When do we Tap????

[spud]

My plans for the upcoming season was to tap my trees in mid January in hopes of getting some early runs. With the weather being so warm now I am wondering if I should hold off a month or two and let the trees really freeze up. In my area the real sap runs start mid March and go to about the 20th of April. There has been times that we would get a warm spell in January and my trees would run very good. My best season to date was when I tapped early January and had some nice runs. I would hate to miss out on those early runs and possibly more runs in Feb if we continue to have warm spells. My other fear is we could have another spring like 5 years ago when it was in the 70-80s for 10 days in March. That ended all sugaring that year. Had I not tapped early that year and got some early sap my season would have been even worse. It's very safe to say that my trees are not froze solid yet. The ground is not even froze. Based on the weather we are having this year it seems like maybe I should hold off a while. What are other Traders thinking? Thanks.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

My plan is to be ready to go in January. I don't have any major changes this year so it is mostly just repairs and tapping, but I am building a house and hoping to be done early feb.

This is feeling a bit like 2011-2012 and that year I was not ready and missed out on most of Feb. which made for a down year. But it is not uncommon to see a warm Dec. and then a back ended winter. My gut is telling me to be ready early though.

[buckeye gold]

I'm with the general in thinking that this is the year to be ready early. I usually fall tap, but I'm thinking fall taps will run clear to my regular season this year. I'm in right now for fall with 50% of my taps in for fall. It has been to warm to be optimum fall tapping, so I'm thinking I wait and put enough taps out the first week of January to be a full load and leave them. I will then pull and add taps as trees diminish in sap production and just keep trucking until spring. I do not see much down time with the long term weather forecast. I done this in 2011-2012 and made most of my syrup by February 10th. some people around me had a total bust season that year, because they waited too long. I do not tap by dates, I tap by what I see as weather trends and it usually works for me.

[WestfordSugarworks]

We were planning to start tapping on January 8th at our big bush. I guess we will hold off until the trees freeze up well if at that time it is still warm. We will have about 9,000 to do at our big bush, and another 2,500 or so at our small bush where our sugarhouse is. The plan now is to tap in the big bush starting January, because we have a lot to do and all the sap from there is being sold for someone else to come pick up and boil.. As soon as taps are in and sap is flowing, I think we can have that sap sold. But my worry is that the taps would close up by early April if we had a warm patch once the spouts were in. We are going to be using CDL smart spouts, not check valves this year. Then for our smaller bush, we'll just wait until the more traditional time to start tapping. I think we could get that bush tapped in 7 days if we needed to. Wish it would just freeze up solid so we wouldn't have to worry about it.

[PATheron]

Spud- You know its a gamble don't have to tell you that. You know I like to tap early but Im way south of you. Couple things Im thinking about. Ground not froze right now. That means that if we get marginal days in January might run pretty darn good as apposed to not if it was froze. This el nino thing might mean that this winter is never going to get real cold and it could be off again on again which with the warm ground could be some money. I do think though that tapping early means less robust runs near the end for sure. Just some stuff to think about. Good luck, who knows? I hope you hit it right whatever you do. Theron

[WestfordSugarworks]

A producer in my area who is helping us out with some electrical work and pump setup says that he waits until there have been freezing temperatures for 10 days so the trees can freeze up before he begins tapping. However, like has been stated, who knows about this winter, maybe we won't hit a long cold spell like we had the last two years in VT. Don't know much about El Nino but I do know that this temperature isn't normal. Looks like it is on track to be the warmest/one of the warmest Dec. on record in VT.

[PATheron]

Westford- That's exactly what I like to do too as a norm. Theron

[bees1st]

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/?n=outlooks
After looking at this . I'm thinking about tapping towards the end of January.

[bagpiper]

According to sudies completed by Tim Wilmot at the UVM extension service, studies have shown that total sap collected over the season is about the same whether you tap early, as in the end of January, or at the more tradtional time of March 1st (see link to study below). Tap holes do not "dry out" in 4-6 weeks as some believe, but they do start to to fill in with bacterial growth when the weather warms in late March and April, and sap flow slows as a result. If you tap early, you will catch the early runs, but if you like boiling when the temps are warmer, there may be a little less to do. The bottom line is, if you think that there will be early runs, go ahead and tap.

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/tapping.pdf

[spud]

I have read those studies from PMRC many times and find them very helpful. There is no doubt that tapping early can get you more sap if the season should end quick like in 2012. In there studies their trees were in a deep freeze most likely. This year could be different though. If a sugar maker plans to start tapping mid January and his trees have not froze solid yet (like mine) is it betting to wait? Has Dr. Tim done any research on this. What would he recommend if the weather stay somewhat warm for another 3 weeks or so? I believe we will have bitter cold weather this winter but what if we do not?

Spud