Not good for Maple syrup producers

[duckbnot]

Are trees still producing sap? When are taps usually removed?

[Oddmott]

Holes begin to close over quickly after 6 weeks or so. As for when you pull the taps, every bush is different. When your trees start to bud, that's the end of your season.

Apparently folks further south syrup'd for the better part of 2 months already and have shut down their operations. On the other hand, we only tapped 1.5 weeks ago and plan to have at least 3 more weeks of prime syruping season.

[Sinker]

How did everyone make out? I had an average year. Nothing to brag about anyways. I would call it an "odd" year for my trees. Had better, and had worse. Its all about the adventure, right?

S.

[werner.reiche]

Holes begin to close over quickly after 6 weeks or so. As for when you pull the taps, every bush is different. When your trees start to bud, that's the end of your season.

Apparently folks further south syrup'd for the better part of 2 months already and have shut down their operations. On the other hand, we only tapped 1.5 weeks ago and plan to have at least 3 more weeks of prime syruping season.

Spring hasn't quite arrived at some areas in the county. Still about two feet of snow and no buds at my bush lot. Needed the snowshoes to get around yesterday. The deer are wandering about quite a bit now though. Saw a herd of 20+ along mink lake.

[JoePa]

I read that some people are starting to tap birch trees for the sap - say that it has a specially good flavor - better than maple - some drink the stuff as though it is some kind of soft drink - I know that when you break a black birch twig it smells like birch beer

[Fox]

I read that some people are starting to tap birch trees for the sap - say that it has a specially good flavor - better than maple - some drink the stuff as though it is some kind of soft drink - I know that when you break a black birch twig it smells like birch beer

I would not say better, it is different.

There are a pile of different trees you can get edible syrup from.
Any maple trees, any birch, box elder, walnut, and there are more. The sugar content though varies considerably, the Sugar maple (hard maple) is about 32-40:1 sap to syrup, the soft maple (red, silver, norway) around 60:1, birch 80:1, walnut I have no idea.

[mooboy76]

I read that some people are starting to tap birch trees for the sap - say that it has a specially good flavor - better than maple - some drink the stuff as though it is some kind of soft drink - I know that when you break a black birch twig it smells like birch beer

Birch syrup tastes nothing like maple syrup that's for sure. Stronger flavour, but seems less sweet, closer to Kecap manis (indonesian sweet soy sauce) than other syrups.

I like it, but usually in smaller doses - I'm not likely to dump a lot on a stack of pancakes.

Here is a video of the local Birch syrup company - Boreal Birch Syrup. It shows pretty much their whole process.

[JoePa]

Boy that is some equipment they have - and a lot of work - the stuff must be pretty expensive after going through that must work - I wondering if the white birch has the same flavor as the black birch - I have a lot of black birch on my property and just love the smell of the branches when they are broken