I sampled a dozen or so trees today after I tapped, and it seems to me that the brix is generally slightly lower than last season, perhaps 0.5. The range was 1.8 to 3.6, and I know that higher one was a 4 last season and I never started out with any less than 2. I'll check in more detail once the flow kicks in.
I would be interested to know if anyone else has similar observations. Ultimately I guess it means slightly more boiling for an equal volume of syrup compared to last year.
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