Post pictures of your woodpile/splitting area

[russhd1997]

i just planted a sugar maple at my house. i'd love to harvest syrup from it in a few years. got any pointers?

Your tree is going to have to be 10" to 12" DBH before you can put a tap in it. It can take up to 50 years for your tree to grow to that size. In an average season 1 tap will produce about 8 gallons of sap. It takes 40 to 50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup depending on the sugar content of the sap. If you really want to make maple syrup you will need to find more trees.

I have 800 taps here and most of mine are red maples on vacuum. The sugars produce more and sweeter sap. In an average season I get about a quart of syrup per tap. On my best season ever I got almost a 1/2 gallon of syrup per tap.

 

[marcomjl]

Your tree is going to have to be 10" to 12" DBH before you can put a tap in it. It can take up to 50 years for your tree to grow to that size. In an average season 1 tap will produce about 8 gallons of sap. It takes 40 to 50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup depending on the sugar content of the sap. If you really want to make maple syrup you will need to find more trees.

I have 800 taps here and most of mine are red maples on vacuum. The sugars produce more and sweeter sap. In an average season I get about a quart of syrup per tap. On my best season ever I got almost a 1/2 gallon of syrup per tap.

I knew it takes a bit and time to get some. That pretty much was a shut down lol :msp_biggrin:

 

[Denis Gionet]

Your tree is going to have to be 10" to 12" DBH before you can put a tap in it. It can take up to 50 years for your tree to grow to that size. In an average season 1 tap will produce about 8 gallons of sap. It takes 40 to 50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup depending on the sugar content of the sap. If you really want to make maple syrup you will need to find more trees.

I have 800 taps here and most of mine are red maples on vacuum. The sugars produce more and sweeter sap. In an average season I get about a quart of syrup per tap. On my best season ever I got almost a 1/2 gallon of syrup per tap.

Well thanks for the education, we'll sleep a little less stupid tonight ! One of our customers' family makes syrup, in Northern New Brunswick. He sells for $16 per liter (quart). It's a privately owned business, not a mass production deal. And the syrup is much sweeter than the grocery store cans you can buy. Just about due for another bottle ....

 

[russhd1997]

Well thanks for the education, we'll sleep a little less stupid tonight ! One of our customers' family makes syrup, in Northern New Brunswick. He sells for $16 per liter (quart). It's a privately owned business, not a mass production deal. And the syrup is much sweeter than the grocery store cans you can buy. Just about due for another bottle ....

Most of the syrup sold in stores here is Dark Amber that is a blend of Light Amber and commercial grade syrup. The flavor just isn't there compared to Dark Amber that is made at the sugar house. Dark Amber makes up about 3/4's of the table syrup sold in stores. It's good that you support your local producer. His price is reasonable too! I get $18 for a quart.

 

[Ductape]

Russ, do you use a reverse osmosis machine? See any negative effects on the trees using vacum? Just curious. I've worked several Maple seasons for the farmer up here. I'm like a crack addict with Maple sugar candies..... MMMMmmmmm !!!! Definitely no going back to store bought syrup after having the real thing. Igot my wife hooked too.

Even at $18 / qt..... still no money in it as far as I can see.

 

[russhd1997]

Russ, do you use a reverse osmosis machine? See any negative effects on the trees using vacum? Just curious. I've worked several Maple seasons for the farmer up here. I'm like a crack addict with Maple sugar candies..... MMMMmmmmm !!!! Definitely no going back to store bought syrup after having the real thing. Igot my wife hooked too.

Even at $18 / qt..... still no money in it as far as I can see.

Yes on the reverse osmosis machine. I love that thing! Once you have boiled concentrated sap you won't want to boil raw sap again. Does the farmer you work with have an RO?

No on the negative effects. There have been numerous studies of the effects of vacuum and tree health as well as my own experience with it and the trees are showing no signs of decline because of it.

Have you tried maple cream? That stuff is to die for. I like the maple coated nuts too.

 

[Ductape]

Old farmer, old school. No vacum, no RO. Strictly wood fired evap all the way . Last season I worked for him was two years ago, still had 300 some odd buckets out, even though tubing could have been run in alot of those areas :bang:. I usually lose 10 - 15 lbs during Maple season .

Never had Maple cream, or nuts. Cream I'd definitely try.

