Southeastern WI 2020 Tapping

[ChaskaSap]

I'm up near Mpls and tapped two weeks ago. Had pretty good flow until the chilly weather last week. The flow over the last few days has been slow though, and like you the temps are warm, but we have a forecast a little more favorable...with only still a few days in the next week that won't hit freezing....hoping for better soon!

[MapleMaisy]

Good Morning,
March 3
First time posting ,so I hope I’m doing this right. I’m sure someone will straighten me out if not. Location of our sugarbush is Dodge Co., Town of Rubicon. Began sugaring in 1992, at least that is my first recorded record of sugaring. Put in 47 taps on Sunday, had difficulty with atv pulling cart of supplies to tap. Had enough help so carried supplies into sugarbush. Have great farmers in our area that let us tap in their woods. Couldn’t get into our 2nd location because too much snow on trails for atv. Walked in again, got another 14 taps in. Have another 51 to go. Today will be our first day collecting.
When we started in “92” we cooked down in an aluminum bushel basket over a propane burner. In 2008 switched to an English tin pan about 36x48 over a wood fire. In 2017 we began using an`18x60 hobby size evaporator. We have always used sap sak holders.We maple sugar for the fun and fresh air; not necessarily the hard work it is. Have lots of help from family and friends that are interested in the process. Even grand nieces and nephews and our grandchildren enjoy maple sugaring.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi Maple Maisy, Sounds like an old snowmobile and ice fishing sled would have helped. our woods still have too much snow for atv use also,and its great to have family and friends to share your passion with. Good luck this season and God Bless.

[littleTapper]

Welcome MapleMaisy! Hope you have a great season. Temps should be more favorable for you than me given the forecast.

We're up to 5.5 gallons per tap now. Trees have run rather well considering barely any freezing at night. Haven't checked the 175 gallons in the tank, but previous stuff was just over 1.8% - so not horrible (better than the 1.5% of the first stuff we pulled). Might have froze just enough last night to get more today....we'll see.

[fisheatingbagel]

Good Morning,
March 3
First time posting ,so I hope I’m doing this right. I’m sure someone will straighten me out if not. Location of our sugarbush is Dodge Co., Town of Rubicon. Began sugaring in 1992, at least that is my first recorded record of sugaring. Put in 47 taps on Sunday, had difficulty with atv pulling cart of supplies to tap. Had enough help so carried supplies into sugarbush. Have great farmers in our area that let us tap in their woods. Couldn’t get into our 2nd location because too much snow on trails for atv. Walked in again, got another 14 taps in. Have another 51 to go. Today will be our first day collecting.
When we started in “92” we cooked down in an aluminum bushel basket over a propane burner. In 2008 switched to an English tin pan about 36x48 over a wood fire. In 2017 we began using an`18x60 hobby size evaporator. We have always used sap sak holders.We maple sugar for the fun and fresh air; not necessarily the hard work it is. Have lots of help from family and friends that are interested in the process. Even grand nieces and nephews and our grandchildren enjoy maple sugaring.

Sounds like a great family tradition, keep us posted on how it's going!

[littleTapper]

Forecast really blows....

[gatzow]

Yes, this isn't good.... Nothing that we can do about it. Leave taps in as long as we can and hope that things turn. Otherwise, all sap is based on tomorrow's run (maybe they will go through the night into Sunday for us???)) It could be a sad year having to tell all our customers that we have no syrup to sell until next year...

Forecast really blows....

[littleTapper]

Yup, will just leave things in, clean everything up and hope it gets cold again for a bit. Could be a super-short season for my silvers. I have hope in the 30 sugars I have on 3/16 to extend things a bit but that trend is not good at all. Oh well!

[gatzow]

Well, I was honestly hoping for more sap today but pulled about 3/4 gallon per tap today. I was really hoping for 1.5-2 gallons per tap based on temps but trees just didn’t get started until noon or later. Will be boiling tomorrow. Hope the sugar improves from 2%. Last years 3.5 average was much more fun to cook...
Best of luck to all!

[Irish Ridge]

Kind of had the same output from my sugars the last couple of days. Just finished collecting once more today so until the trees run again my pails are empty. Sugar content for me has been consistently at 2.5 to three so I am happy there. At this point it is all up to the weather. Working in a tee shirt isn't bad though. Best of luck and a bit lower temps to us down-staters.