Started our Season Today, Feb 12, 2017
Farm and sugar bush in North Central Van Buren County. Still new to sugaring, but adding a few more taps each year. Last year I thought it would be neat to try walnuts, but didn't get enough sap to make it worthwhile. So all resources will go into Maple this year. Wife and I put out 30 taps this year, mostly sugar and red maples. Went deeper into the swamp this year and found two more giant reds, so each one got four taps each. The cousins nearby, easily 120yrs +, were good sap producers last year. Flow was super heavy from most all of the taps. I try to stick to South and West side of the trees. Short and long term forecasts look really favorable. Buds are swelling a bit though, needs to cool down just a bit for a while.
Will boil in a cinder block arch like last year. Long story short, it's what I have to do right now. Hopefully I learned enough last year to improve the efficiency of my boiling, and I bought a hydrometer to assist with finishing.
Last edited by Michigan Maples; 02-12-2017 at 09:44 PM.
42.54°N 85.86°W
Fourth season sugaring...........
2014- 3 taps, a couple quarts of finished syrup
2015- 12 taps, 2 1/2 gallons syrup
2016 - Put out 24 maple taps, and 3 walnut taps. Collected 240 gallons of sap, and bottled up about 6.5 gallons of maple syrup. About 12oz of walnut syrup.
2017 - About 4 gallons of the most amazing syrup I've ever had!
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