Tapped in Lackawanna County

[Waynesgarden]

Going to try tapping next week. Plans for last year fell apart with Lyme disease problems and an expansion by about 40 taps this year fell by the wayside when I broke my ankle just before Christmas.
Not ready to hobble into the woods yet but I'm determined to at least tap the trees right around the house.

[Pdiamond]

A little is better than nothing and take it easy, you don't want to re- injure yourself. Good luck.

[Waynesgarden]

Thanks. I do push myself a bit as I refuse to be that old guy sitting around cataloging my aches and pains.
I can get 10 taps in, make some syrup and enjoy the process.
Wayne.

[Z/MAN]

This sap run has been relentless. I did 928 gallons this week. All of last year I did 1,400 gallons. And it's still running!!!!

[Z/MAN]

Tapped on Feb 20th. Had 2 almost unbelievable runs. One I boiled 8 out of 9 days. Now after a long warm spell and then a long below freezing spell, I have weather in the 40, 50, and 60"s. Not getting a drop of sap anywhere. I understand tap holes dry out but I never seen them all dry out at once. Anyone in Lackawanna county making syrup. After the great start it looks like I won't match last year.

[springhillsmaple]

Hi,
We tapped in January between the 2nd and 21st. We made a little mid January and quite a bit between the 26th and February 5th or so. Earliest we ever tapped. Earliest we ever made syrup. We boiled the last time on March 6th. Earliest we ever ended. We ended up with about 1/3 gallons per tap so pretty good. Low sugar as has been normal the past few years. Average about 1.2%. We put in a lot of effort with sanitation of taps. Calcium Hypochlorite rinse lines before season started and used check valve spouts. Bad squirrels this year. Had to do repairs almost daily. Sanitation helped but by the 4th of March we were making some real real dark stuff and I decided to end it when the run was really slowing down so there were diminishing returns each day. We might have been able to go longer but the quality was something I wasn’t excited about. We’re only at about 1200 feet so I think higher elevation spots would have had a later/longer season.

[Z/MAN]

Well, after a crazy long cold spell the 2025 season is finally here. Put 120 taps in today. Some were running but I think it is going to take some time for them all to thaw out. Sure looking like it is going to be a great week. Good luck everyone.