My plan 2022/23

[Someclown]

Watching news in Toronto they have grass and people were out on sandy beaches. We are two hours north and a world apart as far as the weather. I was ice fishing today and we bring the ice hut back out tomorrow.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/06fT...hxXvyNBlWP4mkw

And now they're dealing with a typical February snowstorm and more to come before spring is here

[Swingpure]

I picked up the steel for the front facade of my evaporator today, but unfortunately, their saw was broken and they could not cut the metal to the correct lengths, so where I had hoped to take the pieces to the welder and wait while he welded them, the welder has to now cut them and I likely will not get it back until early next week. I sure hope the new metal facade works. I won’t be throwing away the old concrete pieces until I see that it does.

I had been looking at 14 days of temperature below freezing and hoped that the forecast would change. Be careful what you wish for as a few days will now go a hair over freezing. Not enough to allow me to tap the final taps, but bad, as the clock will tick on my existing taps, without much benefit. Hopefully the long range forecast will change some more.

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https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c62...7dph1mlVw8dF6w

[MajorWoodchuck]

I'm in the same boat as you Gary, only I didn't get any early sap runs yet. My cold woods still had 4" of snow on the trails but the tree bottoms were exposed. I tapped 70 trees last weekend and most taps started dripping immediately. The weather turned colder on Monday and 12" of snow on Wednesday and no 40 degree days in the forecast. Looks like it might repeat last year where first boil is at the end of March. After watching forecasts eagerly the last few springs I have come to the conclusion that they can predict to some accuracy 3 days out...but more than 5 days out it is a total guess. Seen it so many times that I had planned to go up or not the following weekend and by the time Thursday comes around it has changed 10 degrees F which is a huge swing in sap runs. After making the 3 hour trip to dry buckets last year 4 weeks in a row I am trying to patient and watch the 3 day forecast.

[Swingpure]

The long range forecast has changed again, this time less positive and the start of the season delayed further.

DMF, from Warren, MA, posted this on another thread and I am starting to embrace it: “ All I do is look at my weather app, hope they are 10% accurate and wait and see. People ask me all the time, "how will your season be this year?". It's farming. Doesn't matter if your version of farming is planting crops, making hay or tapping trees. Mother Nature determines how well your season will be!”

Next year I will look more out the window, than at long range forecasts and I will try and do that for the remainder of the spring.

There will be 10 of us ice fishing together today and may be joined by others, time to get back to enjoying winter, instead of trying to make spring arrive earlier.

I do look forward to the door being made. I will paint it black with heat resistant paint and paint the other metal frame components.

The sap I boiled to a concentrate and that has been sitting in a pot in a fridge for awhile now, I wonder how long that will last for?

It will also be curious the taps that I tapped Christmas week how will they flow 11 weeks after they have been first tapped?

[aamyotte]

The long range in my area seems to show that I won't be tapping before March 15th again this year. In 2021 I was done by April 6th.

[Someclown]

Your setup is really looking good Swingpure, hope it all work well for you
No rush here, looks like another normal year of tapping
Tap mid to late March and end mid to late April.
Winter started late and was warmer than average and I predict it will end late, we just started getting our typical February snow storms.
Frost is not deep as this is the first time I have seen my sump pump running in February in 28 years of ownership
Good luck

[bigschuss]

This is exactly why I don't chase warm spells. Yes, you might get a nice early run. But ON AVERAGE, it's better just to be patient and tap based on historical averages...for hobbyists.

Haven't tapped a single tree yet. It's been snowing for 3 days. We've got a decent storm coming in Tuesday which hopefully will drop 12" or so and make my trails to the sugarbush passable with my snowmobile. Other smaller storms possible later in the week. I'll get out and tap next weekend, which has been my average 1st day of tapping for the past 20 years or so.

It'll be here Gary. And when the sap finally starts to flow you'll have so much of it you'll need a break and wish you could a day off and go ice fishing with your buddies on the lake!

[LMP Maple]

I agree to a point......I tapped earlier than normal this year and I am better than half way to my season goal. If I waited until my 'normal' time I would be at zero. We are in a week freeze up at this point in S.NH and I would not be tapping until later than my standard time if I had waited. It is nice to have 12 gallons canned and in the fridge. If the season ended tomorrow I would be ok. I think chasing warm spells in January is too early and is too stressful for me unless you have a reason to tap ie. grandkids coming I cant see any reason I would tap in January. I like the thinking of Peter Greg in one of the Maple news articles he now shoots for groundhogs day to be tapped. That's about where I am at now which is early but its my new target. The best thing about a hobby operation is its generally feasible to tap in a day or twos time so you can be selective. I certainly wont chase a two day run in February but anything over that I would go for it. I like to be done by mid march anyway if I can as my work picks up.

[Swingpure]

Before the start of the season I said I would tap a few days ahead of expected flow. I essentially boil outside and use a garden hose connected to an outside tap for my water for cleaning, hence I like to boil on days above freezing. I need to see the light at the end of the tunnel, where there are consecutive days of above freezing weather, to plan to boil.

5 and possibly 6 days of the next 8 days could have flow, but following those days are 5 days of well below freezing temperatures. There is no light at the end of the tunnel yet. If day 14 had shown as above freezing, I might have been tempted to finish tapping in the near future.

Last night we had some Northern Lights in the area. We missed the dramatic colours that others saw, we did see the glow, that was behind our ice hut. If maple season has not started on March 7th, when we have the full Sugar Moon, I will fish well into the early morning hours in the moonlight.

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https://share.icloud.com/photos/0e5i...kSXZ1-VaT4Z0Ww

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0ee1...XeXndnIFQd6UNA

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c8l...-XVukeugEI5aww

What we missed:
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0da4...DsZY-oaOQbtZHA

[berkshires]

This is exactly why I don't chase warm spells. Yes, you might get a nice early run. But ON AVERAGE, it's better just to be patient and tap based on historical averages...for hobbyists.

Depends on when the warm spell is. If it's a month before the historical average, forget about it. If it's two weeks early, and you're ready to go, and you can tap on a dime because you're just a hobbyist without thousands of taps - go for it. Last year I didn't (the warm spell was one week before my average tap date), and I lost a little production because I didn't tap early. This year I did tap 15 days before the historical best tapping date, and I was rewarded with the biggest runs I've ever had.

GO