I’m done. Sap went milky today and wasn’t running hard at all. I think the ice storm last week really changed something as it gone down hill ever sense.
Good season for me here. Good sap yields right on par with yrs past. No complaints at all.
Until another year. Good luck to all that are still hanging in.
Parker Maple 🍁
vacuum
RO
filter press
auto draw
New leader oil fired
http://s712.photobucket.com/albums/ww123/jtrap/
Sap ran all night with no freeze. Temp is 33 at the house at 5am. I have 3000 gallons in the tank since yesterday at 10am. Sap is running 175gph now, but may pick up later this morning. Still testing at 1.2%.
Spud
How much syrup did you end up with?Originally Posted by PARKER MAPLE
Sugaring for 45+ years
New Sugarhouse 14'x32'
New to Me Algier 2'x8' wood fired evaporator
2022 added a used RB25 RO Bucket
250 mostly Sugar Maples, 15% Soft Maples. Currently,(110on 3/16" and 125 on Shurflo 4008 vacuum, 15 gravity), (16,000 before being disabled)
1947 Farmall H and Wagon with gathering tank
2012 Kubota with forks to move wood around
shut her down last night. sap was coming in decent. had 1gpt yesterday but the sap was 1%. with no R.O, it's no longer worth the time and wood consumption. wasn't a horrible year but a little below average i believe. i'll know by the end of the weekend when i have everything canned and barreled up. good luck to those still at it!
Awfully thankful for an understanding wife!
“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
- Vincent “Vince” Lombardi
Good luck to all!
On the season total of 18675 gallons of sap 255.5 gallons syrup. That’s a 5% increase over my record year in sap and almost 10% increase in syrup to my highest year. A lot of producers have said this is a down year so I’m attributing the increase in production to the Middle Valley Maple barbed stubby antimicrobrial adapters.
825 Taps
CDL Rotary Vane Vacuum Pump
H2O Electric Releaser
2024- 825 taps 17725 gallons of sap
2023- 825 taps 17325 gallons of sap
2022- 800 taps 12375 gallons of sap
2021- 350 taps 3815 gallons of sap
Sounds like you had a great season. When did you finish tapping this year? I’m wondering with your trees going dry, mine should be close to doing the same thing. I’m at 1200 elevation and I completed tapping on March 8th. This is the latest I have ever tapped. I was also told that higher elevations were not doing as well as lower. What is your elevation? I’m hoping to make it through this 3-4 day warmer spell and then get another 4-5 days once it freezes again. The pump will stay running till the last drop. 😁
Spud
I tapped the last weekend in January and the first weekend in February and am at 900 feet in elevation. I’ve only been sugaring for 5 years so I thought it usually starts running mid/late February. I learned my lesson this year to wait on the forecast.
825 Taps
CDL Rotary Vane Vacuum Pump
H2O Electric Releaser
2024- 825 taps 17725 gallons of sap
2023- 825 taps 17325 gallons of sap
2022- 800 taps 12375 gallons of sap
2021- 350 taps 3815 gallons of sap
I had 1400 gallons in the tank at 5am this morning. We did not get a freeze but the sap is still running at 75 gph. Sap is clear and testing 1.2%. I’m hoping I can keep getting around 1500 gallons a day till the next freeze in 3 days.
Spud
We are likely goin to call it tomorrow. We have almost 900 gallons of sap on 750 taps since Friday afternoon. It's running pretty slow. We are 4 gallons shy of last years total at 270 gallons. Our last boil on Frinday yielded good odor and flavor dark robust syrup. We still have sweet in the pan to push through the evaporator to finish the year. We need to get about 1100 gallons of sap to have enough permeate to clean the RO. We will save as much permeate as we can from the last ROing which may give us enough to run the 900 gallons and do a proper year end cleaning.
It was a miserable year for vacuum leaks. We had a hard time at the start getting above 12-13". I was also sick for a week and stayed out of the woods. We got to 18-19" and after several more trips around the woods and removing 6-8 taps which appears to be sources for leaks from the tree we are at 21-22". We have 2 releasers on one 5hp CDL vane pump. An older (8 years or so old) mechanical and new electric. If we shut the vacuum off to the mechanical I can get 26.5-27" with just the electrical releaser. We are giong to upgrade the mechanical releaser this year to electric.
Good luck to everyone for the final push. Monday it is forecasted to hit 60 here.
Mike
Tapping since 1985 (four generations back to early to mid 1900s). 200-250 taps on buckets and then tubing in the mid 90s. 2013- 275 taps w/sap puller 25 gal. 2014-295 taps w/sap puller 55 ga. (re-tapped to vacuum theory) 2015-330 taps full vac. 65 gal, 2016-400 taps 105 gal, 2017-400 taps 95 gal. 2018-additional 800' mainline and maybe 400 new taps for a total near 800 taps. 2x6 Leader WSE (last year on it) supported by a 250 gph RO.
Another 1600 gallons in the last 24 hours. Sap is at 1.2% and still pretty clear. I can see sand at the bottom of the tank. We have freezing nights and snow coming up. I just need to get through two more days of no freeze. Last night it went down to 33 at the house but the sap was still trickling in. The plan is to keep the pump running till Easter. Time will tell.
Spud
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