Time to Tap

[2underage]

Get going you maple syrup people and get those trees tapped. Next week it is predicted to be warm and those maples will be ready for bleeding.
This could spell the end of the sap run for this season.

I have a nice bunch of maple trees in my wood lot but I will not be tapping any this year because I do not have an evaporator. I have enough trees for about 500 taps. In the past I would place 40 taps and then haul my sap to another place to have it boiled. I would just make 10 gallons of syrup per year which was enough for me and my family and friends.

My trees have a high sugar content and it only takes 25 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. The processor who made my syrup said that I should cultivate my maples and sell the saplings to replace trees in maple groves. Sounds like a good idea but to much work for me.

 

[markct]

More to it than just the tree, growing conditions play a huge part in sugar content

 

[dschaefer55]

sounds yummy! where do you live?

 

[2underage]

That is true but it is known that some trees have a genetic trait that causes them to have sweeter sap. In fact sap sugar varies from grove to grove and the number of gallons of sap needed to make one gallon of syrup can be from the 20's to over 60. The average gallons of sap to syrup is about 40.

I am located in northern NY state. Happy farming.

 

[Zachary Hoyt]

I put out our 40 taps two weeks ago today. We had some good runs and are hoping for a few more before the buds swell too much.
Zach

 

[wd9garymn]

I talked to maple syruping folks at St.Johns University, central Minn. about yield from their trees. they said around 40 gal. sap to gal. of syrup. My trees were running at 25 gal sap to 1 gal syrup and they said you must have wide crown trees that pretty much stand alone--they will have higher sugar content and produce more sap.My trees exactly--Most had a 40 foot crown and in an open area. Best production from 1 tree in 24 hours was 9 gallons of sap from a 24 in. dia. tree with 1 tap.

 

[markct]

Down here in Connecticut I tapped very end of January and been having a good season, about 270 gallon syrup so far but looks like next week may be the end with so many warm nights