tapping maple trees

[mcgarth]

so who's going to be out this weekend tapping maple tree's?

[Rooster Chaser]

I hope to tap my trees on Friday....that is if our baby does not show up before then! Should be an interesting second season for me between a newborn and a flood making my three mile drive fifteen. Oh well, too much fun to miss. I have a partner to help me cook this year, so that will help.

How many taps do you all plan on having out? I am going to do 40 and my friend will have the same out.

[thatoneguy]

I'd tap that.

[mcgarth]

somewhere around 1,000. we only made about 35 gallons last year. it was a bad year. hopping to make around 100 gallons this year, but mother nature has control of that. good luck and enjoy it.

[tyeeme]

Tapping a 100 or so friday just north of duluth. Got a new 2x8 evap cant wait to use it. Have a good sappin season everyone!!

[1DIRTBALL]

Tapping a 100 or so friday just north of duluth. Got a new 2x8 evap cant wait to use it. Have a good sappin season everyone!! [/qu

I wish I could tyeeme! Somebody else allready has leased both of the maple tree's in Warroad! 1DIRTBALL

[themagicbus]

i'm up in northern itasca. kicked the buckets around but don't think it's gonna break here yet. hate having them scabbed over. but you guys are getting me worried. but it seems about the time mcgarth is about 3/4 of the way through i better have my brace and bit sharpened. maybe i'll poke one for fun tomorrow. (not one in the open)

jason

[mcgarth]

well i think we are about a quarter of the way done with tapping. it was dripping pretty good out of the fresh holes today. i just hope it doesn't get to warm to fast this year.

[Gary_l]

First time trying it, but doing it the urban way (mine and neighbors yards w/ permission of course) and the sap is starting to flow.

[themagicbus]

awfull quiet here on this part of the board. you guys up all night boiling, dumping out water and snow? or staring at dry buckets? not worth putting out here yet in northern itasca. i'll give her a few more days.

[mcgarth]

we have made about 10 gallons so far of syrup. and yes we had to dump all of our buckets on the ground after the last storm to start out fresh again. there is another post in the Cooking section. good luck and have fun

[pushbutton]

at what diameter is a tree tapable? my parents have a stand, but a majority of the trees are only around 25 to 35 years old

[mcgarth]

10" i think. if they are 30 years old they should be plenty big

[pushbutton]

Thanks.....most of the trees are about a ft. It is on the outskirts of the big woods so there are hundreds of trees but they are close together and have more length than girth. Was just googling and noticed you can tap silvers and box elders....has anyone tried this? I have a ton of those out my back door and would not have to drive a couple of hours for those.

[mcgarth]

we tend to tap more silver than sugar. box elders you can tap the syrup will taste a bite different though.

[pushbutton]

Thanks again! Just went out and bought 25 taps and tubing. Still need to figure out a collecting set up, as I was not willing to drop 20 bucks for each 2 gallon pail. Have always wanted to do this and glad I saw this post. If someone would be gracious enough to answer a few questions when it comes time to reduce the sap, that would also be appecicated.

[flyfisher03]

DNR has some info on making syrup check out the conservation volunteer article link.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/maple_syruping.html

[mcgarth]

you will have syrup at 7 degrees above what water will boil that given day.it takes around 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of finished syrup.

[themagicbus]

put 76 taps out yesterday. they dripped for 2 minutes and quit. but it's too cold at night yet. should let loose by tomorrow here if the weather man is right.(which he seldom is)

so will try to get another 75 or so out today.

maybe a victim will stop by today and they can help wrestle the boiler and pans and firewood into position.

[mcgarth]

made another 10 gallons today and collected about 500 or so more gallons of sap also.

[pushbutton]

so why did my taps hardly run today? was it not cold enough last night or not sunny/warm enough today?

[Rooster Chaser]

In my area the lack of sun this afternoon seemed to slow them down some, but not completely. Best days this year so far were Tuesday and Wednesday, I believe they were still going this morning. Will start boiling again tomorrow, we have around 400 gallons of sap to burn off, so a slow day or two would not bother me right now.

[pushbutton]

Thanks RC, this is all quite interesting and having a good time for sure. Certainly got caught off guard about the reduction process. Instead of boiling i was cutting up damp wood in a mist today

[themagicbus]

barely anything yet. made 2 gal so far.

[mcgarth]

made 8 more gallons today. we also have about 600-700 gallons of sap to get boiled down also.