Weiss Woods 2009 Sap Season
Weiss
Woods of Plum Creek has gotten the 2009 Maple Sugaring season off to a
good start. Twelve of us drilled a little over 4100 tap holes March
12-15.
We
use two Tanaka 210 gas powered drills. Each tap hole is drilled to a
depth of about 2.5 inches and then we insert a 5/16″ health spile
adaptor which attaches to the regular 7/16″ spile. Tapping was finished
up on 3/15 when we put out 450 sap pails for collecting sap in the
level part of the Harmon Woods.
The weather was cold when we
started with a low of -5 Degrees and a high of 18 degress on 3/12. The
weather kept warming and on 3/15 the high was 52 degrees. The woods
still have about a foot of snow which will help increase the sap flow.
The snow has insulated the ground from freezing and will provide the
needed moisture when the weather conditions are right for the sap flow.
The sap flow started on 3/11 and the first sap we collected on
3/12 was crystal clear. The sugar content for the first pickup was 2.7%
for 1,881 gallons of sap and 431 gallons at 2.7%. From this sap we are
able to make 74 gallons of pure maple syrup. The sugar content is
20-30% higher than last year. If we can get a good sap flow we will be
able to make many more gallons of pure maple syrup this year from the
same amount of sap since the sugar content stays about the same during
the season.
The operation opened up a new section of the Harmon
Woods this year and added about 500 more taps. We ran 2,400 feet of
3/4″ plastic pipe to reach this new area. This area has a beautiful
stand of maple trees ranging up to 24 inches in diameter so we are
expecting many gallons of sap from our new area.
03-17-2009
There
was no Sap today. The weather is too warm with a low of 42 degrees and
a high of 56 degrees. The forecast calls for cooler weather the balance
of the week so we should start to see the sap flow start again. The
warm weather has started to thaw the frozen ground which will help the
trees push up more sap from their roots.
We collected another
1126 gallons of sap late on March 16th - the sugar content was still
good at 2.7%. The first sap flow is now done and the results are very
good - 3,432 gallons of sap which will make 108 gallons of pure maple
syrup. 300 of the gallons was picked up from the pails and the balance
from the tube lines.
03-19-2009
We
picked up 293 gallons of sap today from the home woods which almost
emptied the holding tank. In the later afternoon it took 4 of the
brothers about an hour to pick up 350 gallons from the 450 pails and
send it down the main line to the 1500 gallons tanks in the creek
bottom.
The warm weather over the last 3 days has melted all of
the snow and has left the forest floor lumpy and hard to walk on. The
weather today had a low of 29 degrees and high of 50 today but was very
windy which slowed down the sap flow. We are expecting a good run over
the next 2-3 days since the forecast calls for good sap weather.
Bruce
opened up the dump tank in Devils Gate Gorge today to let down 300
gallons of sap that has collected since late saturday. He used up a
roll of black electrical tape to cover up the holes in the 3/4″
diameter drain line as he followed the sap flow down the drain line.
When he arrived at the lower end of the mile long pipe the sap was
flowing out into our 550 gallon transfer tank.
We expect we
have about 1600 gallons of sap to pickup tomorrow morning from Patnodes
Valley which will put us over 5000 gallons collected so far.
3-22-2009
As
of Sunday 3/22 we have made 506 gallons of maple syrup from the 2.7%
sugar content sap we have collected since tapping last weekend. We have
determined we have about 4,170 taps.
The was the most
successful 1st week of sap collecting for Weiss Woods. For 2 days in a
row, 3/20 and 3/21, two full truckloads each of about 2000 gallons per
load were pumped out of the Patnode Valley storage tanks. We also
bottled 107 gallons of fresh maple syrup so we have plenty of syrup on
hand for sale. The sap slowed down today since the weather is windy and
warm but it was still collecting from the tube lines.
We also
set a record of 950 gallons of sap being picked up from our 450 pails
on 3/20. On 3/21 another 800 gallons was collected from the sap pails.
The weather was 19 and 35 on 3/19, 23 and 52 on 3/20, 30 and 60 on 3/21
and 35 and 61 on 3/22. We expect rain tomorrow and then we’ll wait for
the next sap run after the weather cools off late this week.
3-24-2009
The
weather has turned warm and windy the last 2 days so the sap flow has
slowed until the weather cools off. Today the high was 56 and the low
45 with rain showers.
Bruce checked the sap holding tanks
yesterday. There was about 1700 gallons in the 2 1500 gallon Harmon
Woods tanks and 15 gallons in the devils gate 550 gallon tank. He
straightened out the plastic cover on top of the devil’s gate tank and
went to Brent’s house. Brent, Bruce and Brad are planning on Wednesday
to empty the rain water that has collected in the pails so the pails
are empty before the sap starts to flow. It looks like good sap weather
is coming for at least another week to 10 days. The forecast is calling
colder than normal with freezing temperatures at night.
3-30-2009 Its a Weiss Woods Daily Sap Record !!
A record sap run started with a low of 26 degrees with a storm approaching which helped the sap to run all day and nite.
Our
results are: We picked up a record 1150 gallons of pail sap The 2
sweetwater creek tanks were full as of 8pm - 3000 gallons after picking
up 4000 gallons earlier in the day. Another 2000 gallons was picked up
at 11pm by Brent and Eric. Another 2000 gallons at 9am on 3/31 by Bruce
and Pittman. The Devils Gate tank was running over with 550 gallons of
sap on 3/31 am. The Home woods had 3 tankers picked up on 3/30 and
another one 3/31 am. - 1600 gallons.
The overall total is about 35,000 gallons of sap and about 1100 gallons of syrup. Sugar Content is 2.59% overall.
4-01-2009
The
current sap run is over which is allowing the holding tanks to be
emptied so we have room when the next run starts. The weather looks
good - freezing temps over nite and 40’s during the day over the next
few days.
Brad will be helping Jim and Brent over the next 2
days to make sure the sap collection system is in good running
condition and collecting sap for the evaporator.
If we can
collect 6,000 gallons over the next 2 days we will have set our all
time one year record - exceeding the total from last year.
4-05-2009
2 inches of snow fell overnight. Over the next
few days we should receive higher sap flow and sugar content due to the “sugar
snow”. On April 4th we collected about 4800 gallons of sap so we have now
surpassed last years record output of syrup. We now have made 1,389 gallons of
pure maple syrup from 48,524 gallons of sap collected. This weeks weather is
forecasted to have below normal temperatures which will keep the sap flow going.
4-11-2009
The weather this week has been ideal with lows of
26-29 degrees and highs around 50. However, the ground is dry which is slowing
the length of the daily sap runs but we did go over the 60,000 gallon mark.
The 450 pails/spliles were removed from the trees on 4/10 since we were getting
less and less sap. Since the pail spiles are exposed to the air the tap hole
heals faster than the tube spiles. We will wash the pails today and probably
collect the last of the tube lines sap since the weather is predicted to be
warmer.
4-13-2009
The final sap delivery was made to today and the
2009 sugaring season is over. We have started to pull the spiles from the trees
to allow them to heal and be ready for next year. All of the tanks and sugaring
equipment will be cleaned up and put away for next season. It was a busy and
fun season with more production than 2008.