Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[VT_K9]

My Father and I plumbed the vacuum today. We have to finish tying up the 1 1/2" vac line and plumb the releaser. We also have to finish extending the 1" mainline to the releaser and wire the vacuum. Hopefully we can get a good jump on the 1" mainline and some work on the releaser done on Sunday. As much as I would like to see warmer and great suger weather NOW, I am happy to have the extra time to get ready.

Mike

[GeneralStark]

Almost done with my new tubing installation. Some saddles and a few mainline fittings left to install. Finished modifying my releaser with a 1 hp 3 phase well pump and vfd. It should work real well. 27.5" 24/7

Waiting on tapping until it warms up a bit. Spending the cold days finishing plumbing for the new ro in the heated room.

Looks like we won't be sugaring until march.

[PARKER MAPLE]

Almost done with my new tubing installation. Some saddles and a few mainline fittings left to install. Finished modifying my releaser with a 1 hp 3 phase well pump and vfd. It should work real well. 27.5" 24/7

Waiting on tapping until it warms up a bit. Spending the cold days finishing plumbing for the new ro in the heated room.

Looks like we won't be sugaring until march.

Couldn't agree more general, hopefully March brings better weather. This below zero stuff is getting old

[spud]

Was able to get 400 tapped today but then my back started giving me problems. Taking tomorrow off and then hope to be back at it for the weekend. I have close to 5000 tapped so far.

Spud

[northwoods_forestry]

Finally got into the woods on Wednesday. Replaced all the old 1/2" mainline with 3/4". Still need to extend the mainlines and tie into the lower bush with a sap ladder over the driveway. Hoping to make some headway on that this weekend.

[wsugar]

Looks like the first of March it's going to start warming up. I'm all set to go if it warms up enough Sunday im going to wash the RO. Made up a few more drops so I got to find a place for those. Thank you breezy for the great conversation the other night.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

-10 to -20 today with the wind. Sure makes it hard to work in the woods. My friend was telling me this morning that the frost is deeper in Winooski this year than anyone can remember or is on record (3 water main breaks this past week alone). I am sure the extra deep frost applies to the whole state. What will the deep frost do to the trees I wonder? maybe make it hard for them to run until it warms up a lot? Does anyone remember a season with real deep frost and how it affected production?

My guess is it will take the season a while to get going and will extend it well into April.

Ben

[Amber Gold]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that only applies to frost in the streets. Frost gets a lot deeper there because the roads are kept plowed. Just before we got all this snow, I was driving fence posts in the woods and didn't hit much frost. We've gotten a ton of snow since, so it's kept the ground insulated from all this cold weather, and if anything, some of the frost should've come out. Please correct me if I'm wrong because this is my understanding.

What I don't know is how this deep snowpack affects how well the trees run. If there isn't much frost in the ground, and we have the right temps, but there's 3' of snow the ground, will the trees run???

[n8hutch]

I have to say where I live in the Conway Nh- Fryeburg ME area there is frost in the ground where people have not traveled , I.E. the woods & meadows. I think that it will take 3-4 days above 40 to get the sap to run.

[Paul VT]

The frost in Burlington (in the roads) is 3-4 ft deep. 3 water breaks today in Burlington. Water department has been putting a lot of long hours. Where there is snow about a foot of frost.