It depends upon the time of the season and on the season.Originally Posted by Jeff E
Typically sugar starts off a bit low, then tends to rise until about 1/3-1/2 way through the season. After that the trend is downward, with minor increases at some points with freezes (much less than in early season if all all).
The attached figure shows the 2019 and 2020 seasons at UVM PMRC in Underhill. In general the patterns are similar. 2019 had higher overall sugar (avg of 2.14 Brix) than 2020 (average of 1.81 Brix). Bars show the individual daily values. The lines show the 3-day running trendline. The dashed line shows our long-term average sap sugar content, which has actually trended downward a little over the past 15 yrs due to (we believe) two factors: adding in a substantial number of red maples and beginning to tap smaller tree (down to 9" dbh with 5/16" spouts) when formerly we only tapped 12" and up (with 7/16" spouts).
sap sugar 2019 2020.JPG
Reply With Quote