Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[DrTimPerkins]

...sap may flow when you have freeze/thaw cycles but it seems like it flows best when the 15-day average temperature is below freezing.

The sap sure didn't flow very well in January when the 15-day average temperature was below freezing.

If you want to understand the factors involved more deeply, and the types of things we measure to understand sap flow better, I'd suggest https://mapleresearch.org/pub/sapmath/ and https://www.researchgate.net/publica...nd_sugar_maple

[Sugar Bear]

Trees with more and larger rays tend to produce more sap with higher sugar content. https://mapleresearch.org/pub/vascularrays/

So I infer that this means the bigger older trees tend to flow more and sweeter sap because of more intense ray development. Would that be the primary reason?

But, what I am really asking here is, does a "individual" tree maximize its ray growth at a perimeter/location/side of the stem where sap flows best?

Could or would that possibly be the south side of the stem?

Again, it appears "to me" that ray growth within hardwoods is nowhere near contiguous. But perhaps it averages out evenly around the stem over the length of the stem. And perhaps makes no difference to the tree with regards to the height of the stem the rays propagate themselves. The rays dumping sugar into the sap at 30 feet are just as good as the ones dumping sugar into the sap at 4 feet, I would guess.

[DaveB]

The sap sure didn't flow very well in January when the 15-day average temperature was below freezing.

Not what I meant. I never said that sap flows best when things are frozen. In fact, I acknowledged that sap flows best when you have freeze/thaw cycle. I'm just speculating based on real-world data, including your own, that it flows best in a freeze/thaw cycle while that 15-day average is below freezing. Once once the 15-day average goes above freezing, you and others they report that the sap wasn't flowing as well even in freeze/thaw cycle. Just an observation based on my nearly 40 years of weather observation and sugaring records. It's not something I noted till this year but I've only had three mild years like this so it was hard for the correlation to stand out.

[TapTapTap]

Still going out there in Vermont?

I'm planning to boil later tomorrow if I get a good run today once it warms up. I'm about a quarter full on my raw sap tank from the last couple of days and I think I'll dump it before this upcoming fresh run off a freezing night.

Ken

[sugartree310]

We are still going, we boiled last on Thursday night , we are having a record year as we went by last years record a week ago . Getting close to our 1500 gallon goal. Didn’t run much yesterday maybe only a 1000 gallons of Raw sap since 9pm Thursday night. Planning to boil tomorrow which could be our last .

[sjdoyon]

Still frozen today in the NEK. Most sap runs start early afternoon and finish early evening.
Been a very slow and cold spring. Looks like warmer temps starting tomorrow.

[DrTimPerkins]

Still frozen today in the NEK. Most sap runs start early afternoon and finish early evening.
Been a very slow and cold spring. Looks like warmer temps starting tomorrow.

Very slight trickle in Underhill, but not going to amount to much today. Hoping it thaws a bit quicker tomorrow.

[VTnewguy]

Happy Easter everyone. Boiled last night. Sap still coming in from our cold sugarbush. Going to pull the plug tomorrow afternoon after one last boil. Below average season for us.

[tcross]

had a good run yesterday. and small run saturday. sugar content is down a hair to 1.9%... which i'm still happy with for 2nd week of april. looking like last night is the last freeze in the 10 day forecast. i'm guessing 6-8 days in the 60's and 70's will spell the end. we're not much over 1/2 a crop. most in my area (nek) are reporting the same with a few having a decent year.

[DrTimPerkins]

Nice freeze over the weekend picked things up a bit. Ran a little on Saturday, but better on Sunday. Overall collected about 8,300 gal of sap, but the sugar content is down a bit (vol weighted avg of 1.5 Brix) and it is a bit cloudy, but no off-odor/flavor. One section of the woods is slowing down compared to the other. RO is running now. The crew is planning to boil again tomorrow. Had 460 gal of concentrate in the bulk tank on Friday -- the sap from this weekend will add about 350 gal (at 35 Brix) to that, so about 800 gal of concentrate to boil.

There was a light freeze last night (low of ~30 deg for 5 hrs), so running well already this morning. Not much of the season left. No freezes in the 10-day forecast. Beach weather starting on Thurs with highs of 75, 75, 74, 72 deg F forecast for Thur-Sun with nighttime lows in the upper 40s and lower 50s. Might be doing the last boil in shorts and t-shirts. No peepers yet, but won't be long. Our season will end (middle of this week) pretty close to the normal time.