when are you planing to tap
just wondeing what yall are thinking. im in st clair county was thinking i would tap today but now im having second thoughts. now im kicking around waiting till the second week of march after looking at the extended forcast. just curious what others are thinking.
Only my second year and with only 10-15 trees I will have mine all in tonight for this weekend run
This is my 1st year so I am a newbie. Put 10 taps in on buckets last night and my last 10 taps go in tonight for a total of 20. Weather looks like we might have 3-4 days next week that might produce. Hoping to get enough to do my 1st boil on next Saturday (Feb 27th). After that I leave on a UP snowmobiling trip Feb 28th through March 5th. Hopefully we will have a good March this year as I would consider 3 to 4 gallons of syrup my 1st year a tremendous success. It would also help convince my wife of the improvements I want to make for next year (i.e., a new 2 x 4 or 2 x 5 arch/evaporator) as I want to expand to 35-40 taps next year. Clay in Almont, MI
I've got all 150 taps out, wrapped up this week. This Friday is supposed to be 52 degrees here north of Battle Creek and will have the sap flowing. I had some buckets in 2 weeks ago when we had that big thaw for about a week and had a few 5 gallon pails fill up. Friday is supposed to be followed by 2 days in the 40s. Friday nights low here is projected to be 40. No sense in waiting any longer.
2013- 3 taps and a turkey fryer. made 1.5 gallons
2014- 25 taps, a cinder block pit with 6 steam tray pans and smokestack. Made 10 gallons.
2015- 50 taps, an improved cinder block pit with frame and a smoke stack. Made 16 gallons.
2016- 150 taps, new homemade 3 pan evaporator (27"x 7'7") on a float system w/ valves. wood fired. 2-275 gallon tanks.
42.42 Latitude
I probably won't get my bag holders out until early March here in the Traverse City area. The early sap I collected last year after tapping in late February had a rather low sugar content as my 1 st boil ended up being 55-60/1! The end result was still really good syrup but just took a lot more work to get to the finished product. I am trying real hard to get my new Sugar Shack finished so I can move the "New to Me" evaporator in it so I can be out of the elements this year while boiling. Good luck everyone.
Dan W.
Latitude:N 44° 50' 25.0463"
Longitude:W 85° 38' 57.8906"
New for 2022 (My 10th year) a 9" CDL Vacuum Filter Press
2016/2017 12' X 16' Sugar Shack 6/12 pitch roof W/ 3' X 4' Cupola.
John Deere HPX 4X4 Gator (Pop's left it to me when he died)
New for 2020 HB10 RO In A Bucket, a game changer.
2015 Purchased 50 used Bag holders.
2016 Purchased a home made evaporator and "everything" that went with it.
20 acre Sugar Bush
I intend to tap tomorrow - don't want to miss flow during the brief heat wave. Don't mind if its full on flow yet since I have repairs to make to my evaporator yet. Update - I tapped on 2/17 and 2/18. Will see when I get home today if this 56 degree weather resulted in any!
Last edited by Shirlsaw63; 02-19-2016 at 01:58 PM.
I would be going in this weekend, but a minor injury knocked me off my game a few weeks back.
Good health wise, just way behind the 8-ball now.
Taking a couple of vacation days in conjunction with this weekend to do a final push.
Tanks need to be cleaned, set and plumbed yet and a couple of little projects need to wrap up in the shack before I can pull the trigger.
Probably start setting buckets early next week after work and be all in by the weekend.
42.67N 84.02W
350 taps- 300 on vacuum, 50 buckets
JD gator 625i Sap hauler w/65 gal tank
Leader 2X6 drop flue
Homemade auto draw-off
Homemade preheater
Homebrew RO, 2- xle-4040's
LaPierre double vertical releaser
Kinney KC-8 vacuum pump
12X24 shack
Lots of chickens and a few cats.
I am in western ST Clair county, put all my vacuum taps in today, will wait until the 1st of march for the buckets and bags
2x6 RAISED FLUE PANS
by WF MASON
650 taps on vac.
100 on bags
I wouldn't wait that long. You're much further south than me and even though the ground was much more frozen last year, I was making syrup by the second week of March. A warm winter might mean a short season, so you could miss some of it.Originally Posted by austin357
CE
44° 41′ 3″ N
2019 -- 44 Red Maples - My home and sugarbush are for sale.
2018 -- 48 Red Maples, 7 gallons
2017 -- 84 Red Maples, 1 Sugar Maple, and 1 Silver Maple , 13 gallons
2016 -- 55 Red Maples, 8 gallons
2015 -- 15 Red Maples, 6 Birches - 3+ gallons maple syrup
An awning over my deck is my sugar shack.
An electrified kitchen sink and an electrified steam table pan are my evaporators.
Just put most of our 300 taps in tonight. Have a few stragglers out back to finish tapping later.
We have almost no firewood, pans are not ready, and haven't even had the tractor running yet. YIKES....
But no turning back now. Lol.....won't take long and we will be completely up and going. Cutting firewood Saturday.
2019......close to 300 taps in 5 acres
stainless 3x5' flat pan
Family operation
Allis Chalmers B tractor, for the sap wagon
5th generation syrup maker!
25 years of the best spring time memories you can get
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