Maple syrup sludge worse than other years?

[Maple Producer]

Hi Y'all! Has any one noticed more sludge in their syrup when they go to finish it than normal? I am having to literally scrape a half inch of sludge off my filters every gallon of syrup I'm filtering. In sw ohio its gotten worse in the last 2 years it seems.. Any kind of solution or helps to make it easier to deal with? I am just gravity filtering, not using the press filter system.. Thanks in advance!

[SDdave]

I'm curious about the repsonses on this topic as well. I have noticed alot of sludge/niter this year. I've drawn off early and filtered to get the most of it, then add it back the next day to help establish the gradient at startup. I don't know if that helps at all as each time I get more and more. Interested in seeing responses from those with a bit more experience than I!

SDdave

[DRoseum]

It's heavy for me in SW PA and sugar content is very low all year (1% - predominantly red maples). We had extended drought conditions for over 1 year and I have been wondering about the following correlations and any research on them (Dr Tim?):

(1) drought effects on following year sugar content
(2) drought effects on nitre
(3) low sugar content effect on total nitre precipitation/ deposits.

It would *seem* that drought would negatively impact sugar concentration.

It also *seems* like lower sugar content (if the ratio of sugar to minerals that produce niter is lower as well) would result in more niter precipitation/deposits during processing because you have to process/boil more and it may cause an increase.

However I would really like to know if there are studies on these topics.

[Maple Producer]

Very interesting! I hadnt thought of the possibility of drought impacting it like that! I was also curious if the age of the tree has anything to do with? I doubt it, due to the fact I am and have been doing a broad range of young to old trees..

[DrTimPerkins]

(1) drought effects on following year sugar content.

However I would really like to know if there are studies on these topics.

Very little research or published on this so far. I hope to get a paper out on this within the next 9 months. Stay tuned.

[maple marc]

In my experience here in Ohio, lower sugar content of sap seems to be correlated with a drought the previous year or a mast year (heavy seed production). Heavy mast appears with a much thinner leaf canopy. There goes the tiny sugar factories. Several years ago the canopy was so thin throughout this part of the state that people thought there was some kind of disease in the trees. Turns out it was just the tree putting energy into seeds instead of leaves.

This year my sugar is down. Average over the past is 2-2.6%. This year 1.2-2.2%. An excavator friend of mine tells me that the holes he digs indicate the water table is way down due to a dry fall last year. That could explain low sugar.

[ecolbeck]

Last year definitely wasn't a drought year in New England. We had a LOT of rainfall. Could rain, and cloud cover more generally, reduce sugar content? Less sun = less photosynthesis = low sugar? Does niter typically increase over the course of a season as sugar typically drops? That would support the idea that low sugar years tend to be high niter years. Although it seems like there are lots of factors which contribute to niter production.

[berkshires]

Last year definitely wasn't a drought year in New England. We had a LOT of rainfall. Could rain, and cloud cover more generally, reduce sugar content? Less sun = less photosynthesis = low sugar? Does niter typically increase over the course of a season as sugar typically drops? That would support the idea that low sugar years tend to be high niter years. Although it seems like there are lots of factors which contribute to niter production.

I tap one tree in my yard, in Middlesex County, in MA. Last season I got 2.5% from it. This season I'm getting 1.7%. That's a huge dropoff in sugar.

I noticed two things during the growing season last year. Yes, as you said, a ton of rain all summer. So much so that the leaves of all the trees in my yard were, to some degree, effected by fungus. The leaves of this maple were so affected by fungus that most of them dropped off! Add to that, it was a mast year too - lots of seeds on the maple. So those two things are obviously going to put a big strain on the tree for that one season. Now how much one bad season can affect the sugar percent, I do not know. But clearly, in this case, with the huge sugar drop off, it seems like for this tree at least, it can make a big difference.

GO