3/4/12 Tappin and Sappin Chat

[Go Go Diablo]

In a sure sign that our winter is coming to an end, we tapped our trees at the cabin today for the annual hunt for maple syrup. The incredibly warm winter has kept the snow totals very low this year. However just last week, our cabin near Elcho, Wisconsin was hit with over 20" of snow.

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On a normal year, we would wait for a few weeks yet to tap. However this year, the weather continues to be warm and this upcoming week (even with the heavy snow) has warmer than normal temperatures in the forecast.

Who else is tapping maple trees out there?

Bruce

[Barrie2777]

I think the sap is running in the southern part of Quebec. The snow is gone or almost gone. We still have a foot or more but the sun is hot this time of year so it won't last long unless we get more. The month of march can bring 2 -3 feet of snow.

[devil dog]

Hi Bruce and Barrie, I put 70 taps on tubing this year in addition to the 50 buckets I usually hang. I tapped the ones on tubing on Feb 6th and then the buckets like a week to week-and-a-half after that.Making Fancy grade so far-amazingly light color although the sugar content is a little low this year. We got that 2 feet of snow end of October, then it melted in a week or so, then pretty much no snow to speak of until 14" last Thursday. Took the Hus-Skis on a 22 mile ride on Friday and for a smaller run today.

[Go Go Diablo]

This may be the shortest sap season on record. Very little sap ran up until Friday, March 9th which is weeks ahead of when we normally tap trees. We had an average day of sap flow on Saturday and tapped more trees for a total of 70 taps out there. This week, high temps are going to be in the 60's and 70's.

[Go Go Diablo]

It's March 18th and we wonder if sapping season is over, or just beginning.

Just a week ago, we trudged through over 2 feet of snow to tap trees. This weekend, we were driving our 2 wheel drive ATVs through what little snow remains to gather sap. From about 70 taps, we pulled 130 gallons of sap during a warm week. On Saturday, we were boiling sap in our shorts as it was up above 70 degrees F. What I don't understand is that the maple sap were still running even though it was warm.

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There my friends is a real meltdown. Temperatures for this week are to be warm too, but hopefully cooling back down to normal after that. Maybe we will get a second stretch of sap?

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I did however take the Diablo out on a grueling test of endurance through the mud, rocks and snow to test out some new designed drive sprockets. I was ok driving my restored 503 through the course, but felt the need to sacrifice an old pair of skis on an old ski seater rather than my good skis. Sprocket Success! More to come on that.

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[devil dog]

Yeah, it sure is hot out ! Strange. I pulled my taps last week, so we had like a 5 week season. Got some massive runs of sap when the 14" was melting, it ran right through the the night and the next day on a couple occasions. Then the 70 degree weather and done. Bruce, that is fantastic news on the sprockets, excellent !