Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[Shirefisher]

So I tapped 4 trees just to see what kind of run we may get the next couple of days. It's supposed to be sunny and 40 degrees here today. My neighbor was just finishing tapping his 500 trees on pipeline and said some out of the wind were trickling yesterday. I have a ton of snow in the woods, I tapped on skis which for me are a lot more efficient then shoes.. This is link to what i use, I have the 20 year old boots when they were, "Garmot" and the whole set up is awesome.... https://us-store.altaiskis.com/produ...ted-2016-skis/

[VT_K9]

I had a friend stop by today and help tap. We put on new taps and put 350 taps into the trees. The releaser for our old bush is setup and ready to go. We need to extend the new mainline and install more taps. Some of the trees were running by noon.

Mike

[VTfarmboy]

picked .30gpt testing just under 2% here in castleton, still coming in hard at dusk

[Ultimatetreehugger]

A few trees trickled here but no sap yet. Lots of headaches in the pump house as expected. setting aside the expansion until I finish tapping. Be sappy my friends!

[GeneralStark]

Got the releaser back together and the vacuum system working this am and once it warmed up and the sun did its thing the sap started to flow. Nothing too amazing but we'll take it. Cleaned the bulk tank and closed the valve this evening after running about 200 gal onto the ground to rinse the lines. Vac at 25.5" so more leaks to find tomorrow but should have the sap collection system dialed in with a couple more hours in the woods. Then it's on to the RO and putting the evap. back together...

[Mead Maple]

Got two runs hung yesterday with 3/16. Totaling 54 taps, will tap those this morning and set up tank. Plan to run two more lines and hopefully be around 100 taps by days end. It’s ambitious but we’re trying


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[tcross]

i had enough sap run yesterday to flush my lines. have a tiny leak at my releaser that's driving me nuts to find... think i found it by days end when things iced up. should get another somewhat run today with temps approaching 48 and sunny. hoping to get enough between today and tomorrow to fire up the evaporator for its maiden run!

[DrTimPerkins]

Modest run yesterday afternoon. Vacuum good in one woods, not great in the other. Most vacuum problems due to squirrels. I think we proved (once again) that squirrels like chlorine...which we were using in limited sections for 3/16" tubing cleaning tests. Wade is cleaning up the electric releaser this morning (first run sludge), then off to leak check this afternoon. We will get some sap but probably not a great run this week...trees need some time to thaw and then recharge for good flows. Depends on how well it freezes tonite I guess.

[Shirefisher]

Checked my 4 buckets and less than an ounce of sap in 24 hours...

[DrTimPerkins]

Checked my 4 buckets and less than an ounce of sap in 24 hours...

Takes quite a while to warm up a tree that was at -20 deg F a few days ago. ;^)

Secondly, it often takes an initial thaw and then a refreeze to "recharge" the system to get a good sap flow.