North east ohio 2018

[johnallin]

Put more wood up on Saturday but held off tapping the 3/16 lines yesterday...just couldn't ignore the fact that six weeks would only be the 3rd of March. No guts I guess...
Next weekend is for sure though, if not before.

[Ohio Maple Blaster]

Just checked the extended forecast, for what it's worth. Looks like after the 1st of February, the daytime highs are not supposed to get above freezing. Anyone debating waiting for the next thaw-out?

[Kh7722]

Hey guys
Im going to wait it out as well, unless they change the weather forecast again they are calling for a cold snow filled February. We will see what happens but id rather get consistant runs instead of time and freezing between them
Good luck this year
Kevin

[johnallin]

Hey Kevin,
Gotta say that if the latest forecast (today's) is correct, I'm going to sit tight til the end of the week. I'd like to see if this newly identified arctic blast is going to fill in - if so - it's gonna be batten down the hatches time!
Guess I'll just go get more wood in. Got a new Timber Wolf Splitter that's a beast and fun to run anyway.

[Ekrueger]

I decided to tap the trees on Sunday. Started boiling tonight. Looks like decent weather for a while.

[johnallin]

Hey Eric, I think you're right. Feb is looking pretty normal from what I could see today. This weekend is a for sure.
What do you have for sugar content, is it any better than last year?
How's the Siro Press working for you?
John

[Ekrueger]

John, I didn’t check sugar concentration. Siro filter is still working good. I plan to add some 3/16 lines this weekend. I will have an early season since we are expecting baby number 2 in the middle of March. Poor time planning😃...

[johnallin]

John, I didn’t check sugar concentration. Siro filter is still working good. I plan to add some 3/16 lines this weekend. I will have an early season since we are expecting baby number 2 in the middle of March. Poor time planning��...

Wow, Congrats on the new addition to the family. That's great planning...Just think of all the cool birthday parties in the sugar house every year.
If it's your first bout with 3/16 lines, you're going to really like them. We have about 100 in the back woods all running into a 165 gal tank. It's been full on more than one occasion.

[heus]

I think I have come to the decision to hold off tapping in Ashtabula County. If the forecast holds true, we will get a couple of favorable days, then 3 or more weeks of freeze up. Of course, who can depend on a long term forecast anyways, so who knows. My plan was to begin tapping this weekend. 1000 taps on medium vac and cv spouts.

[johnallin]

Tonight's forecast shows some warmup this weekend and the weekend after that.
Looks like the coldest week is the third week of Feb.
As a trend, it appears that we are in for some decent temp swings and holding off could mean losing two possible runs at least.
I'm going to be all in as of this weekend.

1-25-18 forecast.jpg