I put out some maple taps on February 22nd, this year. Normally, that would be a bit late. As it turns out, this year it is early. For maple sap to flow best, the trees should be subjected to a day/night temperature swing which hits 40 degrees F. during the day and drops down to below freezing at night. While we've certainly been below freezing at night, the days with high temperatures over 40 have been few and far between.
I suspect this will make for a short season this year, since once we start getting warmer days it may be late enough in the spring that the night time temperatures don't drop below 32 or at least not consistently.
This is the first year that I'm using the small "tree-saver" taps instead of the 7/16" diameter taps. They seem to work quite well so far, but we'll see how it goes when the sap really gets flowing.
I'm thinking about trying to tap some birch trees this year. Supposedly, birch sap runs a bit later in the spring and when the maples are just finishing up, the birches are just beginning. Birch syrup, I'm told is not as distinctively flavorful as maple syrup. It is said to have a molasses-like flavor. Birch sap also has a much lower sugar content than maple sap so it takes several times more sap to yield the same amount of finished product.
If I end up tapping any birch trees this year, I'll let you know how it turned out here on the blog.
I suspect this will make for a short season this year, since once we start getting warmer days it may be late enough in the spring that the night time temperatures don't drop below 32 or at least not consistently.
This is the first year that I'm using the small "tree-saver" taps instead of the 7/16" diameter taps. They seem to work quite well so far, but we'll see how it goes when the sap really gets flowing.
I'm thinking about trying to tap some birch trees this year. Supposedly, birch sap runs a bit later in the spring and when the maples are just finishing up, the birches are just beginning. Birch syrup, I'm told is not as distinctively flavorful as maple syrup. It is said to have a molasses-like flavor. Birch sap also has a much lower sugar content than maple sap so it takes several times more sap to yield the same amount of finished product.
If I end up tapping any birch trees this year, I'll let you know how it turned out here on the blog.
