Eastern Ontario 2017

[DrewCP]

We finally tapped in today. Put on 65 buckets. 2/3rd's were running by mid afternoon. I think we were on our second or third boil by this time last year!
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My quality control analyst says "yep, it's sap dad..."
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[Galena]

Sunny today and +6 in forecast, no wind so the trees should be starting to wake up! I collected 1g frozen from all of them yesterday. Definitely a few sapsicles.

[JeffB]

It seems lke I took the right week off work to boil ,weather looks great for next 4 days.
Went out yesterday and built a small fire under my sap tank to thaw about 90 gallons of sap that had been frozen since the cold snap set in then added another 100 gallons that was collected yesterday.

The cold snap might have been the best thing this year I tested the sugar content of my combined thawed and fresh sap and to my amazement it tested at 4.2brix ( has anyone seen this kind of spike in sugar content) my sap usually runs around 2.5 to 2.9
I thought this was wrong so I went around to my 4 collection sites and tested the sap sugar content at each main line, I noted readings from 2.9 brix to 4.5 brix. I have never had sap run from the main lines over 3brix ( has anyone ever seen this kind of spike before not sure how to explain it or why )

Today I'm going to start my boil to rip through the almost 200 gallons in tank and hope to collect another 100 or more gallons by end of today cause the weather looks to be perfect for sap flow . I hope the sap runs over 3 brix or more for the rest of the remaining days .

[maple75]

Just finished tapping for this year, ended up with 80 total, trying a different section of the bush. Fewer trees than where I had originally planned but they are more concentrated for easier collecting. The twelve early test taps I installed for the warm spell in Feb only gave up 60 litres of sap combined to date so I haven't missed much. Things are just starting to flow here, hope for a good season.

[Galena]

*Jeopardy theme* sittin here twiddling thumbs waiting for my trees to realize that the big freeze is finally over. Going to take a couple more days or so of nice warm weather for thebig ol' beasties to thaw out after being froze up for well over a week.

[NTBugtraq]

*Jeopardy theme* sittin here twiddling thumbs waiting for my trees to realize that the big freeze is finally over. Going to take a couple more days or so of nice warm weather for thebig ol' beasties to thaw out after being froze up for well over a week.

I'm not sure where we are in relation to each other (my bush is right beside Balsam Lake Provincial Park), but...

10-11am sap flow rate was 12gph
11-12pm sap flow rate was 15gph
12-1pm sap flow rate was 20gph
1-2pm sap flow rate was 21gph

So, keep an eye on things...;-]

[Clinkis]

*Jeopardy theme* sittin here twiddling thumbs waiting for my trees to realize that the big freeze is finally over. Going to take a couple more days or so of nice warm weather for thebig ol' beasties to thaw out after being froze up for well over a week.

I think mine are a little slow at unthawing too. They are running ok but not great. Was expecting a little better today. But should still collect over 200 gallons.

[Galena]

I'm just outside of Kemptville, some 70km SE of Ottawa. And I'm not worried about my trees, I know they tend to start late anyway and this freaky weather has only made it even later. But a couple more weeks and I'll have the floaties on :-)

[Bricklayer]

Not an exceptional sap flow day for me, starred to run about noon. On 125 taps I got about 50 gallons. Seemed like the taps in the sun were running today but ones in the shade were still froze. Had a couple taps yesterday that I had to reseat because they froze solid and pushed out a bit. First time I've ever seen that. Supposed to be warm tomorrow so hopefully the floodgates open up.

[Bruce L]

Another headache today due to the prolonged cold snap. Started vacuum pump in the main bushes just after 12:00, still frozen pretty hard to get much sap. Drove up the road to our remote bush,started vacuum pump there,but releaser wouldn't work as there was a layer of ice in the bottom. Played with it for awhile,got it to thaw out,then sap was coming in good. Came back to main bushes,everything okay,so time to go to a wake for a neighbor who died tragically going through the ice. Got home 2&1/2 hours later,went to collect the sap expecting tank to be overflowing,found a puddle on the ground in front of it. Sap had lifted the large chunk of ice in the tank,also lifting the plunger in the bulk tank,allowing the sap to run on the ground. Plastic cap that was a backup had split from the cold,so it didn't hold the sap back either. Figured we would rob the metal cap off another tank at home only to find we couldn't,because that plunger had also been lifted,allowing sap to leak slowly out of that tank. Pumped what sap we could get up into the head tank for evaporator,left it for the night,figuring that 500 gallons can wait till morning,enough problems today without running into trouble feeding the evaporator tonight. Probably need the torch in the morning to thaw out the feed line,ice can melt anytime now