Is it just me or are the trees starting off kinda slow ??
Is it just me or are the trees starting off kinda slow ??
2 1/2 x 10 with steam away leader drop flue inferno arch.
550 in gravity
Absolutely....I can't believe I've not had a better run given the weather. So slow.... Hoping things will trun around soon.
Slow for sure. Most of my sugar maples are starting to give some but the few reds I tapped are still dry.
Might get 5 gals sap from 24 taps by days end.
Backyard Sugarin' since 1991
Concrete block wood burner
24 taps on gallon jugs
2' x 2' x 6" SS pan
5 gal. SS steamer pan for preheating
89 Arctic Cat Panther sap hauler
Making a few gallons syrup most years.
Maple Baked Beans
Maple Oat Sourdough Bread
Maple Wine
Very slow out this way also. Have about a dozen or so that are running well. The rest are just starting to weep or doing nothing.
2019 99 taps on buckets (95 red & 4 sugar)
W.F. Mason 2x4 XL
Last 3 days have yielded about 800 gallons of sap. Just enough to sweeten the pans and then some. Firing up tomorrow.
" A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way."
Mark Twain
900 plus taps , 435 vacuum, 565 gravity
2.5 x 10 Thor on Tsunami arch
H2O Concentrater 300
Squeezing Bees
and
Draining Trees
Since 1980
http://www.sparkyshoneyandmaple.com/about.html
The number of people who are seeing slow starts validates what I'm seeing here. You wonder what's going on till you hear what's happening with others. Is this season typical of what one might expect with mapling? My three previous seasons were not like this at all, but I'm too new at this to know!
Oddly I have one tree that is acting like it's done flowing, giving only a small amount of yellow tinged sap like it might be buddy. This is usually a good producing tree. I wonder if the warm snap in early February made it run sooner since it is in a sheltered southern exposure? Maybe I'll grab a sample and boil it separately to see if it is buddy.
In any case, today was an improvement with 12 gallons gathered bringing the tally to 40, so a boil is on for this weekend.
Two 2x4 concrete block arches with three steam trays each
Tapping in Mount Vernon since 2016, 30 to 70 taps, 5/16" tube to 1.5 to 3.5 gallon buckets, some trees on collective gravity tubing to 5 gallon buckets.
Mostly sugar maples, a few reds on 200 year old homestead
I'm not surprised by the slow start, there's 3-4+ feet of snow in my sugarbush. I sank to my waist yesterday when I broke through a void space next to a piece of ledge, and I was wearing snow shoes. I think this warm weekend will get stuff going.
Road's End Farm - Starting small with no end in sight!
So, my giant old sugar maples are slow to start, but the other trees are starting to run. Finally got my first sap of the season up here north of Bangor! Collected 34.5 gallons in the last 24 hours from buckets on 80 taps. Sugar is 3.0 so I am hoping I can turn that into a gallon of syrup tomorrow. The flow seems to have stopped this morning, with the exception of a few drips from taps on the west and north sides of my biggest maples. Too warm I think—until (hopefully) Monday.
Page Meadow Maple
Lowell, Maine
Leader Half Pint evaporator
80 taps: 53 buckets, 27 drop lines
It’s finally started here In Oxford. Collected 85 gallons the past 2 days. Not huge but the trees are waking up. Sugar concentration should be high as I threw out a lot of ice. I’ll do the first boil this weekend. Much later than last year
2020: 317 taps, 2021: 360, 2022: 350 2023: 300, 2024: 230 (getting smarter)
Drop lines and hanging buckets, all hand lugged
2 X 6 raised flue evaporator
7in. Filter press
17 HP Kubota tractor
12 X 16' sugar shack
Sugar and red maples
When you say "three previous seasons" you nailed it. 2015 was a very late spring and ended up being a very poor year. Not to say this year will be bad, but if it warms up too fast we're in trouble. Based on the amount of snow and cold we have had, it is not at all surprising that the trees have been slaw to produce.
Your one tree is not buddy. You've got a month before that happens. It's possible you tapped too close to a previous taphole or other damaged spot on the trunk. It's possible it will come out of it when the sap really starts to run, but I would guess not. Just for fun, pull the tap and shine a light in there to see how the wood looks.
Steven Abbott
Over 900 taps on vacuum
30" x 10' D&G Woodsaver evaporator with Steamaway
Half acre market garden
2 farmers in training