2020 season

[sap seeker]

8” of snow on thawed ground....but at least it’s good for mapling. Should melt quickly. Looks like a great day for sap and forecast is good through Saturday. Hoping for a big week, good luck everyone!

Next ten days look dynamite for western, central, and even northern Maine if forecast holds.

[Mitchman]

Hey Abbott!!! Nice to see everyone is having a good year!!!! I couldn't just let the season go by again reading all those good posts so i started up late. Low key but making some awesome syrup, of coarse family all wants some. I knew that would happen. And i was out myself, can't have that!!!! Later Mitchman

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Well after seeing and boiling through today’s run which is still going and looking at the forecast through the weekend, I’ll be changing my screen name to #needromachine. We are still making a light amber, nice stuff. Gonna be a busy weekend! Going great in Peru! How’s everyone else doing?

[twitch]

Anyone else's sap sugar content drop ?

[Mvhomesteader]

I boiled yesterday and noticed that the sugar was 2.25%, down from 2.5ish on the previous boil. I also decided to drop off any tree with less than 1.8% and was surprised to find a bunch lower than that and a grouping around 1.8 to 2.5. Definitely lower than s few weeks ago. Since 55 gallons is what I can easily boil in a day, 1.8% is the cut off to give me a gallon of syrup for my effort. A couple of taps have stopped. Three (?) more boils to go.

[abbott]

Anyone else's sap sugar content drop ?

The cold stretch early this week actually brought it back up to 2.0 briefly. I've been between 1.7 and 2.0 for a while now... an unusually low sugar year for sure.

The sap has run well the last couple days, but not as well as I would have guessed... I think the taps are starting to dry up.

Few more days.

[twitch]

Sap I picked up today was at 1.3% not to good. Started off 2.25% went down came back a bit. last year seemed to stick at 2% or better for nearly the entire season. Yup feeling the end is near.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Last 2 day run totaled 515 gallons. Just flicked the switch. Sap testing at 2% so holding good here. A little cloudy but not terrible. Should make 10+ gallons today.

[abbott]

Who's still in it? I almost quit, but decided to stick with it a bit longer. I pulled the taps I have in reds, as well as the ones tapped below the mainline. Barely a trickle the last couple days, but it's running ok today, back up to 1.7% sugar. I'm convinced a good portion of my taps have dried up, but the ones on the north side of the trees are still going, as well as the new tubing I put in a week into the season. The plan right now is to boil for two more days and call it a season. I've barely made any dark this year, today's boil was at 35% transmittance. Seems crazy that it still has to go down 10% more to make Very Dark... it seems so dark already and the sap I'm boiling seems like pretty questionable stuff. But the syrup is still coming out fine.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Still plugged in next door to you, reds and sugars. Vacuum lines are running good, others still going but not much. Will have a good amount to boil tomorrow though. We’ve made medium and dark, been a great season. Sap was 1.8 on the boil yesterday. If we get sap again tomorrow, will boil again Thursday. May get a freeze this weekend for one last push but not sure if we’ll stay in for it or not. Knowing me, we will! Keeping every boil separate for a good cold syrup test. So far everything has been good. Give it hell!