Mt Washington Valley Sap Report 2017

[n8hutch]

The Big soft Maples out in town(Fryeburg) are like the size of a quarter, but the ones out in Chatham where my taps are on woods trees are more like dime, they are not too concerning to me yet. Not talking about you specifically but I think people get wayyy to excited about the soft maple buds, they are much different than a sugar maple and the fact that they are so visible gets people excited , I don't get too nervous until I see the red flowers( if you will) start falling to the ground.

[DrTimPerkins]

...I think people get wayyy to excited about the soft maple buds,...

Agreed. Some people suddenly realize that trees even have buds at this time of year. Soft maple (flower) buds seem to have little impact on syrup flavor. By the time you can discern sugar maple buds swelling, the season is over. Our season typically ends due to flow stoppage rather than buddy off-flavor.

[Russell Lampron]

I agree, I've tapped mostly reds since 2005 and I've never made buddy syrup. Until this year I have been one of the last producers in my area to call it a season. In 2012 the season pretty much ended in the 2nd week of March and most of the producers around here had called it a season. I kept going until the 21st and could literally see the flowers opening on my reds as the temperature went into the lower 80's. The sap was miraculously still running and was loaded with bacteria. When I boiled it it didn't smell bad but the bacteria gave the syrup a bitter almost molasses like flavor and it had a strong aftertaste with no bud taste. The reds generally just stop running before the leaf buds pop.

[n8hutch]

Had 500 ish in the Tank when I got home from work, and the sap was running at 50 gph, there was alot of sap line "Garnish" lol in the bottom of the Tank from the freeze thaw. Gave the tank a quick scrub and headed back to the sugarhouse to boil. Sap tested 1.2 and the 700 gallons from the previous day was still good so I started the R.O. and started boiling the 1200 gallons. Over flowed my 1000 gal permeate tank about 5 minutes before the R.O. ran out of Raw sap, I call that a win . Loaded the firebox for the last time about 20 minutes later, Made 15 gallons of Very dark ,11 on the Hanna meter. Syrup still tastes great, no funky smells. 112 gallons on the season. Probably my best boil tonight, started at 7 and done at 9:30. I'm going to push through atleast this week as long as the sap quality cooperates, I am thinking that it should be better quality tomorrow now that the lines are cleaned out.

[Parker]

I always go to the bitter end..much later than anyone else I know of or read on here about...and most years I make at least some buddy syrup,,Bascomes always buys a barrel of 2. Dr. Tim,,how many soft maples do you tap? All I remember seeing in Underhill are hard maple.
Red maple buds break, once that happens you get a buddy taste. Sugar maple buds will turn bright green, once that happens you make buddy syrup. Be for the red maple buds break they become very big...
I'm going to be touring northern N.H, V.T, and may be the Golden rd and the Big 6 when I'm done here,,,I was wondering how far people were from being done. How far buds are along helps me gauge that. With the poor crop I'm sure many people will make many bbls of buddy off flavored syrup..
Hope your season continues to go well

[n8hutch]

Parker, Judging bye when we closed our snowmobile trails around here, and when they closed up to Pittston Farm area I would say they are 10-14 Days behind. Me here In Chatham. Lots of New sugarhouse operations Up there , one that is quite large and hard to miss on the Golden Rd maybe 20 miles west of where the Northern rd meets the Golden rd. I was up there in November and June, I like the big woods. Also I am certain that you know your tree buds and what buddy sap is. I was speaking in General, I have made Buddy Syrup once years ago when I was tapping with some friends in North Conway

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Tim,,how many soft maples do you tap? All I remember seeing in Underhill are hard maple.

About 1/3 of our total taps (5,400) are red maple. Prior to the mid-1990s very few red maples were tapped at PMRC. The "Main" bush (the historical production area here) is 90% sugar maple. The "Red Series" bush is 50:50. The "Martin Block" bush is about 40(red):60(sugar). The "New" bush area of about 1,100 taps is about 50:50, and will come online for spring 2022, bringing us to about 6,500 total taps. We probably have another 500 taps here and there from ingrowth, so will likely max out at right around 7,000 taps. There is one other section of woods that is remote, no power, with 250 taps or so which we do a little research in, but don't collect the sap from.

[Parker]

Dr Tim, wow,,I don't remember seeing any when I was there years ago, but, I was distracted by one of your co workers. I am curious, you say soft maples flowering don't make buddy sap?

[n8hutch]

I got 1gpt today of 1.4 % sap, crunching it through the r.o., its coming into the r.o. at 49°, wont hold up long at that temp. It is pretty clear sap, a Few yeast bubbles. I'm going to boil it tonight.

[Tmeeeh]

We turned the vacuum pump off on Tuesday two days ago. We made .45 gallons of syrup per tap. We usually make .5 or a little more. The season started late and ended early making first syrup at the end of February usually we make syrup through the first week of April. We tapped the last week of January. We re tubed about 1/3 pf our woods this past summer. Following best practices with tubing and pipeline in the woods paid off this year. We saw SSC around 2% until last week when it no longer froze at night, then a slow decline in SSC to around 1.4%. We tap 90% sugar maples. The flavor went off, sap got slimy and the syrup got lighter two days ago so we stopped even though the sap was running harder than ever.