shurflo pump.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    South Dakota
    Posts
    448

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    Quote Originally Posted by SilverLeaf View Post
    I'm still of the opinion its way too early to be tapping. But the NOAA long-range forecast seems to be showing warmer than normal over the next two weeks, then something closer to average after that. So, given the minimal snowcover it sure looks like another early season is in the works. So maybe tapping is only 3 weeks or so away for SW MN...?

    I've got a couple test holes drilled with a 3/16" bit. Will post when/if I see flow. TooManyIrons, SDDave, anyone else - do post the same! Good luck all!
    I was thinking the same thing. Been tricked too many times, BUT a guy down the road decided to trim up a maple close to the road and it was GUSHING last Saturday. Looked at the 10, 15, extended, NOAA and it's all playing into warmer than average for the following 2 weeks, and then normal the last week. I am going to lose sleep on this, but will probably tap the trees that are consistently early this weekend. I may just do it all. I just don't know.

    I just want a normal year/spring again.

    SDdave
    It's not the size of the tree...it's what inside that counts!

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    MN
    Posts
    76

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    I was doing so good, thought I would get ahead of the game and get things up early this year and leave it to mother nature to throw a monkey wrench into that dream. Now I'm scrambling to be able to tap this Friday. I am 90% sure I will tap this weekend, I will post if that changes. I should be able to tap my big woods that has 650 plus taps in it and my small woods that has 150ish taps in it by the end of the weekend for sure (Hopefully by end of Saturday). I am hoping next week to install more tubing on the larger bush for an additional 400 plus taps. Man the work I have ahead of me! Good luck everyone!!

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Barnes WI
    Posts
    762

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    Quote Originally Posted by SilverLeaf View Post
    Shoot. Now that I just said that, both my test holes are dripping today. Hole on north side of tree just a little bit; but the one on the south is wet all the way from the hole down to the ground. This is on a yard tree in the open with good sun exposure.
    Hello SilverLeaf, I have searched high and low on the NOAA site and cannot find a long range forecast link...Could you help me find where to find that info?
    10th year in….
    100 sap sacks...Actually, I hope to never have to use them again!
    1000' feet of 3/16th on gravity (not sure how many taps yet)
    14x14 sugar shack
    New 2x5 Hybrid Drop flue from Smoky Lake
    5" filter press from Daryl
    Sap Dog Chloe

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Marshall, MN
    Posts
    321

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    Quote Originally Posted by GramaCindy View Post
    Hello SilverLeaf, I have searched high and low on the NOAA site and cannot find a long range forecast link...Could you help me find where to find that info?
    No prob!
    http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/forecasts/
    The ugly graphic on that page is clickable and will take you to maps that show different timeframes. One thing to understand though - the long range forecasts are not "this is the scenario that will happen" but instead are "this is the relative probability of the scenario happening". So next couple weeks have a high probability of above normal temps, after that it's "equal chances" of temps being higher or lower than normal.
    Dan
    -15 years sugaring and counting - hoping to create a tradition my kids will always remember
    -400 taps, mostly buckets (Silver Maples + a few Boxelders just for the heck of it)
    -Custom-built 2x6 evap with Smoky Lake Maple raised flue, boiling in dad's old farm granary, now converted to sugar shack
    -Cobbled-together RO with XLE4040 membrane
    -New in 2021: experimenting with 3/16 tubing & a Shurflo pump.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Barnes WI
    Posts
    762

    Default

    Thanks so much Silverleaf. I see that for February I have a 33% chance of above average Temps. I DO know that this is just a probability, not written in stone.
    10th year in….
    100 sap sacks...Actually, I hope to never have to use them again!
    1000' feet of 3/16th on gravity (not sure how many taps yet)
    14x14 sugar shack
    New 2x5 Hybrid Drop flue from Smoky Lake
    5" filter press from Daryl
    Sap Dog Chloe

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    109

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    Quote Originally Posted by SDdave View Post
    That's good to hear. Let us know when those test taps start drippin'! What are using for the agitation for the sugar? Not by hand I hope. I think I am going to make more sugar this season than last. How do you store it?

    SDdave
    Hi Dave, hope the year went well for you. So your sugar making last year all went o.k.?

    I take each batch of sugar to the consistency of wet sand by stirring by hand, very final finishing is done in a mixer so I don't overload and burn it out. I do not find it to be that difficult of a process anymore, I just do what needs to be done. It is surprising how quickly the sugar stock adds up once I dive into the project.

    I store the bulk of the sugar in cool dark storage in two-quart canning jars, I also fill a few quarts and pints. The quarts and pints are given only to family and friends so I can get the jars back, when I can't expect to get the jars back then I fill ziploc freezer bags from the two-quart supply. The sugar always locks up in the jars but is very easy to break up, a quick run through a flour sifter then knocks down the chunks. It ain't the fault of the jars, the sugar also locks up in ziplocs and in vaccuum sealed bags, just seems to be the nature of the product. I have bulk anticlumping agent I could add which would solve the problem but nobody wants that stuff in their all natural maple sugar and I don't blame them one bit.

    Update: A string of mid-40s for highs are in the forecast for here for this weekend, but then followed by very low 30s. I am going to tap more trees in anticipation of collecting early sap during that little string of warm days - this year I want to collect as much of that early sweet sap as possible. Based on winter weather trends I am now expecting a mid to late February sap run going into early March like last year. Aside from an early December arctic blast we have not been having a cold winter this year, don't see why it would trend differently from here on out. The big boys around here are just starting to tap their trees...

    Of my three test taps one has not dripped at all, one produced around a quart, and one produced around a gallon. Nothing has been running since the day after I installed those test taps a week ago. A friend of mine collected 8 gallons off two taps/one tap per tree but lives in the metro/microclimate.
    Last edited by TooManyIrons...; 02-08-2017 at 10:19 AM.
    Been that, done there.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    46

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    I am putting in all my taps tomorrow. 10 day forecast only looks like 1 day below freezing. Going to try and do 10 or 15 more taps then last year
    2015 18 taps 3.5 gallons
    2016 24 taps 4.5 gallons
    2017 40 taps 15.25 gallons

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