Western Mass 2019

[Thegreg20]

Thinking about tapping in Franklin county Saturday so that I can get every drop for the start of Sunday's warm spell. 3 straight days in the 40's and the rest in mid 30's. Crossing my fingers on no more arctic blast. It's early but I'm going crazy waiting

[fred]

Jumping the gun is a good way to make less syrup

[bigschuss]

I'm at 2,000 ft. about 45 minutes west of you and my average date of first tapping is the 1st week of March. I wouldn't think of chasing warm spells and hoping for no arctic blasts. Remember last March? We got 3 major Nor-easters and temps. plummeted.

[berkshires]

I jumped the gun last year in Chester. Tapped on January 20. Wound up with half the sap per day that I've gotten previously. Not to mention all kinds of issues dealing with frozen sap. Bad decision on my part.

I'm at only 800 feet, but I still won't be tapping before late Feb at the earliest this year.

[bill m]

Last year we finished tapping about Feb. 22 ,made our first syrup on the 24th and made over 1/3 of a gallon per tap without vacuum. I'm going to wait another week and watch the weather. Not to worried about missing much this early.

[Thegreg20]

I run vacuum at an elevation of 570 ft. Looking at the projected temperatures for Feb. and march if I tap early I should have 8 days of sap leading up to Feb 21st when temps are looking more consistently warmer. Last year I tapped Feb 5th and didn't start off with good flow till I switched to vacuum (night and day difference). By April I was having a hard time keeping my sap cold enough working 14hrs a day so April was a wash. If I ran buckets I definitely wait being the avg tap life is 4 weeks, vacuum 6+. My early syrup was my best. Nice and golden. My fear of starting later is April will be a wash again but I'll try waiting approx till the 21st

[berkshires]

A few things to keep in mind about those projected early Feb days:
- Those predicted high temps in the day are just that - the high temp. In Jan and early Feb, it may only be an hour or two anywhere near that temp, coming from lower overnight temps, and with few hours of sunlight. Your trees have a lot of mass, and so does the frozen ground around them. That means they may never, or barely, defrost enough for sap to flow, no matter what the high temp for the day is.
- Frozen lines don't move sap

Probably a good choice to wait a little.

Good luck!

Cheers,

GO

[maple flats]

Besides that, the few days when the sap would run, helps increase the sugar% in the sap. More times up and down raises the sap sugar%. Besides, there is a lot of cold ahead of us.

[berkshires]

Besides that, the few days when the sap would run, helps increase the sugar% in the sap. More times up and down raises the sap sugar%.

I did not know that. That could help explain why I saw my lowest sugar percent in the sap ever, last year. It averaged only 1.4%

This year to maximize the time I have available, I'm probably just going to tap/boil in March. Hopefully that will mean I get the best sugar my maples can give.

[sweetwater sugar shack]

Think I might do my Westfield trees Sunday