 

[russhd1997]

Old farmer, old school. No vacum, no RO. Strictly wood fired evap all the way . Last season I worked for him was two years ago, still had 300 some odd buckets out, even though tubing could have been run in alot of those areas :bang:. I usually lose 10 - 15 lbs during Maple season .

Never had Maple cream, or nuts. Cream I'd definitely try.

The weather around here has been bad for buckets and gravity tubing lately. If you want to make some syrup you need vacuum and if you want to save energy doing it you need an RO machine. I used to use 1 cord of wood to make 15 gallons of syrup. Now I make almost 100 gallons of syrup with 1 cord of wood.

When I first started out I hung about 150 buckets and had 200 on gravity tubing. Now I hang about 100 buckets and have 700 on tubing with vacuum.

I'm at the point now where I need a bigger RO machine so that I can add more taps. I have the trees to more than double my tap count.

As far as making money in this business goes you have to be real big to make a profit. I make just enough money to cover operating expenses. It's a hobby that pays for itself and maybe a little more.

 

[zogger]

Maple cream

For some odd reason I never heard of this stuff?? What gives, lived up there a long time..anyway, here is a wiki write up on making maple cream and what it is with some other links

Maple butter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[stihly dan]

Good on you for making the best of it and maintaining a certain level of activity. A good mindset you have.

I have seen this in people that get joint replacements. A lot of times, the ones that are lumps don't ever heal up as fast as the ones who are attempting to do hot laps around the hospital floor less than 24hrs after surgery.

Bs, I have never sat on my ass. was down for 7 weeks. Then it took 10 yrs to be able to be relatively pain free. It all has to do with pain tolerance before the surgery. Lower your tolerance, Faster you have surgery, better the outcome.

 

[russhd1997]

For some odd reason I never heard of this stuff?? What gives, lived up there a long time..anyway, here is a wiki write up on making maple cream and what it is with some other links

Maple butter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's the stuff! I cool mine to room temp before I stir it so that the sugar crystals are smaller making it less grainy. Like wiki says it has the consistency of peanut butter. It can be used as a spread on just about anything that you would use peanut butter on. You can eat it right out of the tub too. It melts in your mouth! :msp_smile:

 

[russhd1997]

BTW sorry for the hijack. Maybe a pick of my sugar house with wood in the woodshed will get us more on topic.

 

[Denis Gionet]

BTW sorry for the hijack. Maybe a pick of my sugar house with wood in the woodshed will get us more on topic.

Man, I do love this thread, always something new to see or learn ! And tasty too !

Nice sugar house. Is that your production facility ? And how much of the wood we see do you burn in a production season ?

 

[NHlocal]

BTW sorry for the hijack. Maybe a pick of my sugar house with wood in the woodshed will get us more on topic.

That's a nice little "wood shed" you got there Russ.....
.....definitely back on topic.....

 

[redprospector]

Thanks. how are you loading that lot out? Digger with a bucket?

Some get's loaded by hand, some get's loaded with a Bobcat & grapple bucket. It all depends on what the Bobcat's doing that day, and who's doing the loading. If I'm doing the loading you can bet the Bobcat will be involved.

Andy

 

[russhd1997]

Man, I do love this thread, always something new to see or learn ! And tasty too !

Nice sugar house. Is that your production facility ? And how much of the wood we see do you burn in a production season ?

Yes that is where I make the liquid gold. :msp_smile:

Usually the wood shed is pretty close to empty at the end of the sugaring season. My evaporator likes those small sticks. When I cut the trees for my OWB the limb wood goes in the sugar wood pile.

 

[Garmins dad]

BTW sorry for the hijack. Maybe a pick of my sugar house with wood in the woodshed will get us more on topic.

:msp_smile: I could live in there..

 

[russhd1997]

:msp_smile: I could live in there..

I pretty much do during sugaring season. :msp_thumbup:

 

[stihl023/5]

I pretty much do during sugaring season. :msp_thumbup:

That is very nice.opcorn:

 

[Garmins dad]

I pretty much do during sugaring season. :msp_thumbup:

:msp_w00t: envious.. very envious.. i really do like that building.. just looks so relaxing, at peace if you will.. Simpler times come to mind. No phone, no inet, no tv... Just relax. I wish someone would take all the calls from my doc and i could go get the messages once a week. I'm sick of the rat race. It's making this rat very tired. :msp_sad: