2024 Tapping Season in CT

[Sugar Bear]

I did not tap until the 23 of February. Wanted to tap earlier but could not.

Made 7.5 gallons in two separate runs by March 3 ( 9 days ) A record rate of production for me.

Had hardly a single night below freezing between the 5th of March to the 20th March* ( every bit of 15 days and then some )

Left my taps in anyway because I really did not get any of those "festering" temps for sap lines during those 15 days.

Had a run of clear sap from about the 23rd of March to the 26th of March that allowed me to make 1.5 gallons of good quality syrup. Most drops to buckets were dry at this point and all reds on runs were dry but all sugars on runs ( about 35 ) were running well with one of them at peak flow for the season. Sugar content of this sap was down a bit to 2% on large trees to 1% on small trees. Now of course my taps were only 4 weeks old at this point. In this run I pulled about 85 gallons off 35 taps on tubing runs that form some natural vacuum.

Ended with 9 gallons of an expected 15 gallons. ( 1 quart per tap ) Less than expected for the season but the least amount of processing work per gallon of syrup of all of my seasons.

Several lessons learned for me this year as they are every year ... The big one for me this year is, do not give up until temperatures dictate. And that does not mean freezing temperatures.

Happy seasons to all.