I decided not to go all in on the tapping and I am saving 74 taps for late February/early March.
I decided not to go all in on the tapping and I am saving 74 taps for late February/early March.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
Forecasted Temperature dropping heading into the month's end.
Seems like 2012 almost ??
2010 40 buckets- 4 gals finished
2011 80 buckets- 14 gals finished
2012 105 buckets- 8 gals finished
2013 maxed at 130 buckets- 24 gals finished
2014 new max at 240 buckets- 18 gals finished
2015 newest max 240 buckets-+48 taps on 3/16 gravity- 22.5 gals finished
2016 150 taps on 3/16 gravity- 23 gals finished
2020 250 taps on 3/16 gravity- 22 gals finished
2021 385 taps on 3/16 gravity 25 gals finished
2022 385 taps on 3/16 gravity- 26 gals finished
The cold snap keeps getting extended. I am now thinking any sap I collect over the next couple of days, I will let just freeze and boil later after the cold snap, unless I get significant flows of sap, which hasn’t happen so far.
Today here it will be +2, tomorrow +5 and the following day +7. It may not below freezing before the +7 day, so that could be a dud day.
I will be working on my evaporator today and tomorrow, making the changes to my evaporator, after yesterday’s test boil with water. Yesterday was a great day for the test boi, but I couldn’t help look at the lake and think it would also be a great day for ice fishing.
78031FEE-F67F-4BC1-B57B-75D676482562.jpg
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
The forecasted cold weather is starting to extend into March. My decision to tap some trees on Feb 10 seems less sound as the cold temperatures keep getting extended. I knew cold weather was returning, but my hope like the rest of the winter, warm weather would return near the end of February.
I have since learnt that trees simply do not flow as well up here in February, as they do during true spring. In future years, I will wait until true spring.
The one bonus is, I may have 60 gallons of sap ready to go when spring does return.
Today is cold and it is certainly still winter here. Hopefully the polar vortex temperatures will be pushed out and the extended forecast changes.
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https://share.icloud.com/photos/0f18...nJpeFU3oPv9FGw
https://share.icloud.com/photos/064V...M7fdkMSKbl8mUQ
https://share.icloud.com/photos/02bp...hWuETd-hJ4g_YA
Last edited by Swingpure; 02-17-2023 at 10:39 AM.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
+3.4 C today, I thought the sap would run one last time before the freeze. It is running, but just barely with the sun getting ready to set behind the hill. It will stay above freezing until midnight and I will likely drain the collection barrels after the hockey game. I doubt if I will get 5 gallons, but we will see. I will let that sap freeze as well in storage 5 gallon pails.
When I decided to tap a few more taps on Feb 10, there was a warm spell, then a short cool spell, then a warm spell, then three cold days, with the rest unknown. Based on the winter so far, I had expected another warm up, but three days of cold has turned into a forecasted 12 days of cold and counting.
Last year I tapped on March 6 and did my first boil on March 17.
Edit: after many taps dripping all afternoon and evening and still dripping at 10:45 pm, I collected a whopping 3 gallons. It all counts.
Last edited by Swingpure; 02-19-2023 at 10:06 PM.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
The temperatures at the start of March are starting to moderate. If they moderate maybe just a little more, we could be in business.
Fingers crossed! 🫰
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0d8s...EvjRERoc8Tahtg
A60D44BE-9A7A-454F-B1A8-89C11CEA42FF.jpg
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
Before starting sugaring last year, I always thought as March as a winter month, where you have nicer days to go ice fishing and at the end of the month you hoped for milder days to start to get rid of the snow and the ice on the lake. The ice sometimes came off the second or third week of April, but there were times it came off at the end of April and even into May.
Last year I tapped on March 6 on a +11° C day and had my first boil on March 14. This easy winter had me thinking of boiling much sooner this year.
The long range forecast keeps adding more below freezing days to the calendar, running now to March 14. Who knows when the first boil will be this year. I have to think that most years it would be around mid month. We received over 10 cms (4”) of snow last night and another possible 40 cms (15”) is in the forecast over the next two weeks, but that forecast will change 14 times). There is a lot of snow in the forecast and I will be going over my line trails again after I finish plowing.
What will be, will be. You have to hope that April does not warm up too quickly, which is exactly the opposite of what I would have hoped for prior to last year.
A couple days ago the forecast had a few +2 days in the forecast, but they are disappearing, which is actually good as the days will not count against my early taps six week clock.
C46879AD-A21F-48A1-AE5F-41592E966395.jpg
https://share.icloud.com/photos/00df...SS5prOIEBP7ZKQ
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
So yesterday March 1st, right or wrong, I went all in and tapped my remaining 73 taps. It was +4 and the sap was flowing. This coming week will have more flow days and the second week is looking milder than it was even yesterday and I think like that week will warm up even more, as we get closer to it.
There is an article in Cottage Life that says us smaller producers should stick to tapping closer to the normal dates, but it also says sometimes you have to adapt. https://cottagelife.com/outdoors/her...eid=f4e9dd4206
At the end of this season, I likely will have learned some hard lessons about tapping early, but I did make syrup on January 1 and I will likely have 80+ gallons to start boiling on Sunday if all goes well. The taps I tapped on December 27th are still flowing, we will see for how much longer they will continue to flow for.
0607E93E-8A7E-45CC-B8ED-9366092CDF48.jpg
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
When are people thinking of tapping in the North Bay area.
Looking at the weather it's warm right now, but is getting chilly again. Last year I tapped mid March.
North Parry Sound here-
Waiting until Sunday or Monday.
Still a few -10 nights ahead
2010 40 buckets- 4 gals finished
2011 80 buckets- 14 gals finished
2012 105 buckets- 8 gals finished
2013 maxed at 130 buckets- 24 gals finished
2014 new max at 240 buckets- 18 gals finished
2015 newest max 240 buckets-+48 taps on 3/16 gravity- 22.5 gals finished
2016 150 taps on 3/16 gravity- 23 gals finished
2020 250 taps on 3/16 gravity- 22 gals finished
2021 385 taps on 3/16 gravity 25 gals finished
2022 385 taps on 3/16 gravity- 26 gals finished
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