Category: 2019: Season 102

Tree Pressure

On March 12, 2019

In 2019: Season 102

10 overnight. Sunny most of the day. By 3:00 PM we were at 40. By 3:30 PM clouds moved in. We get rain Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures in high 40s to maybe low 50s. Should be messy with much snow melt the next days.

Doing some science. We connected a pressure gauge to a tap hole to measure tree pressure. As a living organism with sap moving through it, it should have pressure fluctuations. The pressure fluctuations move the sap through the tree. Its our understanding from the maple researchers we should expect to see both positive and negative pressure. Positive when the sap is flowing for collection and negative at night when the temperature drops below freezing. We going to monitor this.

After tapping and setting up the gauge the pressure rose to 20 PSI. It rose quickly and we could watch the pressure increase.

Brought the R/O into the woods. The membrane is still in house where its warm. We’ll take the membrane out when we are ready to use the R/O.

Slow

By SugarMaster

On March 11, 2019

In 2019: Season 102

18 overnight. Sunny and 32 today, but little melting. Nothing happening with the trees.

Got fittings to complete the fix on our tank pipes. Turned over the evaporator pans.

Big weather change forecast. Rain on Wednesday and low 50s on Thursday.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

By SugarMaster

On March 10, 2019

In 2019: Season 102

Rain and ice followed by 1 1/2” of snow overnight. Low around 28. Up to 45 today. A little melting is starting. Tonight’s forecast is 18.

On Saturday we worked on another tank plumbing project. Replaced the PVC butterfly values with brass ball values that have a lever type handle. When we thaw out the PVC butterfly with the heat-gun, the PVC expands and causes the value to stick. Its a challenge to open. The brass should respond better to the heat and the handle is a lever.

But we did not follow the golden rule: measure twice, cut one. The piping is shaped like a big Y with the joint abutting the outside wall. The new bass values add about 5 1/4” more length on the outside. Without thinking or measuring we cut off that 5 1/4” from the stem pipe inside the building. The ends of the Y outside now extended past the tank fittings.

Today we fixed that. The pipes had an unneeded drain value. We wanted to remove them anyway. As it turns out, those values were about 5 1/4” on the outside. We disassembled the pipes to remove the values. Checked the fit. We should be good. We need to replace the inside stem pipe because its too short. Planning to get PVC for that in place of the iron pipe that was used.

500 Taps Out

By SugarMaster

On March 9, 2019

In 2019: Season 102

6 overnight. We had hora frost this morning. Everything was white. Looked pretty. It warmed up to 42 but there wasn’t much melting. It was sunny until Noon. Its gets windy with 1”-2” of snow forecast tonight.

Started tapping at 8:00 AM. Slight delay because we misplaced the drill bits. While preparing everything the drill bits ended up under some new buckets. We had a crew of 7. The snow is deep. Went over the of the boots which are 14”. The snow melted resulting in wet shoes but feet stayed warm.

By 12:30 PM we had 500 taps out.: 135, 100, 100, 100, 65

Also worked on some plumbing for the collecting tank. Added a value with a quick connect which should make connecting to the pump easier and faster.

So we are ready once the weather breaks.

Winter’s Grip

By SugarMaster

On March 8, 2019

In 2019: Season 102

We are still in Winter’s grip. Overnight lows have been below 0 every day this week. December was mild. The first half of January was mild, but then a polar vortex moved in plunging temperatures below 0 with -20s wind chill. When polar vortex abated snow storms followed. February was snow storm after snow storm. There is 2’ to 3’ of snow in the woods. It will be hard walking.

Bu we are expecting a change in the weather pattern. The forecast has upper 30s for next week. We plan to tap on Saturday, March 9. Its time. The weather will break. We want to be ready. However, there is 3’ to 4’ of frost in the ground so it may take time for the tress to wake up.

Taps
1/29/24 101
1/30/24 200
2/3/24 64
2/10/24 30
Total 395

Sap Gal Brix
1/31/24 310 1.5
2/03/24 375 1.5
2/05/24 325 1.5
2/07/24 300 1.5
2/12/24 340 1.5
2/15/24 440 1.5
2/21/24 235 1.5
2/22/24 200 1.5
2/26/24 470 1.5
2/27/24 240 1.5
3/02/24 210 1.5
3/04/24 230 1.25
3/07/24 70 1.25
Total 3745

Bottled Qt Pt 500 250 50
2/12/24 24 13
2/14/24 24 18
2/17/24 23 13
2/18/24 20 11
2/25/24 15 15 4 1
2/26/24 18 6 5
3/01/24 16 2 1
3/02/24 18 3 12
3/04/24 6 17
3/06/24 8 9
3/07/24 18 10
3/10.24 14 10
3/11/24 4 18
3/12/24 7 1
Total gals: 74

Tree Pressure
1/29/24 14 PSI
1/30/24 5 PSI
1/31/24 3 PSI
2/01/24 4 PSI
2/02/24 11 PSI
2/03/24 11 PSI
2/04/24 10 PSI
2/05/24 8 PSI
2/06/24 7 PSI
2/07/24 2 PSI
2/08/24 1 PSI
2/09/24 0 PSI
2/10/24 -1 PSI
2/11/24 7 PSI
2/12/24 6 PSI
2/13/24 -5 PSI
2/13/24 5 PSI
2/14/24 6 PSI
2/15/24 2 PSI
2/16/24 0 PSI
2/17/24 0 PSI
2/18/24 0 PSI
2/19/24 0 PSI
2/20/24 4 PSI
2/21/24 4 PSI
2/22/24 5 PSI
2/23/24 0 PSI
2/24/24 -5 PSI
2/25/24 6 PSI
2/26/24 8 PSI
2/27/24 2 PSI
2/18/24 -10 PSI
2/29/24 0 PSI
3/01/24 5 PSI
3/02/24 4 PSI
3/03/24 2 PSI
3/04/24 2 PSI
3/05/24 0 PSI
3/06/24 -5 PSI
3/06/24 3 PSI
3/07/24 0 PSI

Steps
1/29/24 8,067
1/30/24 15,762
1/31/24 12,543
2/01/24 16,846
2/02/24 4,730
2/03/24 14,354
2/04/24 11,190
2/05/24 10,557
2/06/24 10,799
2/07/24 8,778
2/08/24 8,876
2/09/24 3,552
2/10/24 11,453
2/11/24 5,625
2/12/24 11,276
2/13/24 10,541
2/14/24 7,027
2/15/24 7,728
2/16/24 12,378
2/17/24 5,835
2/18/24 5,055
2/19/24 1,617
2/20/24 5,267
2/21/24 8,084
2/22/24 11,464
2/23/24 8,429
2/24/24 3,448
2/25/24 4,729
2/26/24 10,204
2/27/24 18,023
2/28/24 8,623
2/29/24 8,639
3/02/24 8,031
3/03/24 7,274
3/04/24 7,267
3/05/24 7,542
3/06/24 8,324
3/07/24 8,053
3/08/24 6,136
3/09/24 5,643
3/10/24 4,944
3/11/24 9,461
3/12/24 9,131
3/13/24 11,253
3/14/24 5,035
3/15/24 8,806
3/16/24 5,515
3/17/24 2,064