With January looking like the new March feels like a person should be out drilling holes in some maple trees. Last year it was closer to end of February and into March for me..Last few days sure have been a bouncing roller coaster with temps.


Mac

gettin a little artic blast right now but have saw quite a few out over the warmer days.admit i thought about it.

Yesterday and today are the first real cold days of the winter here.
I'm lovin' not having to plow snow, but I don't know what the sap run will be like here. Last year wasn't very good.

its ran some up here as i have actually saw boilin already but they won't have to for a day or 2.the guy next door i sell extra sap too is worried about the cold messing up his taps and lines.17 out here right now and man is the wind whippin

Do you have to anything to the taps between now and the end of the season's run or do they just keep working as normal?

Looking at the long term forecast it looks like 4 or 5 weeks, and we know how accurate that is. Mike

Always a bit of a guess as to start date.

I've only started in Jan. once in the last 10 years. mike

Well, I won't be tapping this winter due to recent rotator cuff surgery. The temps and weather behavior this winter will certainly make it tempting to tap outside the usual comfort zone. Just heard a radio advertisement for the local ski jump competition near here, next weekend - and we have only traces of snow. Suppose they will make snow this week.

Not much you can do with them once they are in. That’s the problem with tapping early. The real runs still won’t come until sugar season actually gets here. By then the taps will be at least partially dried up. It is possible to pull the taps and redrill them but it is time consuming and hard on the tree.

It used to be common practice to put a fermeldahide tablet in the hole when you drilled them to prevent bacteria growth which would keep the hole from drying up. It is now very illegal, for obvious reasons.

I've had a few out since Christmas and have made 3 quarts. Ran 24 gallons of sap through my RO and put that in our stores walk-in freezer. This cold snap looks like only 2 weeks for us. Valentines Day is when we typically tap but I had to see what would happen with the temps being what they were. I'll put out the rest of mine then.

After the tornado, all of my trees are on the ground.

We are in the teens right now supposed to be back to maybe 30s-40 next week. Who know I got enough syrup squirreled away from last spring. If I decide not to make any I'll probably be ok. I just make it for my self so it can't be near as frustrating as guys that make it to sell.. I got one really big sweet tree in my yard usually runs all I can use myself if I don't give any away.

Mac

We only make 3-5 gallons a year. We give what we don't use to friends and family.
We have about twenty trees just behind and uphill from our house. It would be good for a gravity flow system instead of our taps and buckets.
We have never tapped before mid feb-might try earlier this year.