It's running!!!

[mcgarth]

That's right the sap is running, well at least in Anoka county. We're about half way done with our tapping. We're hoping to be done on Monday. Good luck to all the sappers out there. Let's hope for a good season this year!!!!

[Gissert]

Looks like we have some good sap weather coming! Going to finish tapping Monday in Ottertail county, 160-180 taps.

[Rooster Chaser]

Starting to tap Sunday, should have 120 in this year. Bought a new pan today, redesigning the fire pit at some point, let the fun (work?) begin.

Any thoughts on what this season will be like?

[pushbutton]

Don't know as much as you guys, but the weather forecast for the next few weeks sure looks like the pail will runneth over. Have fun Mcgarth and Rooster Chaser!!! Is it just air temp or does the snow melt/ground temp/root activity also come into play?

[Gissert]

That a good question. Trees that are clunkers some years are good the next and vice versa. Others are good every year. Lots of variables I suppose such as snow cover, tap location, proper installation, etc.

Last year with the heavy snow cover, it seemed to me that as the snow pack dropped, the flow got better. The ridges that caught the sun produced first.

[pushbutton]

So whats the scoop on proper location and instillation. I did about 5 minutes of reading last year and my haste and ADD came up with about 3 ft off the ground, at a slight angle, couple inches deep, and south facing. Anything to add anyone?

[Gissert]

Dont tap directly above or below any old tap holes. I like to try to get the tap above a big root if I can, not sure if that makes any difference.

I've tapped on the north sides and still got sap.

[DARK30]

Is all that commercial syrup harvested the same way?

[Gissert]

Maple syrup - yes. The big boys get fancy though. They will network the trees with tubing to mainlines, and the mainline will go to the sugar shack.

This will feed the sugar shack via gravity, or some operations will pull it with a vaccuum pump.

The sap may be boiled straight away, or run through reverse osmosis to pull out some of the water to reduce production time, and then boiled.

Some of the evaporators are massive. 3 x 18 foot pans with steam hoods.

Still, the process to becoming syrup is identical. Boil the sap until the syrup is 66-67 percent sugar content. Nothing added at all.

[mcgarth]

Well we put the tapper away for another year. We have for the first time in a few year's have all our taps and buckets out hanging. Somewhere around 1,000 taps. Now the waiting game.

[zzammon]

Still slow around Mankato. My boxelder trees have been running ok but the sugar maples are not running around here. A couple of the large producers have empty test bags blowing in the wind.

[pushbutton]

Not running in St Cloud yet..... should start up in a few more days though, but starting to get a little concerned the night time temps are not going to get low enough the next few weeks. Hopefully the weather forecast will be a little off .......they usually don't get it right

[jentz]

This year is so close to 1987,Dry fall weird weather.I predict low sugar content and a quick low flow season.Remember the drought of 1988.

This year there is little to no moisture in the ground.

[mcgarth]

Well we picked up about 290 gallons of sap , we need cooler temperatures!

[jentz]

Well we picked up about 290 gallons of sap , we need cooler temperatures!

SLOW out of the 1000 taps you say you have thats just a taste over a quart per tap.I can remember draining Gal buckets 2 x a day.I havent done it since 1992,city ole boy now.Sure hope it picks up for you and anyone who taps!

[Gissert]

Checked 150 sugars today. Nuttin in Ottertail County. Went out and tapped a silver in the yard a couple hours ago, maybe half a cup. Hopefully

they'll start tomorrow.

[mcgarth]

Yep with all our taps we should have had alot more, right now were just hoping to make 40 gallons of syrup the way the weather looks. I was hoping for a 100+ syrup season.

[pushbutton]

Just trickling here. So if the temps do get lower in about a week and a half as forecasted will they get charged back up or is this going to be the main run?

[Rooster Chaser]

Collected 130 gallons from 60 taps over the last 72 hours in the Minnesota River Valley. Trees on south facing slopes were running like crazy yesterday, collected twice. Had a few that were overflowing the bags 6 hours after I dumped them. Trees with north exposure not running at all.

Need to get off the internet and go finish my boil!1`

[Gissert]

Not a drop for me on 150 taps yet. Just too dang warm. What an odd season...

[pushbutton]

Well talk about blue taps! Was just pumped after doing this for the first time last year, constructed a new reducer, got my taps in on time.....and nothing, nada, zilch....ok got about 5 gallons of sap that i just chucked because of the rain. So is this affair over?

[Gissert]

It's not looking good, but if we could get some nights into the low 20's we could still get a run. The longer it goes like this, the closer the trees get to budding out and it will be the end.

[flipper]

I'm in southern MN and I pulled my taps yesterday. We ended up with about four and a half gallons of syrup off of 80 taps.

Oh, and I got my first wood tick yesterday too. First time for that in maple season.

[zzammon]

Pulled the taps on the male boxelder trees yesterday, they are budded out. The females are still going strong. The only true maple I tap had been dry for two weeks. It finally decided to run. I pulled 3 gallons of sap off of it over the last two days. Interesting year.

[pushbutton]