Quote Originally Posted by berkshires View Post
Do you stop because buds are breaking, or because the trees have shut down? If the latter, if you tap later, and we still have good weather, your trees should still be running. But if your trees always bud then, I guess that's how it goes.

Whenever I run into April, I test all my sap, but I haven't hit buddy sap yet. In 2019 we had a warm up for the first week of Feb (which I missed) and then it got cold and stayed cold - like this year. That year I didn't tap until March 10, which is almost a month after my average tap date. But I still made better than a quart per tap. So who knows. If the season doesn't start until March, and then in late March we have a warm spell, we could be screwed. Only time will tell.

I hate waiting.

GO
The buds on the reds usually open first so they get pulled, then the Norway at home and a good portion of the sugars dry up. It's a domino effect once the reds bud. The last couple years that was week 5 of being tapped (starting Feb 5) and I think 6 weeks is what I read for taps with no vacuum so I didn't question. We'll know for sure this year!