Tapping for winter 22–23

[canaanmaple]

I heard many stories of people retapping, maybe some bumping holes, all basically a waste of time! When daffodils bloom good syrup season is over, peep frogs is the warning, earth worms crawling and daffodils in bloom! Let it go! But what do I know! Only been making for the 25th season!
Mark220maple

Mark, I thought you were the one telling me not to hang it up because there are a couple freezing nights with some white stuff coming up! I did still make good syrup sunday what I called the final boil. Dark that finally had that traditional "maple flavor". Definitely not buddy. I've made that before and been terrified ever since!

[220 maple]

CanaanMaple,
My previous comment was in reference to us low landers that got are last good sap on 2/21/23! Keep rolling I’m pulling for you to survive too 4/1/23! Your close, hopefully the gang at SpruceKnob Maple makes it to April, if I remember correctly out of the last 10 years they have made good syrup in April 8 of them, if they make it this year, I only made edible syrup in April one time in the last 25! Actually made it to April one other time! Buddy Syrup! Doubt I ever do that again with the heat we’re dealing with.
Mark220maple

[DrTimPerkins]

How was the season overall in WV this spring?

[canaanmaple]

How was the season overall in WV this spring?

I should let Mark answer this, but to my understanding, one of the worst ever for the majority of the state. Strong La Nina wreaked havoc.
I am in the extreme minority and lucky, being up in the highlands where the ski areas and lake-effect snow is. We had the lowest snowfall on record for the season here (62"), and also one of the warmest Februarys since the 1950s. Bad for skiing, but survivable for maple. Everywhere else is at least 10 - 15 degrees warmer and dont think it even froze in Feb for them?? The biggest producer in the state (Spruce Knob Maple) ... 18,000 taps... happens to be up this way also and did very well this year. I think all the other highland producers are now done also as of last weekend.

[220 maple]

Dr.Tim,
CanaanMaple pretty well described West Virginia production, basically if you was over 3000 foot elevation, except for one producer in the 1500 range the sap went bad by February 21st, I did a test boil from 5 trees that wasn’t tapped early, they set in a low area with extreme north face exposure,most certainly my coldest trees because cold air sinks, just started to get afternoon sun due to sun angle gain. That sap was buddy!
Now my question to you? Do you have daffodils? Some people call them Easter Lily’s? If so can you make good syrup after they have bloomed? I personally don’t think we can! Ground has got too warm therefore the minerals that cause buddy syrup has already been transferred to the tree even though it appears there is no buds on the trees.
Mark220maple

[DrTimPerkins]

Do you have daffodils? Some people call them Easter Lily’s? If so can you make good syrup after they have bloomed? I personally don’t think we can! Ground has got too warm therefore the minerals that cause buddy syrup has already been transferred to the tree even though it appears there is no buds on the trees.

Daffodils do grow around here, but typically not in the woods. None out yet by a long shot. We might start to see daffodils poking out of the ground in warm spots (next to the house) during late sugaring season, but they typically aren't blooming by that point. Peepers (more correctly, tree frogs) seem to be a better indicator for us. Sometimes they're a few days early, sometimes a few days late -- but generally pretty close.

Buddy and metabolism are NOT caused by minerals coming from the ground in the spring. They are both caused (for different reasons) by amino acids released by the trees into the sap stream. Buddy is associated with the activation of buds when the temperatures start to warm. Metabolism is "probably" from residual amino acids from the previous fall that didn't get flushed out sufficiently. Different types of amino acids cause these off-flavors. High nitrogen content seems to be associated with metabolism to some degree. Some similarities, but not exactly the same.

[darkmachine]

How was the season overall in WV this spring?

It was sad for us, we are at about 1500ft, our season was longer than many in our area. Typically we get about 50% of our sap from buckets. This season I changed over our normal flat land bucket area to vacuum and i'm glad i did because the weather was hard on the buckets, only produced about 200 gallons of sap on 100 buckets or the whole month they hung...very few ran well. On a normal season our trees would run 12 quart buckets over in 24hrs. This year the warm weather just shut them down.

I always aim for 100 gallons of syrup, with basically no buckets I came up well short of that. This year made me a true believer that vacuum is the future for this camp, tap early, leave the pump on 24/7 going forward. I'll be putting up as much tubing as i can before next season, not saying i won't hang buckets in the future, but the weather would have to be perfect.

[220 maple]

The last producer standing made syrup on the 30th per my sources, though there is a good freeze in the forecast for tonight mid 20s don’t know if they make it! Hope they do I believe that would be 7 or 8 times out of the last 10 years good syrup made in April, But with climate change I guess syrup production this far South is good news. My location is no more than a 45 minute drive away, last good sap I got was on Feb 21st. Maybe 15 air miles! Elevation differences is 1100ft vs 3300ft camp location, their trees are above them up to 4200 feet
Mark220maple

[darkmachine]

Mark,
I was up to see Buck Barb last week. Sad to see his operation shut down. He just had heart surgery, and seems to be recovering well. I wanted to rent his filter press, but since he wouldn't rent it, i had to buy it. Not sure what other equipment he is parting with, I imagine cash is king. I think his brother still made syrup this year at their uncles camp down the road, but those 4k taps Buck had have been idle for at least 3 years. He mentioned lots of people wanted to lease or work out a deal to use the trees, but he said he knew he couldn't stay out of their business if they were up there, lol. Probably all of us are a little like that. The good thing is the filter press solved the sugar sand issues i was having. Time to start planning for next year!

[220 maple]

Darkmachine,
Yes my old buddy Buck has retired, I tracked him down at the Wednesday auction at Moorefield a week ago, he had lost my number. His evaporator which would probably have been the right size for camp? Arch already sold, pans not the best he said, probably scorched, I definitely need to upgrade, if you have never had a filter press, hopefully with in a couple of uses you’ll say why didn’t I have one sooner, I don’t know what brand or size he had, I know one thing that it not easy learning how much filter aid to use! After many years we finally figured that out, now a piece of cake to filter syrup the way I do it from a finishing pan. I mentioned to him the same thought, lease the sugarbush, exact same comment, he would never be able to stay out of the sugar camp therefore it would be the end for him!
Mark220maple