Backyard Syrup Enthusiasts 2022

[Mvhomesteader]

Trees shook loose today, sugar season is here! Next week looks great, fresh snow tomorrow will only help now that the trees are running. Be ready for a busy week of boiling! Cooking off 390 gallons tonight.

Great!

How does your sugar content look?

It does look like a busy week. 😃

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

I didn’t gather this round and record it, my buddy did and I haven’t seen him yet to ask but we always seem to be within a couple tenths of 2%. Usually start out at 2 or higher. 3 gallons were drawn off from that first boil and looks to be very light, possibly some Golden.

[Swingpure]

I have a newbie question. I understand that nights below freezing and days above freezing causes the sap to flow. If you look at the attached picture you will see that Wednesday morning will be below zero and Wednesday’s day will be warm and the sap should really flow well.

Wednesday will be the first day that the sap will really flow well in the season, and there is about 2 feet of snow on most of the roots. Overnight Wednesday, it will stay above freezing, then a warm day Thursday, before dropping back to nights which will be below freezing.

My question is on Thursday, will the sap still run because it is early in the sap flow season and there is still lots of snow on the roots, or simply because it did not drop below freezing overnight, there will be zero or almost zero, sap flow?

Just trying to understand the sap flow mechanism a little better.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0b3D...WUJwmDG2M_ZP0w

Thanks

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Yes, the trees will tend to run longer before stopping in the early season due to a combination of the initial thaw just kicking in and fresh tap holes. My experience has been that gravity lines will run for a couple days before slowing down and stopping. I’ve seen operations on mechanical vacuum and even 3/16” pull hard for 3-4 days straight early season.

[hansel]

Forecast not looking great for me on the midcoast. Might just get one run this week and no freezes until a 29 next Monday.

[DrTimPerkins]

Just trying to understand the sap flow mechanism a little better.

Under gravity sap flow conditions (buckets, bags, gravity tubing), you can think of the tree like a pipe stuck in the ground full of water with a tiny hole in the side.

When it is frozen, obviously no sap will flow.

When the temperature of the water in the pipe (not the air) rises above freezing, the water will trickle out. It will keep running out until:

1) the temperature falls below freezing again, or:
2) the pressure inside the pipe equals the pressure outside the pipe (in other words, the liquid has fallen to the level of the hole). This will probably take several days, but the flow RATE will drop off over that time (fast at first, then more slowly as time goes on).

Now a tree is a little different...the taphole is larger, but the pipes (vessels) inside the pipes are very small, so water (sap) can only drip out slowly, and the water/sap in the tree doesn't all thaw out at the same time. The rate will be slow and drop off over time, but if it gets warmer on the second day, the expansion of the water and gases in the stem may bump up the flow a bit (weeping flows). This can only happen until the pressure inside the tree equalizes with the outside air pressure.

In addition, since there is some resistance to horizontal water flow (side-to-side) because of the orientation of vessels is mostly vertical, the water level in the tree may not be fully exhausted down to the level of the taphole on the opposite side of the tree. It is all about the pressure gradient. So if it takes more pressure to push the water across the tree than there is resistance, than the water level on one side (or across the stem actually) isn't entirely level, but more of on a slant.

A freeze is needed to recharge the system.

[Galena]

Thank you for the detailed but perfectly clear explanation of the freeze/thaw mechanism, Dr Tim :-)

[Tuckeradams2012]

I was very surprised to be staring at 240 gallons of sap to boil this past weekend. 2.5% sugar, which isn't terrible for me because I have red maples mixed in. This week is likely no different, except for the potential 60 degree day that may confuse some trees. Seems this season is already better than the last, but remains to be seen. I put into service my new 3.5x4 ft sap hauling trailer. Bought it for $200 bucks and saves me a lifetime of lifting buckets in and out of the SUV and everywhere else. I ran my RO for the first time. I was disappointed in my choice of pump in my build. The Aquatech 8852 can only output 16 gallons of water per hour so my RO was grossly underpowered to serve my evap rate. I asked the question a while back on another thread and Carl responded and I should have delved deeper into his wording, so will have to buy a bigger pump for next year, he seems to sell the only one large enough. It helps but not at the rate I would like it to. Will be trying the overnight RO game, and reconcentrating up higher by recirculating.

Seeing positive numbers yesterday and overnight on the trees. Should be a good week!

-Tucker

[Swingpure]

Thank you Dr Perkins for the explanation.

If the temperature does not drop below freezing, but you still have two feet of snow on the roots, does that factor into the equation at all?

Thank you.

(Real sap flow starts here for the season tomorrow.)

[Mvhomesteader]

A freeze is needed to recharge the system.

This is what concerns me this week. Not only are 3 days 50 to 60,but nights are either at freezing or above. It feels like the trees will shut off till next week when there are freezing temps again. Hopefully the trees are not so confused as to call it good for the season.

Yesterdays boil was again at 2.5% sugar, so we bottled near!y 2 galllons. I collected 35 gallons this morning and by supper I could have repeated the same. Planning on boiling tomorrow to keep the storage down, which if all goes as planned, will put me at 8 gallons for the season so far.