When should I tap my Maple Trees?

 It's mid-April here in southern Michigan which means syrup season is usually over.  Most of the birds have migrated back, and the frogs chirp at night.  Most of the days have gotten warmer and the buds and even starts of leaves have started growing on trees, all of these are definite signs the syrup season is over.

 My Experience

    For most of my life, my family has made Maple Syrup as a hobby.  For about 4 years in my early 30's my brother and I made it commercially.  Together we had about 8,000 taps.  Mine were mostly roadside trees, while his were all on a vacuum system.  I  preferred doing roadsides as I would get huge maple trees which would warm up quickly in the full sun and run all day long because of their size.  I used 15-gallon barrels to collect my maple sap so that I could keep up during a good run without losing too much of the tree sap.  I enjoyed the challenge of making the syrup commercially, but, it was too much work and it had become for stress than joy.

When do I tap Maple trees?

    When you tap greatly depends on where you are located and when your weather generally warms up.  Sap moves the most up and down the tree when the weather is warm during the day and freezing at night.  The very best runs would be when it gets to 40 degrees during the day and well below 30 degrees at night. which means summer would be a terrible time to tap a maple tree as the sap would not move (among other reasons, which we'll cover). We would always tap trees starting in January so we wouldn't miss any warmups in February (as we usually might get a week or 2 where it would run decently).  Now that I only make syrup for my own use, Ill usually plan on tapping in late February.   

What kind of taps and buckets should I use?

    It is a good idea to use new taps every year.  This will help keep bacteria out of the tap hole and keep the tap open and running longer and better during the season.  This is why I usually buy the cheapest plastic taps I can find because usually, the quality is not much different.  A lot of people use bags or steel buckets for collecting sap and they get along great with it.  I usually used 15-gallon barrels or 5-gallon buckets as they hold more sap allowing you more time between collecting the sap.  Whatever you use it is a good idea to use clean containers that are free of odor or chemicals.  This is because any odor in the bucket will bleed into the flavor of the syrup.  One time I used some buckets that held fruit drink syrup and the buckets smelled fruity, after the syrup was made it also had a faint fruity taste to it which was not desirable to me or anyone I may want to sell my syrup to.

When should I pull taps?

There is little argument as to when to pull taps on your taps.  My grandpa would say once you hear the frogs at night 3 times, the season is over, which I found to be true.  But, the most telltale signs are when the trees bud.  When the trees bud it will make the sap stink and get cloudy.  It will also make your syrup taste like something they'd only eat on the Fear Factor show.

Hopefully, this blog helped you with any questions you may ever have on when to tap your trees and when to give it up. For more information check out, Michigan Maple Syrup Association for more information.  For supplies check out, Sugarbush Supplies.