By David Fleet
Editor
Atlas Twp.-On Monday morning the wood-fired maple syrup evaporator in Jim Aseltine’s township sugar shack was cold.
‘We should be loaded with sap right now and we’re not,? said Aseltine, 85, who along with his wife Faith, for the past 42 years has coaxed thousands of gallons of sap each spring from maple trees scattered over about 20 acres of rolling woodland. ‘It’s a very slow sap year. The weather right now should be 45 degrees or warmer in the day and freezing at night. Last year the sap did not drop until April 1 it was a very cold March in 2014.?
In past years the sugar shack would be a busy place in the early spring days. This year a late winter deep freeze may have iced syrup production.
Larry Haigh is past president of the Michigan Maple Sugar Syrup Association and has been tapping trees in Bellevue, Mich. northeast of Battle Creek area for more than 55 years.
‘Last year we tapped 1,100 trees and produced 275 gallons of syrup,? said Haigh. ‘This year so far we made 14 gallons of syrup. But consider two weeks ago it was 22 below zero, too. There’s a lot of frost in the ground right now. A warm Monday with temps in the 60s should get things going. The wind chill impacts the flow of sap, too’just like we feel the cold so do the trees. But it’s not time to panic yet anyway. If it gets much past Easter, April 4, then its time to panic. However, I can remember making syrup in the last week of April.?
Just how cold slows the flow of sap?
According to the National Weather Service, Bishop Airport in Flint reported that February 2015 was the second coldest since 1900 with an average temperature of 12 degrees. Also, Feb. 20 the temperature dipped to minus 25 tying the coldest day of all time.
Aseltine’s township trees were first tapped on March 1.
‘Right now we have 165 trees tapped just starting to drip,? he said.
‘Typically we have about 250 tapped trees, but not this year. We need to get about 550 gallons for just ten gallons of maple syrup. We are just not there yet.?