Marie does ths and I'm sure she'll respond with some good advice. There was a good thread last year and I think even the year before, but when I did a search just now, I got the hits, but when I tried to access them it said they were no longer there ;-(

And I can attest that the syrup she and her husband make from their silver maple is the MOST excellent!

Oh hi! Tells you what kind of attention I've been paying lately! :)

You have time to order supplies, I'll attach the link below. You need: bags & holders, spiles (bag spouts), and I recommend the tapping bit. I believe you can still buy supplies from the MN Landscape Arboretum too! You need to tap your silver maples on the second or third day that we get 40+ degrees during the day, but it still drops to freezing or below at night. So it looks like it may be as late this year as the end of Feb, start of March. You pull your spiles AS SOON as the buds start to burst even a little, or you get a bit of cloud to your sap. It takes a LOT of sap (gallons upon gallons) to make a few pints of syrup - and a bit of practice - but so well worth it! We run two pots on a propane stove, one we keep keep filling with fresh sap and the other with the stuff from the first pot. When it's starting to get really dark we bring it in to finish up inside. Hope you don't have wallpaper in your kitchen *GRIN* You can finish it outside, but often the temps don't allow it very comfortably.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask or email me through GW!

-Marie

Here is a link that might be useful: Lehman's