2018 tapping

[Jal-Bear]

Sap has been running like crazy this past week for me. This is my 5th year sugaring and my reds have never run this well. Sugar content is around 1.3 - 1.5%, which is usually what my red maples are at. But the sap quantity has been unreal, nothing like this in the past and I don't even have all my taps in. I have 170 taps out. Tapped on Feb. 26 and as of today I've collected 1,080 gallons of sap. Talked to a guy who lives a few miles down the road yesterday, who has a little over 100 taps out and he can't keep up with the sap as well. Plenty of boiling for this weekend!

[Revi]

We're saving up for the weekend. Looks like we'll have about 250 gallons, which will take around 10 hours to boil.

That'll keep us busy! It's going to be a chilly, but fun weekend!

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Filled the 275 gallon tank and left 40 gallons in the woods. Will boil tomorrow and get the other 40. Will be cold but should be all caught up by Sunday evening

[bees1st]

After my boil yesterday it appears that I'm at about 50% of a normal crop for me. Ran quite well on Thursday.

[twitch]

Looks like we are going to be froze up for a few days. Been a good season pretty sporadic to say the least. I am about half of my normal season. I have got all 550 on 3/16 line and have been averaging about a gallon a tap hopping for a good 3 or 4 day cycle to really see what they will do. Looks like the end of next week will be the next chance for some sap. I am enjoying the new to me evaporator been a little learning curve but I think we getting it dialed and evaporating around 100 gallons an hour. Sap quality has been very good with this cold weather.

[abbott]

Closing in on 4 weeks into the season now. Totals are 12,500 gallons of sap and 310 gallons of syrup on 840 taps. I would say that's at 90% production for me. The last two years I made over 400 gallons of syrup, and hit about 125% production... but those were my best two ever until now. Looks like there is still a ways to go. I have 5 cord of wood and about 100 gallons of bulk storage left. When the sap has run this year, it has run hard!

[Mvhomesteader]

Just finished my fourth boil of the season-55 gallons of sap yielded 5 quarts of syrup (and a fair quantity of niter). This is the most I've pushed through my 3 pan/arch setup so far. With boiling beginning at 10 this morning and bringing a pot inside to finish at 5 was just a hair under 8 gallons an hour. A far cry from my old one pan stove, which is now the warming stove. Makes a days effort worthwhile. One more boiling for me on Saturday for this year. Maybe I'll go for 60.

[maineboiler]

Way to go Steve. Good season so far. Nothing but golden delicate. The sap pails are still frozen up here in Oxford but I expect a good run into Maine Maple weekend

[abbott]

We've been slow to get thawed back out, with not a whole lot of sap Tues/Wed. Enough to boil today though, and the sap flow was picking up all day right until I headed for home at 7pm. Looks like a good stretch ahead. I'm ready for a final push and then on to planting the gardens!

[West Sumner Sugar]

Same here...well not sure about up in Sumner but down in L-A its been slow all week. Not much sap. My road side trees produced ok but nothing crazy. Hoping the 3/16 gets it done again this week and we have a good weekend. Sunday will be hectic with all the visitors. We usually don't boil much that day anyways...just enough to keep the steam rolling. Everyone and anyone is invited to come on down to visit.