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Thread: 2018 Season

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Elliottsburg, PA
    Posts
    2,222

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    Yesterday I was greeted with an overflowing tank of sap!
    The day before The sap was just a small trickle. Then the rain came and the sap flowed. When the sap was a trickle the ground was crunchy, like walking on egg shells. I guess once the rain came it must have thawed it out quickly.

    I see there is a cool down coming this week, give me a break maybe to filter and finish the 1st syrup of the season.
    1st Generation Hobby Maple Producer, you got to start somewhere.
    222 Taps, all on Vacuum! No more buckets.
    Lapierre 2'x5' raised flue w/Hood and Preheater
    Surge SP11, Lapierre Hobby Releaser
    Modified 5" Filter Press made by Daryl with a Gear Pump
    Homemade 2 membrane RO
    Kabota RTV Sap Hauler

    Hardy's Maple Syrup on Facebook

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Millmont,Pa
    Posts
    563

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    Same here Dennis H. Saturday was just a trickle. I was wondering why my vacuum wasn't working.
    Finally about 4:30 it broke loose and we were getting some sap. I ended up with about 120 gallons til noon
    yesterday. Also gathered 80 gallon from gravity bushes. I got it all boiled last night, and are hoping for
    enough of a run today to boil tonight. Looks like freeze up after today for awhile. First time boiling in January.
    115 red maples on vacuum
    100 taps on 5/16 gravity
    35 taps on 3/16 gravity
    50 taps on shurflo vacuum
    about 60 buckets on giant roadside sugars
    neighbor bringing from 45 taps
    30'x 8' Aof/Auf Evaporator
    Homemade 125gph Ro
    Lots of Homemade Equipment!

    http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Sugarshack/

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Millmont,Pa
    Posts
    563

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    Still waiting on the weather. I made a little syrup the last weekend in January, but freeze up since.
    The weather is starting to look better for this weekend and beyond. Have all my tubing tapped, about 360, won't put
    any buckets out just yet
    115 red maples on vacuum
    100 taps on 5/16 gravity
    35 taps on 3/16 gravity
    50 taps on shurflo vacuum
    about 60 buckets on giant roadside sugars
    neighbor bringing from 45 taps
    30'x 8' Aof/Auf Evaporator
    Homemade 125gph Ro
    Lots of Homemade Equipment!

    http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Sugarshack/

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Elliottsburg, PA
    Posts
    2,222

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    Strange week of weather so far.
    I figured that with the rain and warm temps over the weekend it would get the sap flowing again but it really does not want to flow.
    It is looking like we should get some really warm temps the next few days, wait and see I guess.
    1st Generation Hobby Maple Producer, you got to start somewhere.
    222 Taps, all on Vacuum! No more buckets.
    Lapierre 2'x5' raised flue w/Hood and Preheater
    Surge SP11, Lapierre Hobby Releaser
    Modified 5" Filter Press made by Daryl with a Gear Pump
    Homemade 2 membrane RO
    Kabota RTV Sap Hauler

    Hardy's Maple Syrup on Facebook

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Newville, PA
    Posts
    51

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    Will the warm weather the next two days put a halt to the sap running? Yesterday i didnt get much out of the 4 taps i put in Sunday, but today did much better i think. Going to collect what i have tomorrow night to put in my garage refrigerator(set at 32-34 degrees) to store while the temps get up. Trying to figure this thing out, i know you want highs around 40 and lows 25ish, but i would feel more comfortable knowing what a stretch of warmer temps means. Forecast here seems to be a couple days of near perfect temps, followed by a couple days of too warm, then back to good temps for a couple days and so on. Also, what temps do you have to get your sap into the fridge or a freezer? 2 days straight above 35 the whole time? 3 days? Feel like there is a lot to try to not do wrong with this stuff. Probably overthinking, but since the final yield is so small, i definitely dont want to waste anything.
    Last edited by sticknstring; 02-13-2018 at 08:42 PM.

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Marion (South Central), Pa
    Posts
    79

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    Yesterday was better than today. I have half my trees not giving anything. Will be interesting what 60 degrees does after being low 20’s last night. Gushers hopefully.

    Joe

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Elliottsburg, PA
    Posts
    2,222

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    Sticknstring you are doing nothing wrong. The wait can drive you crazy.

    I do have to admit that this season opener has me a little going in circles and scratching my head.
    The 1st week after tapping back in Jan the trees ran like crazy, that was after all those crazy cold temps in Dec.
    Now The temps are close to that in Jan but trees will not give an ounce of sap! I think it has to do with the snow on the ground, kind of like a blanket.
    The snow is keeping the ground from warming up too fast but also keeping the trees from taking off to quickly.

    I was surprised how little the sap was flowing yesterday when I checked on things. The overnight temps were down in the teens so again low temps with snow on the ground, slow start again. The next 2 days hopefully will things pick up. Just do not wish for too warm for too many days, could mean an early end to the season.
    1st Generation Hobby Maple Producer, you got to start somewhere.
    222 Taps, all on Vacuum! No more buckets.
    Lapierre 2'x5' raised flue w/Hood and Preheater
    Surge SP11, Lapierre Hobby Releaser
    Modified 5" Filter Press made by Daryl with a Gear Pump
    Homemade 2 membrane RO
    Kabota RTV Sap Hauler

    Hardy's Maple Syrup on Facebook

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Kittanning PA
    Posts
    286

    Default

    Dennis, Joe and Sticknsting,

    I was wondering whether I had a blockage in my lines, but your postings helped me to understand what was happening. Your postings are greatly appreciated!

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Newville, PA
    Posts
    51

    Default

    IMG_2946.jpg The girls with our first sap collection! We have 5 trees tapped, 6 taps total. We got about 3 gallons from the 4 taps close to home. Going to run up to our ground at daybreak to collect from the other two taps up there. The taps we pulled from today were put in on Sunday afternoon. The two at our ground were tapped monday night. Not sure how well we did with this haul, but we celebrated what we got so far.

    Edit...are there any image tooks to help correct the picture rotation?
    Last edited by sticknstring; 02-14-2018 at 05:33 PM.

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Elliottsburg, PA
    Posts
    2,222

    Default

    Great to see the kids helping out sticknstring.

    What is with the arrow behind the bucket?

    I did not run today for sap but will be heading 1st thing in the morning.
    1st Generation Hobby Maple Producer, you got to start somewhere.
    222 Taps, all on Vacuum! No more buckets.
    Lapierre 2'x5' raised flue w/Hood and Preheater
    Surge SP11, Lapierre Hobby Releaser
    Modified 5" Filter Press made by Daryl with a Gear Pump
    Homemade 2 membrane RO
    Kabota RTV Sap Hauler

    Hardy's Maple Syrup on Facebook

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