Northwest Ohio 2024

[RC Maple]

It seems kind of late to start a tapping thread so long after the season has wrapped up for this year, so I'll call this a season wrap-up thread. I was putting the final numbers together for the record book in the sugarhouse and started with a comment that the weather we've had the last week was just what I wanted for late March. The overnight temps have been in the 20's and cooler days as well with highs in the 40's. When I plan in my head for the season, I always see it going to the end of March. Unfortunately, before the last weeks good syrup weather we were already way ahead of normal on GDD's. According to Ohio State's GDD tracker, on the day I pulled taps, we were already at 65 GDD's, better than 2X the 20 year average for that date. A 4 week season is less than what I hope for and though it didn't seem great while we were going through it, the numbers were decent.

I ended up with over 13 gal of sap per tap and 0.29 gal of syrup per tap. The last two years the sap has been below 2%. My sap hydrometer always said I was getting at least 2.5% sap, but the syrup totals didn't show that. This year it was 1.9% according to the numbers. I used the Rule of 86 to figure sugar content.

Some years you're wore out at the end of the season. Other years, you want more. This is one of those years. Still, the season ended up better than I thought. I got better at using the filter press, made improvements to the vacuum I was getting with the surflo, broke in a new sap tank, and enjoyed spending time with the family in the sugarhouse. Maybe next year the GDD's will add up more slowly and we'll be busier in late March.