hi TM - the kids and I have started tapping ~10-15 trees in the backyard for the past couple years. Generally, we get about 1.5 gals of finished syrup each spring for personal consumption. We generally tap in mid/late feb but the upcoming forecast looks promising. Is it too early yet to be thinking about tapping trees, or should we take advantage of this upcoming string of 11 out of 12 days of above/below freezing days/nights? for reference, we live in no central indiana. thanks for the help!

Go ahead and tap.

Just enjoy all you can get when the holes seal themselves up.

You might have to re-tap in a month or so.

Thanks for the reply T-Rex!

Yes. The syrup is a lighter golden color earlier in the season.

If you get a big warm up you might want to sanitize the lines. They can get bacteria and make "ropey" syrup. It's disappointing when a big string of syrup comes out of your pan.

thanks for that, Shark. I use indiv bags for our small backyard "tapline" but i can pop off the taps/bags and give them a cleaning. Being not so 'skilled in the art' i was more concerned about getting geared up now, only not to have any sap come out of the ground this early?

Yes

I have wated to long and missed the best flow so prefer to have them out early than later


generally we run around 30 taps so nothing big. Enough for our personal use and to supply our CSA( customer supported agriculture) customers.

thanks for the confirmation, guys! Looks like it'll be "drill baby, drill" them trees this weekend! ;c)

Nothing above 30 degrees here for at least 2 weeks.