2018 What is everyone doing in PA?

[unc23win]

I was able to hold to my original plan to start tapping on Saturday the 13th of January (my earliest tapping date ever). Although with the drastic change in weather from 62' on Friday with 3 inches of rain then overnight turning into six inches of snow and about a 60' drop in temp I was not able to get started as early as planned because I had to plow snow.

Anyhow this afternoon after moving snow a little more and waiting for the thermometer to read on the + side I have about 300 taps in. It is what I would call perfect tapping weather about 15' with no wind. They are calling for 40's this coming weekend if you can believe in the forecast. Time will tell however I'm hoping to be somewhat ready (as in pump, tanks, and releaser ready) if it happens otherwise I'll just keep working at tapping.

I'm sure others are tapping just wondering what everyone else is up to.

Best of luck to all!

[Paddymountain]

I likewise am waiting to see what the weather brings, and was wondering the same. How are the guys down south doing?
We are almost in the exact center of the state, I'm thinking the cold weather this year has been fairly wide spread.
I have very little to do yet. I want to set my barrels the last Saturday in January and I have a 3/16 line with about 22 taps to deal with.
I think the earliest I've ever tapped is February 2nd. I'm going to have about 400 taps this year, so won't take too long to get plugged in.

[Maplewalnut]

I am most likely going to start tapping this weekend. Anytime you can tap without snow is a plus for me and considering I added a new bush on steep slope its almost a must do. I cant imagine going up and down that slope in snowshoes. If its cold afterwards so be it, I'll keep tweeking things and changing drops til we get sugaring weather.

[meadster02]

I'm planning on holding off until at least the first week of February, but I also am only running about 900 taps on three bushes so with two guys we can get tapped in a weekend. That being said if the weather looks like its gonna change sooner I will tap sooner.

[sbedilion]

I'm just a backyard syrup guy. I ran 1 line (29 taps on 3/16) on the 8th. First time on tubing....wanted to run one line early to figure out the process. It took me forever without a 3/16 tool. Sap ran great for a couple days and filled my 55gallon drum. I'm planning on installing 2 more lines this Friday. Forecast is looking good starting Friday.

South of Pittsburgh.

Cheers.

[Dennis H.]

Wellllllll,,,,
The forecast as of right now looks very tempting for this weekend. Last season I tapped the 22nd so basically about the same time.
I still have a few things to get into order 1st but it would not be an issue if I wanted to tap Fri or Sat.
The forecast right now shows 38 Thurs, 40 Fri, 47 Sat, 50 Sun and 53 for Mon. SO looking very nice for go time. I will make my mind up later in the week, maybe Thurs, by then I should see what next week will be like.

I normally do all my woods work during the week Between Christmas and New Years but this year I drew the line when the temps were single digits and winds blowing like crazy.
I went up Sat and got all the trees of the mainlines and made repairs to the mainlines. There are still a few lat's that looked at and a mainline side tie or two to fix.

[minehart gap]

7B76C7E1-1637-495C-B79C-1855B0FB80D2.jpgI did my test boil today and rigged up the cables to the cupola doors. All of my 3/16” and main line is ready.

I plan to tap on Friday if the weather outlook stays the same.

[Z/MAN]

[QUOTE= Anytime you can tap without snow is a plus for me [/QUOTE]

Mike, you better check the forecast for tomorrow.lol

[helptheold]

Backyard tapper here, planning on doing it next week as we're headed out of town this weekend. The extended forecast is looking pretty good for our area, if we weren't going away I'd have already put some taps out.

[Maplewalnut]

Mike, you better check the forecast for tomorrow.lol

Yea, that didnt exactly work out. Lol Although most should be melted by Monday