Eastern Ontario 2024

[Big_Eddy]

Feb 23.
A couple of trees have given up. Most are still going. Forecast looks like we will get through the weekend and then that’s it.

[Galena]

Feb 23.
A couple of trees have given up. Most are still going. Forecast looks like we will get through the weekend and then that’s it.

I've had a tree tap out too, just one of the 1-spile bush maples. Another spile on a big tree is starting to call it a day. But the forecast in my area still conducive through next week, so will keep going til they call it a day. T
hree good trees are still giving me double digits of perfect sap.

[ir3333]

that was my point... I was warned years ago by veteran Sugarmen about getting excited and tapping too early. Taps can
start to heal over after as little as 4 weeks. Their flow won't stop but will be reduced when the best runs happen. We see
early tapping in Jan. and Feb. every year and now reports say syrup production is down. When i removed and re-tapped
some early taps that were slow, they immediately ran strong and still are today. I always tap mid to late March when i see
at least a 10 day window and have never had a bad year. Next year do your own test with late and early taps on the same
tree. Maybe it won't work in your sugar bush....and maybe i have just been lucky?

[Big_Eddy]

LR3333
I have tapped date, first and last sap, first and last boil, gallons of sap, litres of syrup plus more data for our bush going back close to 30 year.

In the last 12 years, my earliest tap date was Feb 19, and the latest March 19. Our shortest season was 13 days and the longest 53. We made the most syrup per tap in the longest year, and the least in the shortest.

We are 12 mins from Stirling, so comparable. Most Bucket taps still run well 6 weeks after tapping. Tubing longer. Health Spiles on a tight vacuum system longer still. The big guys start tapping at the start of December. Of course they make more syrup in a day than I collect sap in a year.

[ir3333]

Sounds like you have all the data on your bush and take your syrup very serious. Well done!
I experiment and try to learn something every year but i don't make a lot syrup.
I try to nail the perfect 2-3 week run in March and get the "most for the least" amount of time/work.

[ir3333]

Ed... I noticed your arch specs. Like you, i built my own arch. 20" x 66" with a rear dropped flue sap pan.
That is some coincidence! How many GPH do you boil at?

[Galena]

that was my point... I was warned years ago by veteran Sugarmen about getting excited and tapping too early. Taps can
start to heal over after as little as 4 weeks. Their flow won't stop but will be reduced when the best runs happen. We see
early tapping in Jan. and Feb. every year and now reports say syrup production is down. When i removed and re-tapped
some early taps that were slow, they immediately ran strong and still are today. I always tap mid to late March when i see
at least a 10 day window and have never had a bad year. Next year do your own test with late and early taps on the same
tree. Maybe it won't work in your sugar bush....and maybe i have just been lucky?

Glad you were told to not tap too early, those old sugarers learned the hard way! I tapped March 3rd, so things are slowing as they should, of their own accord. A couple of spiles are now producing cloudy sap, which I make sure to taste before adding it to the batch. A couple of times in the past a hole dried early so I did re-tap on another side, but it's kinda unfair. I am happy with what I get.

[ir3333]

We think alike Galena...your records show you are super efficient and outperform most "sugarers" Is that a word?
I only tap the biggest trees and never care about how much syrup I make either. I only tap 25 large trees with huge
crowns and no neighbouring competition.

[Big_Eddy]

Ed... I noticed your arch specs. Like you, i built my own arch. 20" x 66" with a rear dropped flue sap pan.
That is some coincidence! How many GPH do you boil at?

It really depends. Last couple of years I have moved my home office to the sugar house during the season and I boil as I work. While working, I don’t try to be super aggressive, and I find I average 12-15 gph over a working day. That is fIring every ten minutes or so, 2-3 forearm size limbs. Float at 1 1/4”.

A few years ago, I tried to see just how fast I could boil, and I was able to average just above 24gph over 4 hours. That was firing with bone dry cedar, every 6 minutes, with the float set at 3/4”. You did not look away, never mind step outside.

[Galena]

We think alike Galena...your records show you are super efficient and outperform most "sugarers" Is that a word?
I only tap the biggest trees and never care about how much syrup I make either. I only tap 25 large trees with huge
crowns and no neighbouring competition.

Thanks for the nice words :-) Yeah sugarers is a word, or sucriers if you wanna be all fancy lol!!

IDK about super efficient, I just tap conservatively and have only 8 trees max. I gave a couple this season off, one may be permanently retired. Try to be nice to them, limb off dead and clearly dying branches,. give them nutrients like wood ash(!), alpaca pooh tea and so forth, keep nearby saplings and creeping vines from crowding/strangling them.

Actually my big trees are starting to dry up now, it's a bush maple doing the heavy lifting. And it does seem to be in its own little sweet spot, as it were. It is uncrowded by other trees and has a great crown.

So long as I have enough syrup to sweeten my daily cup of coffee, and enough left over for competition, I'm happy :-)