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jdemaris
03-14-2006 05:56:21
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Seems every year it gets harder to decide when to start drilling. Winters here in Central NY have been kind of weird, and this year it's the warmest I've ever seen. Here, and in northern Vermont, we used to have a few warm spells in between the normal cold weather - so most of the time the trees were frozen and the holes would keep. Now, it's the opposite - we get cold spells in between the warm weather, and the tree bacteria grows pretty fast. Sap was running in January and February, and it's running right now (slowly). If I drill, and winter comes back (and forth), the holes will heal up before the season's run is done. I had to drill twice the past couple of years. I can see why dosing trees with formaldehyde was so popular (heard it still is in Canada). We used it all the time in Vermont during the 60s - and that was with cold winters and springs, but it's no longer legal. Yesterday it was 60 degrees by mid-afternoon. In 2002, I tapped Feb. 19 and was done March 21. In 2000, March 3 - March 22. In 1999, I didn't tap until March 25 and it ran through April. Last year there was a major run in early Feb, but I refused to tap that early - snow was so deep I could hardly get into the woods anyway. If the weather keeps up with this trend, maple sugaring won't be worth the effort in this area anymore. I'm in central New York, but I've also got a sugar woods in the Adirondacks in Hamilton County. I've read some recent studies that the sugar maples are dying there - for reasons not yet explained - but the warmer weather is suspect. There are "experts" now - mostly from the academic world, suggesting that trees be tapped all winter long and use the new, smaller taps so trees will suffer less damage - I think they're 1/4" instead of 7/16" What they don't explain is the labor involved in maintaining a sap-line all winter - it's d*mn near impossible - at least not on a cost-effectice basis. Many big producers have to hire temporary workers for sap-season - so you need some sort of time-frame.
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