Northern Wisconsin. 2017

[Diesel Pro]

Had a minor miscue with my sap buyer. I had intended to keep the contents of the lower tank and only sell the upper but I forgot to communicate this to him. So 370 gallons from Sunday thru Thursday run from 80 taps. Friday eve I arrived late and added my sap sucker to test. There was about 80 gallons in the tank from the Friday run. Friday night saw a nice freeze and when thawed I restarted the pump and ran all day again. Saturday night saw a nice run up to a bit over 200 gallons total so I pumped it up in prep for our Sunday cook. Saturday night saw another mild freeze and when thawed I started the pump again and ran the majority of the day. When we finished cooking I took out the pump and reconnected the 3/16 lines to the tank and left things roll. Buyer will handle whatever comes from this week, then I wil pull the taps, flush the lines and put things away for the season.

[Dave Nielsen]

I heard a few peepers last night... Not sure if we're done yet. Maybe we'll get a frog run if it freezes the next few nights. We'll see if it amounts to anything worth the time and firewood... We plan on pulling taps this weekend.

[Jeff E]

I heard a few as well Dave. I have everything in the woods shut down, but thought I would turn the Vac back on if we get a freeze on Wednesday night. Then run it into the evaporator. At least I will get the last of the good syrup out, and maybe get lucky and make some more good stuff, or if it goes buddy, shut it down.

Overall, a decent year for you? I am at about 65% of average, mostly medium and dark syrup.

[Dave Nielsen]

Kinda what I was thinking, Jeff. If we get the forecasted freeze, we'll haul it in and cook as long as it tastes good. We've got nothing to lose at this point. As far as the year goes... a bit disappointing, about 5.5 gallons of sap per tap so far. Sugar content started out well over 2 but has been steadily dropping. We actually had one tank load that tested over 4, but that was early on with a lot of ice in the bags. Last time I checked it was around 1.5. Most of what we made this year was light and medium, with the last stuff being dark. I'm sold on the 3/16 tubing, so we'll be doing more of that next year. I'm already shopping for an RO... Maybe I need therapy??

[Rhino]

Trying to read forum threads and watch youtube videos about 3/16th lines for high vacuum. The way I take it is if you have some flat acreage of trees but then a steeper slope....it would be the best situation for it to work..?? Do I have that right or is it a steep slope from start to end? Also what's the minimum length of lateral from last tap to tank. After reading some great reports on traders of Wisconsin producers who use it and did well I gotta get more educated. My woods are flat ...then 30' to 40' slopes before it's flat again or hits the creek.

[Diesel Pro]

First year for me. Mine is relatively flat in fact with my hastily installed zig zag pattern I have some that might actually incline from tree to tree. My drop comes right at the end of the line. I did tap some on the slope which is said to be a bit counter productive, but it works anyhow.

Now the question is how much damage are the squirrels going to do to me...

[WI Sugarpop]

Our woods is on the top and side of a hill. So we start on top with 5 lines and zig zag down hill to the tote. 40 foot drop. We pick up trees all the way down. A tree on the line is better than one with a bag. We don't worry about a Guage on top. It is what it is and we check for leaks if we see a lot of air bubbles. This is our second year and have outstanding results. Wish we could put all our trees on 3/16. We collected 2850 gal on 116 taps which made over 70 gal of syrup. It comes out to 24.6 gal/tap with out a pump. No tree rat damage at all with the standard blue tubing.

[motowbrowne]

Trying to read forum threads and watch youtube videos about 3/16th lines for high vacuum. The way I take it is if you have some flat acreage of trees but then a steeper slope....it would be the best situation for it to work..?? Do I have that right or is it a steep slope from start to end? Also what's the minimum length of lateral from last tap to tank. After reading some great reports on traders of Wisconsin producers who use it and did well I gotta get more educated. My woods are flat ...then 30' to 40' slopes before it's flat again or hits the creek.

Either way works. The beauty of the 3/16 tubing is that it's essentially a siphon, so provided that the end of the line is lower than the beginning (preferably lots lower) it'll run regardless of what happens in the middle. I've got lines that go up and down or run right on the ground. Works like a charm. Squirrel damage is a serious problem for me. Hooking the lines to a Shurflo pump made finding leaks a million times easier. Purely anecdotal, but the h2o innovations green tubing didn't incur a single chew, whereas the 30p required daily repair. The green stuff is also much easier to diagnose because it's more transparent. My number is 715-222-3237 if you want to chat about 3/16. This is only my second year with any installed and first year with 300 on it, but it really works. I'm approaching 20 gallons of sap per tap on mine.

[Rhino]

Thanks for all the input! One thing I seen on youtube or read about was one guy skipped the trees on the slope and just had those taps on regular 5/16 lines and let gravity flow those lines to the same tank as the the 3/16 lines from up above On the flats or way up the slope. I guess the reasoning is they want that long lateral to be as full and pulling as hard as it is possable from the last tap. The green color being more rodent free is a nice tip also. Thanks again!!

[jmayerl]

I heard a few as well Dave. I have everything in the woods shut down, but thought I would turn the Vac back on if we get a freeze on Wednesday night. Then run it into the evaporator. At least I will get the last of the good syrup out, and maybe get lucky and make some more good stuff, or if it goes buddy, shut it down.

Overall, a decent year for you? I am at about 65% of average, mostly medium and dark syrup.

Might want to check your tanks....I pumped out on Sunday afternoon and shut down for the year, no freeze in 7 days and the sap that came out Saturday was milky colored from trees...... Still made great syrup. Fast forward to tonight and I stopped in the woods to get something I left behind and the tanks ar running over with no vacuum on...wtf! Guess I'll cook tomorrow and see if it's any good. This is by Green Bay