Tapped in Lackawanna County

[Z/MAN]

Most of my taps are now in. Collected about 75 gallons of sap tonight before the big freeze set in. Looks like we will be doing our first boil later tomorrow. Had tons of problems with the leader fittings bending and or coming apart on the 3/16 tubing. I have some DG fittings and they seem like they are built much heavier. I know I will not buy the leader fittings again.

[doocat]

Weather is crazy. Too many nights above freezing right out of the gate this year in northeast Pa. Only time will tell on the season. Good luck

[Z/MAN]

Doocat, like you said weather is crazy. What I have learned over the years is to NEVER plan your collecting or boiling by looking at the forecast. It just never works out that way.

[Z/MAN]

Wow what a run! My taps ran hard for almost 48 straight hours . Never seen that before. Mother Nature always wins though, see gave us huge amounts of sap but she kept most of the sugar. First time I have ever dealt with 1.5% sap. Sucks. Anyone else have trouble with low sugar? Still have about 80+ gallons of sap to collect in the AM and I am wondering if it is worth the long boil for so little syrup.

[doocat]

Yes lots and lots of sap no sugar!

[Z/MAN]

Well I guess I missed something. I didn't see any freezing temps in the last few days but as I drove past one of my white plastic drums today I noticed it had about 20 gallons of sap in it. After checking other tanks and pails it turns out I am sitting on about 170 gallons of sap. I have no idea when it got cold enough to reset my trees. I had to finish and bottle all the syrup I made this week so I couldn't start boiling today. I have my work cut out for me the next few days as some of the trees were still running today and we have a freeze coming Monday night. I am going to be spending a lot of time sitting there with my evaporator. I just bottled over 6 1/2 gallons of syrup from the first weeks run. What a start to my season!