I started boiling the 700 gallons I collected over the past few days. Very, very dark. Looks like coffee!
I started boiling the 700 gallons I collected over the past few days. Very, very dark. Looks like coffee!
1980 - 6 taps, stone fire pit, drain pan evaporator, 1 pint of syrup
2016 - 55 taps on 3/16 and gravity, new sugar shack, 2x3 Mason XL, 16 gallons of syrup
2017 - 170 taps on 3/16, 2x4 Mason XL, NextGen RO. 50 gallons of syrup
2018 - 250+ taps on gravity and buckets, 2x5 Smokey Lake arch and Beaverland pan.
2019 - 250+ taps on gravity. A few buckets. 35 gallons of syrup.
2020 - 300+ taps on gravity. 50 gallons of syrup.
2021 - 280 taps on gravity and 40 buckets. 35 gallons of syrup.
we just can't win with the weather. too hot last week, too cold tonight and tomorrow, then back into the 50's again... hopefully we squeak out a good run in between, i need some sap to boil!
2016 - 36 Taps - File Cabinet Arch + Food Pans
2017 - 2.5'x10' drop flues - 3/16 Natural Vacuum - 122 Taps
2018 - 16x20 Sugar Shack - 3/16 Natural Vacuum - 235 Taps
1980 - 6 taps, stone fire pit, drain pan evaporator, 1 pint of syrup
2016 - 55 taps on 3/16 and gravity, new sugar shack, 2x3 Mason XL, 16 gallons of syrup
2017 - 170 taps on 3/16, 2x4 Mason XL, NextGen RO. 50 gallons of syrup
2018 - 250+ taps on gravity and buckets, 2x5 Smokey Lake arch and Beaverland pan.
2019 - 250+ taps on gravity. A few buckets. 35 gallons of syrup.
2020 - 300+ taps on gravity. 50 gallons of syrup.
2021 - 280 taps on gravity and 40 buckets. 35 gallons of syrup.
I have gotten almost nothing the last 2 weeks (under 5 gallons on 8 taps). Hopefully this cold snap helps us, but is it too late? I haven't seen any moths, just ants on 3 of the 8 reds that I tap.
We should get some good runs this week but after that it depends on where your trees are and how much sun they get. Reds at my house that get full sun budded out but a few miles away where my trees are nothing has popped.
2' x 3' backyard evaporator with homemade steam hood
38.5 gallons produced in 2022
120 taps all on 3/16" tubing
4" x 40" homemade RO built for 2023
https://sites.google.com/view/mattat...aplesyrup/home
I tapped about 14 trees on January 15th. Most of them did not produce much last week. I got about 9 gallons of sap from them. On Tuesday I decided to tap a tree over on the property line that I had passed up earlier in the season. Its about 4 feet in diameter. I put two taps in it on Tuesday at about 1 PM and by 4 PM both taps had filled one gallon jugs. So I put the sap away and put out 5 gallon pails on each tap. By Friday morning I had taken 8 gallons from each tap. With that 16 gallons of sap and the 9 gallons from the slowing down other 14 trees I made a bit more then a half gallon of excellent syrup. Most of my other trees are much smaller then the big tree i tapped on Tuesday and I am wondering if I had tapped all the other trees starting on Tuesday would they have done so well too. I feel like I would have had 100 gallons of sap to boil if I started everything on Tuesday. Are my feelings off based?
Last sap,I collected on 8 taps was 1/3 gallon, a week ago today. Ironically, it was the day of my first (only) boil. So, if this is it, I made just under a quart and a half for the season. I have another 7 taps that I was going to put I once last week's warm weather got back to normal. At least one of the untapped trees appears to have budded out, or at let the flowers have opened... its a red.
Thinking I'll put a few more taps out and see if we get something with this next ten day weather run.
~Janet
2019 - 6th year sugarin'. 2nd year using propane. 13 taps. Just over 3/4 gal syrup. Light in color and flavor.
Intent to build a new barrel evaporator with my son this summer. Still don't weld. We'll see how it goes.
Dear Mike
I did leave that part out.
I collected quite a bit from these taps. I suppose I made 3+ gallons of syrup from them. Some did better then others and some dried up sooner then others.
None of them came close to delivering a gallon in three hours and 8 gallons in three days like the two taps I put in the 4 foot tree last Tuesday.
So I am wondering did I just strike the correct big old tree or did I just hit the main flow and would have done better waiting to tap the other trees.
As I said, I feel like i would have had 100 gallons of sap to boil at one time rather then 25 gallons over three times.
By the way all my trees are sugars.
Have some reds but I never tap them as I find they are a guaranteed early shut down in warm winters. Reds have burst in our region by now. You can already see the Red/purple canopies of the Red Maple groves across the top of the Hudson Highlands if you drive Interstate 84.
This is a great time of year to identify the Red Maples by the red/purple canopy already showing.
Sugars show absolutely no red when bursting. They are all green. They have a ways to go yet this year.
If I were taping reds i would have put my taps in January 10 of this year.