Syrup makers adjust with the temperatures
By Mike Lynch
As documented, this winter’s temperatures have been well above average, and that’s had some impacts on the maple sugaring season.
Generally, producers like to have a few weeks of days in the high 30s to low 40s and nights below freezing. The mercury has risen well above those temperatures, especially during the day recently.
In Lake Placid, sap started running in early February, at least a month earlier than normal. Traditionally, maple producers would put up taps during the month of February and wait for the sap to run in March. That meant this winter not everyone was ready for the sap to start flowing.
The warm weather also impacted maple workers. The lack of snow made it easier to walk through the woods. In the past, technicians would have to trudge through several feet of snow in the sugar bush, slowing down their ability to tap trees.
Related reading: 2023 maple season off to early start
In addition, normally frozen woods roads are soggy, making it difficult to drive trucks or utility vehicles in the woods.
The lack of snow also is having an impact on small maple producers, who often stash buckets of sap in snow banks to refrigerate before boiling. Now they have to rush sap into evaporators to prevent spoiling.
Adam Wild, director of Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Research Center in Lake Placid, sat down with the Explorer to give his take on how this maple season has gone so far. The question-and-answer session was edited for brevity and clarity.
When does the sap run usually start?
Historically, I would say the middle of March for Lake Placid and the Tri-Lakes region … (and) some early flows in early March.
When did the sap start flowing this year? How does that compare to other years?
Our first major kind of sap run that we had this year that we collected and boiled was in early February. That’s definitely early for us. We had a sap run last year in mid February, but we didn’t have as many thaws last year. We’re definitely getting a lot more syrup early on this year. Last year we made a little bit of syrup in February, but not much. It really wasn’t until late March that we started making a lot of syrup. And now we’re at March 6, and we have 25% of our projected crop already. So we’re definitely way ahead of schedule.
Maple days, when sugar houses are open to the public, are coming up on March 16-17 and 23-24. There have been years when northern Adirondack producers haven’t started collecting sap for season at that point yet, right?
In the past, before each one we’re able to collect a little bit of sap and save it up for the weekend. We had something to boil, but it wasn’t much. It was a short boil. This year it’s looking more like we might be halfway through a crop or getting near the end of the crop by the end of March.
What other impacts is the weather having besides the early sap runs? What are the impacts to the trees?
The best for maple is to have a really slow gradual thaw because sap flows when it’s freezing and thawing. But I’d rather have the beginning of the season hitting in the low 40s or the high 30s. When we get to warmer weather (that) causes the trees to wake up sooner out of winter and the buds start to swell. Once the bud starts swelling that starts to give off flavors into the tree and that usually ends our maple season. So if the trees are waking up too quickly, the season’s not going to last long … especially if we’re getting nights where it’s not freezing.
The other aspect is that there’s microbes, mostly like yeast, that will grow inside of the tap holes. That’s going to grow a lot more at 50 degree weather than it is at low 40s. The issue with a yeast is that it starts to plug up the cells of the wood. So they won’t flow as well. And so we typically see that like the last 25% of the season. … I don’t think I’ve seen that yet this year, but it’s certainly something I was concerned about.
Related reading: A sweet stroll through a maple forest
How does the forecast in the next couple of weeks look?
It looks better actually. Once we get past Wednesday the nighttime temperatures are cooler and most nights are freezing. I think there’s a couple of nights at the end of next week where it’s above freezing. So the next 10 days look more promising, which is encouraging.
If the weather continues like that, could you wind up having a long season, even though you started early?
Starting early is okay, as long as it doesn’t end quickly, as long we make most of our syrup in March. In a more traditional year, we’re finishing the last week in April. I wouldn’t be shocked if we made it that far. … But a week or two can really make or break a maple season. You can make a lot of syrup in just a couple of weeks if you get the right weather and sap flow. I’m optimistic that we might be good for that just based on the freeze and thaws in the next 10 days.
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