First Year, When to Tap?

[cowboyott]

Hi All,

This is my first year at this. I can see why people call it an addiction already. I am working on my Barrel Evaporator, and have everything else all ready to go. It seems that I may have missed a week or so of sap run, but the weather is all freezing right now. This Sunday is supposed to be above, but then the rest of the week is below. So my question is; do i tap my trees this Saturday, or wait until the next weekend when temperature will start being more ideal for sap run... Live in Southeast PA. Tapping mostly Reds and some large sycamore.

Thanks for the help,
Tim

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[psparr]

Welcome to the club!

This year is screwey for us. Last year I was tapped feb 1 and was making syrup. You can tap now or wait. Won't matter really.
Even when it does warm up you'll have to wait for them to thaw out a little. I've got 100 gallons of sap sitting in two drums frozen solid. Probably won't thaw out till June! The reds will run a little funny. Some you'll think are gonna blead to death and others probably won't run much at all. Anyway good luck, and have fun doing it.
You're not too far away, would love to see your rig running sometime.

[Russell Lampron]

With buckets it will be best if you wait 1 more week. The holes will be fresher at the end of the season when the best sap runs usually come.

[spud]

You never said how many taps you have. If you are only hanging 25-100 buckets then I would wait till the day before the sap runs.

Spud

[Evets]

Tapping Sycamore? Is that really a thing?

[cowboyott]

20 Taps - Yea, supposedly you can tap sycamore. It just has a lower sugar content. Has anyone ever tried it?

I think I will wait until next weekend to do my tapping then. I am guessing that even if it runs tomorrow, it wont be much... better to have fresh holes, for when it flows better - sounds like the best plan

[bowtie]

Never heard of tapping sycamore, does not mention anything about in Wikipedia, however it is not in the maple family not sure of mixing it, your resulting syrup will probably not have a maple flavor.

[cowboyott]

I plan to boil separate. You can also make syrup from birch I hear...

[pennslytucky]

Birch,walnut, butternut, and a bunch more. But they taste funny if u are used to maple.