The Official 2025 Maple Syrup Thread

Still frost here so still boiling

 

Wonderful news HoneyFuzz! So glad you are still going to be involved in sugaring. You have a real passion for it.

 

I thank you for that !

 

Some ask how to distinguish between Sugar and Red Maple. This is the easy way - the Reds are red-budded, and the Sugars are the pale green.

 

Eric Wanderweg curious what your thoughts are on the RO bucket? Is it worth the money for small time production?

 

Small volume (25 gallons of sap or less) I wouldn’t spend the money unless you’re bent on getting it done quickly in one day. For me I boil on average 3-4 times a season, about 20-25 gallons each time so it’s worth it IMO. If you plan on doing it every year and making 2-3 gallons of finished syrup, I’d say it’s a good investment. For just a few jars each season though, I wouldn’t bother.

 

I fired up our RO this morning and will do a boil this evening. I've got about 50 gallons of sap collected.

 

I built my own RO from scratch using the same parts for a drinking water system (minus the tank). It really isn't that hard. I used a design I found somewhere on the web. Mine is 4 stage so it will pull out a lot of water pretty quick.

 

I just checked and I'm about 1.5% out of the tree and almost 5% coming out of the RO.

 

Thanks for the info. I’m pretty small time so I’m kinda curious if the cost of the system would be worthwhile. Do you have any idea of how much the parts cost?

 

I do realize it will save some time and fuel cost however I usually boil on a weekend day when I’m home anyway so I just let it go and check on it regularly. And well I’m kinda cheap so there’s that. Buying the parts and then buying the replacement filters seems like it’s spending dollars to save penny’s. My buddy just dove off the deep end and bought an evaporator and a bucket ro system so I guess I’ll get to see it first hand here shortly. Thanks.

 

Hmmm, this seems more reasonable and compact. Any reason it wouldn’t work for sap?

Reverse Osmosis RO Unit with Booster Pump and DI Stage Pumped 50-100gpd | eBay

 

Sounds like a solid plan to me. For me it made sense to pull the trigger because I was burning up 2-3 vacation days from work just to stay home and boil sap. Once you get a good boil going you really need to stay on it until you're finished. I got sick of wasting my vacation time when it was cold outside, so that's how I justified the $360 + whatever purchase.

 

Gotcha!trust me I have spent many an hour starring at a big pot boiling! I believe the smallest unit from The RO Bucket company is currently listed at 410.$.

 

I don't remember how much I had in it, but you can do it cheaper than I did with fewer stages.

But you can see the difference it makes....dark bucket is ready to boil, light bucket is RO water I save to rinse when done..

 

Too bad we don't have SM down here.
We have a reverse osmosis unit that we don't use anymore, bought it when we had our 125 gal saltwater aquarium. Used it to purify well water to use for replacement water. Need to sell it...
It has 3 filters on it.

 

Ok TJV here’s the thing, during spring when temperatures are 40 during day and 20° at night, before the tree comes out of dormancy. Is the sugaring season, You have a lot of talent my friend but I am not sure working in below freezing temps is your thing

See maple trees are smarter then some college students; they, the trees, know that when water freezes, it expands, so when the spring happens the sap goes up like a thermometer and when cold comes it goes back roots.
Oddly same occurrence happens in fall but the sap quality and volume are significantly reduced. Something about spring Easter and rebirth.. See I told ya trees were smarter than college students!

Great Ideas on RO for sugaring

 

You can tap red maple, boxelder, birch, and even black walnut. The best producing tree in my backyard is a big double trunk red maple, which is large enough to get two taps in. Like Lyle said, as long as the temperatures are right you can get in on a sap run. I'm sure your season is short down there but it's possible.

 

We're close to flirting with sap season but I'm going to hold off on the tapping for a few more days anyway. The 10 day forecast still looks a bit chilly. My coworker and uncle tapped early and aren't getting anything yet. I've heard rumors about people in eastern CT that have maples running right now. I'm thinking that depends a lot on individual sites/microclimates though. I did recently see a silver and one red maple with buds in the early swelling stage (city trees) All the snow cover is probably keeping things dormant at my house too.