I'm wondering if people could post historical trends about when they start tapping in Massachusetts. I'm in the MetroWest area. And do you have links to other sites with this data that you can share?
I'm wondering if people could post historical trends about when they start tapping in Massachusetts. I'm in the MetroWest area. And do you have links to other sites with this data that you can share?
Ok I will bite. Im a long way from Mass.
Historical data is great but Accuweather forecasts in today's world are pretty darn good and tapping can be looked at a week out with pretty good results too.
With weather seaming to change, maybe its global warming? Iam not going to argue about that. What you should look for (as I am sure you know) are the normal above and below freezing temps to begin the maple sap flow. Have your equipment ready and tap when you see that trend in the weather. The rest will happen and you will have your own data point. I like mid Feb in our area. But have been lured into tapping in late January!
Regards,
Chris
Casbohm Maple and Honey
625 roadside taps + Neighbors bring some sap too!
3x10 King, WRU, AOF and AUF
12" SIRO Filter Press.
2015 Ford F250 PSD sap hauler
One Golden named Maggie, Norwegian Forest Cat named Lucy
Too many Cub Cadets
Ford Jubilee and several Allis WD's, and IH tractors
1932 Ford AAB ton and a half, dump truck
www.mapleandhoney.com
My sugarbush is in the foothills of the Berkshires - way west of you, and probably 700 feet more altitude. That said, I'll bite. I have figured out for the last few years, based on retrospective temps, when would have been the optimal time for me to tap. For reference, I'm on buckets (might be way different for tubes with good vacuum):
2012: 6 Feb (a weird warm year)
2013: 4 Mar
2014: 8 Mar
2015: 9 Mar
2016: 17 Feb
2017: 18 Feb
2018: 9 Feb
My actual tap dates:
2016: 27 Feb - first year, still gathering supplies, not ready earlier
2017: 18 Feb - tracking weather really closely, got lucky on hitting the sweet spot in timing
2018: 20 Jan - Way too early (which I knew at the time) but I had a baby and wanted to insure sap wouldn't spoil if I couldn't get to it for a while.
By the way, I will probably aim for tapping a week or so after the optimal time this year, because I'm still very short on time, what with the one-year-old. So I plan to have a short season of only four or five weeks, and I want to be collecting sap when the trees are running hardest.
Cheers,
Gabe
2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals
2024: 17 taps, 5.3 gals
All on buckets
Hourly historical weather for a given day: https://www.wunderground.com/history...=Massachusetts
Monthly historical temperatures: w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=box
Cheers!
GO
2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals
2024: 17 taps, 5.3 gals
All on buckets
I haven't been doing this as long as many others on here, but for where I am (Central, MA) I find that I usually tap around Valentine's Day. Because I have to work a "real" job, it actually turns out to be the weekend before or after Valentine's day. I recently had to travel for business. The dates that were offered were the first week of February, the last week of February, or the second week of March. Based on the choices, the first week of February (historically) would be the safest bet for me. I got off the plane on Saturday and my text messages lit up with pictures of one of my fellow Mass sugar makers evaporator boiling away. He had collected 700 gallons of sap the week I was travelling.
This week looks lousy. I'm waiting to see what the long range looks like to determine if I should begin tapping this weekend or not. Bottom line; with any type of farming, mother nature has the final call! Good luck!
2016 - 2 x 4 Randy Worthen built arch and pans 11 taps; 2.625 gallons of syrup!
2017 - 29 taps; 11.625 gallons of syrup!
2018 - 30 taps; 98 pints bottled! New sugar house being built, new equipment coming!
2019 - 125 taps; 50 gallons made! New 2x6 Smoky Lake Corsair arch, drop flue pan, auto draw. Smoky Lake filter press and Steam Bottler
2020 - 173 taps; only 35 gallons made.
2021 - 242 taps; New record! 50.5 gallons made!
2022 - 321 taps; New record! 80 gallons made!
Started in '72 in Southampton (lower Ct. river valley) and back then we always tapped winter vacation weekend,now it's called president's day,roughly 3rd week of Feb. As I remember we always complained about missing the first run. Back in those days we had a 6 week window and that was it,bucket spouts clogged up with pretty white goo and the plastic spouts we used were used year after year so they clogged up too. It's alot different today with fresh plastic in the trees every year,you don't have to be anywere near as precise with timing.
Here is when I have started tapping for the past 20+ years. Prior to 2015 I had all buckets so I tended to tap later in season. I have many more taps out now, and mostly tubing, so I can afford to start earlier than I used to. I can't say that I always tapped at the correct time, sometimes a bit too early, sometimes a bit late, but generally close. We are in central Mass at 1000' elevation on the shoulder of Mt Wachusett so the climate is more like western Mass.
2019 Feb 23 (planned)
2018 Feb 10, 14
2017 Feb 18
2016 Feb 19
2015 Feb 28
2014 Mar 8
2013 Mar 3
2012 Feb 28
2011 Mar 5
2010 Mar 5
2009 Mar 7
2008 Mar 2
2007 Mar 3
2006 Mar 8
2005 Mar 16
2004 Feb 29
2003 Mar 15
2002 Feb 24
2001 Mar 11
2000 Mar 3
1999 Feb 14 (too early)
1998 Feb 20
1997 Mar 8
I have records of tapping in Chesterfield (buckets only) going back to the 70's so if I get a chance to dig them out I will post them.
Dave
Mountain Maple farm
2022 NAMSC award winning dark amber syrup
2023: 320 taps, 70% red maples. Mountain Maple S4 diaphragm pump controller with automated sap transfer and text messaging
Website:
https://www.mountainmaplefarm.com
https://www.facebook.com/MountainMapleFarm/
This is great! Thank you Dave. I'm in the metrowest area also and planning for the same weekend.
Last edited by Ntatar; 02-14-2019 at 08:37 PM.
Great detail, Dave. I'm likely to tap weekend after next. Yesterday, I noticed the first taps in around me... a small group of trees on tubing. There are a few other folks within a mile of me, and I haven't seen any of them go in yet.
Nick, as an aside, I've often used Drumlin Farm's tapping as a guide, I took a one day class on sugarin' when I first wanted to start... I do know that they've just put a few taps in the last week, but apparently they've had very little dripping so far. They said the rest will almost definitely go in next week.
~Janet
2019 - 6th year sugarin'. 2nd year using propane. 13 taps. Just over 3/4 gal syrup. Light in color and flavor.
Intent to build a new barrel evaporator with my son this summer. Still don't weld. We'll see how it goes.
Thanks Janet! I've tapped this last weekend in Feb and been pretty happy 2 years. I'm going from a dozen trees to 35 this year and have just realized how much knowledge lives within this group. Nice to be connected to folks in the area this year!