Maple syrup production is finally in full spring (or swing) after a brutally
cold February.
“The sap is flowing this week and
many are fully tapped with two or three boils completed,” reports Todd Leuty,
forestry specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Affairs.
“So far the sap sugar concentration
is very low, but this should improve with each run,” he says.
There was some sap running in the
extreme southern part of the province at the end of February, but that ended
when the cold came back in early March.
February temperatures set a number
of records – the coldest winter day in more than a century, daily record lows
and an entire month without rising above the freezing mark.
While maple syrup producers were
anxious to get ready for the season, it’s dangerous to tap trees at
temperatures below minus five, Celsius. The tree and bark can split, creating a
wound that can take several years to heal.
It was also so cold that plastic
pipelines were difficult, if not impossible, to string. Some found that the
plastic would snap when they tried to uncoil it.
