Sunday is looking like the day for me, but I'll continue to watch the forecast. If they drop it a few degrees I may postpone. I'm also in Galway- about 800 feet of elevation and on buckets. 6 weeks is toward the end of march and that's pretty alright. I think I'd rather trade some early light for late season dark, so it seems like a good gamble.
My son tells me we need to exceed 50 taps this year, so I guess it's time for a new personal best.
Pete
2017- 17 taps, 3 gallons, stove-top insanity
2018- 36 taps, 10 gallons, Oil tank evaporator
2019- 24 taps, 7 gallons
2020- 27 taps, 5.75 gallons
2021- 42 taps, 8 gallons
2022- 48 taps, 8.5 gallons
2023- 50 taps, 15 gallons
2024- 46 taps, 9.5 gallons
2025- 42 taps, ?????
Oil Tank Evaporator build
I think I might roll the dice on Sunday as well. Saturday looks pretty chilly, so I think we'll warm up the sugar house and give that a cleaning and set up the evaporator.
Took a look at my notes from each year since 2018 and here are the dates we tapped:
2018 - 2/11 (February was pretty good)
2019 - 2/17 (Definitely tapped too early, but had no impact on overall season)
2020 - 2/1 (Not a great February but enough to get the pan sugared before an awesome early March run)
2021 - 2/27 (a pretty quick, short season. Pulled taps on 3/24)
2022 - 2/12 (two decent runs in February got the pan sugared then there was a fairly long lull until 3/11 before a pretty good rest of March. Again, the lull didn't impact the overall year from what I can tell)
MRFNY, thanks for the notes. It's nice to see it all written down, I have been meaning to go back and review photos to see my seasons tap dates, but have never undertaken the task and it gets more and more cumbersome with every season. Maybe this will be the year!
I pulled out all of my gear today. Cleaned a bunch of stainless taps that I had stupidly left in water all year. Found all the buckets I could. I am definitely tapping tomorrow.
Hoping for a great season for everyone!!!!!
Pete
2017- 17 taps, 3 gallons, stove-top insanity
2018- 36 taps, 10 gallons, Oil tank evaporator
2019- 24 taps, 7 gallons
2020- 27 taps, 5.75 gallons
2021- 42 taps, 8 gallons
2022- 48 taps, 8.5 gallons
2023- 50 taps, 15 gallons
2024- 46 taps, 9.5 gallons
2025- 42 taps, ?????
Oil Tank Evaporator build
Tapped my lines today, the sugars in the sun were running but the shady ones and any reds were dry...tomorrow they'll probably all be ripping.
--
2015: 8 bucket taps (7 red, 1 sugar) on DIY barrel evaporator
2016: 13 taps (bucket and tube) on block arch and hotel pans
2017: SAME
2018: 25 taps on 2x3 flat pan and resurrected barrel arch
2019: 25 taps...same setup plus DIY 3x150gpd RO filter
2020: 50 taps, all buckets..."new" oil tank arch setup
2021: 100 taps (50/50 buckets/3-16 tubing) on 2x4 divided pan
2022: 150 taps (50/100 b/t) on 2x4 pan with sap warmer pan
2023: SAME
2024: 150 taps, added single-post 4x40 RO system
No problem! Have a great season Pete. Hopefully this year I can come see your operation!Originally Posted by crzypete
I put in 45 taps yesterday and every tree was running. My best sugar maple, which gets a lot of sun was pretty much a steady stream and each bucket had an inch to inch and a half in it a couple hours after tapping it. My reds in the sun were dripping fast too.
Nice! Glad to hear yours were all running, the portion of our woods where I run lines has a lot of hemlock mixed in and that shades the trees, at least the base of them.
--
2015: 8 bucket taps (7 red, 1 sugar) on DIY barrel evaporator
2016: 13 taps (bucket and tube) on block arch and hotel pans
2017: SAME
2018: 25 taps on 2x3 flat pan and resurrected barrel arch
2019: 25 taps...same setup plus DIY 3x150gpd RO filter
2020: 50 taps, all buckets..."new" oil tank arch setup
2021: 100 taps (50/50 buckets/3-16 tubing) on 2x4 divided pan
2022: 150 taps (50/100 b/t) on 2x4 pan with sap warmer pan
2023: SAME
2024: 150 taps, added single-post 4x40 RO system
Yeah it was nice to see. Heading out soon to put in the remaining 45 or so taps and get the evaporator set up.
Wow, pretty good day! Put in 55 more taps to make it an even 100 for this year. Our "money tree" was dripping the fastest I have ever seen. We'll most likely have to go out and dump those buckets into our collection buckets for the night to prevent overflow. I anticipate boiling Tuesday after work.
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