Growing one's own maple syrup

[ChrisGreaves]

I figure that by the fall of 2031 I'll be drizzling home-grown Maple Syrup over a plain vanilla cone from Demetre's on Bloor Street, and by 2041 I can probably retire.
The pot is 6" diameter and 7" tall.
The two sticks are the branches? stems? from last year's growth.

I planted the seeds last spring, and am amazed that the roots survived the winter.
I'm even more amazed that the pot, soil and plant haven't been washed off the balcony, given the rain we've had.

[Roderunner]

When are you adding a recipe for 'Pancakes' ?

Pancakes.jpg

[HansV]

When the maple syrup is fully grown, I guess.

[Roderunner]

When the maple syrup is fully grown, I guess.

Just my luck I guess.

[ChrisGreaves]

When are you adding a recipe for 'Pancakes' ?

I just had a syroptitious look around the forum and I don't see any recipes, so I guess I'll have to invest in some self-raising wheat (to make some self-raising flour)

[DaveA]

2041 I can probably retire

You are going to need about 1,000 more seedling to retire, and you are already a year behind on the other 998 seedlings!

If you have more than one seedling in that "POT" it is time to separate them.

[ChrisGreaves]

You are going to need about 1,000 more seedling to retire, and you are already a year behind on the other 998 seedlings! If you have more than one seedling in that "POT" it is time to separate them.

All this is sounding like too much work.
The thing's only been in leaf two days and already I have to start digging the ground, transplanting etc.

I'm going back to picking up those little mini-tubs of syrup from The Montreal Deli as I walk out the door.

[Roderunner]

When are you adding a recipe for 'Pancakes' ?

I just had a syroptitious look around the forum and I don't see any recipes, so I guess I'll have to invest in some self-raising wheat (to make some self-raising flour)

Your wish is my command.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk ... ecipe.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[garbsmj]

Before you embark on this new adventure you might want to look up how to make maple syrup. It might change you mind. We have maple trees out here on the prairie but the thought of standing out in the cold stirring syrup for several hours is too much for us. But then, lacking that manly chest hair, and requisite beard that you must grow, maybe that's the reason why our maple trees are so darn happy.

[Roderunner]

Before you embark on this new adventure you might want to look up how to make maple syrup. It might change you mind. We have maple trees out here on the prairie but the thought of standing out in the cold stirring syrup for several hours is too much for us. But then, lacking that manly chest hair, and requisite beard that you must grow, maybe that's the reason why our maple trees are so darn happy.

This one looks OK to me.

index.jpg

[capri]

I always used to go to St Jacob's and get it from the Mennonites. They do a good job and generally more reasonably priced than in stores. They are usually in the outside stalls where they park their buggies. Their candies may not be packed in fancy boxes but every bit as tasty (and a lot less expensive than they are in Oz). Nice outing in the country too.

[John Gray]

When I toured the north-eastern United States in October 1987, I was much diverted at one location in Vermont by a road-sign which promised the delights of a Maple Syrup Museum! (That's what it was at the time, but I suspect the volume of witty comments has made them change the name slightly, over the intervening period!)

I have always thought that Chris was a secret syroptimist...

[ChrisGreaves]

Before you embark on this new adventure ...

There's been a Slight Change Of Plans^(TM), owing to the unprecedented growth on the front thirty-six and the back twelve:-

HPIM3820.JPG

My first pineapple tree is coming along nicely, Thank You very much.
I am considering a switch to pineapple-flavored Maple Syrup; bit of a niche market, I'm thinking.

HPIM3822.JPG

Also pondering whether pineapple-flavored oat grass is good for cats. (That's the oat-grass paddock in the photo)

HPIM3823.JPG

The maple farm is coming along well, too. Leaf production has increased six-fold since the last report, although Leif production remains at zero.

[Doc Watson]

The maple farm is coming along well, too. Leaf production has increased six-fold since the last report, although Leif production remains at zero.

Are you growing pot or trees for syrup ?? Leaf production is not relevant to syrup making. Only sap flow counts there. However, there appears to be ample evidence of Leif production right here in Eileen's Lounge.

[ChrisGreaves]

Leaf production is not relevant to syrup making.

Management Measures, Doc.

Management Measures!

A steering committee determined that the volume of sap flow was a function of tree girth, and that seemed to be a function of tree height.
We hired a Ph D (some guy called "Gatis Avots") thinking we would use him to test the pH of the Lactic Acid of the sap; turns out he was a Latvian, so we cut our losses and asked him if, while he was out cycling, he'd do a top-of-the-head calculation and estimate the number of leaves on each tree.
Apparently they don't teach that in Latvia, so he came back with a back-of-the-envelope calculation that showed girth was a function of number of leaves.

Shortly after that he took a leaf of absence and we can't reach him by phone because it's a long-weekend here in Toronto and he's away from his desk phone ...

[DaveA]

My first pineapple tree is coming along nicely, Thank You very much.

I do NOT think that they are called tree?

Have a look see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ChrisGreaves]

I do NOT think that they are called tree?

Well, Stap Me!

And there I was all this time thinking that I was growing trees.

I'll toss them out, then.

Pity.
I had aspirations:

220px-Ghana_pineapple_field.jpg

[capri]

the Vermont maple syrup museum looks a little too sanitized - though sure their products are quite good.

not sure if it's still there, but somewhere on the highway between Sundridge and North Bay (Ontario) there used to a former working sugarbush turned museum called the Smokey Kettle. You could also buy maple sugar products there. There are many places in Ontario where you can go and see the actual making of maple sugar (around March). My kids used to take school trips to Mountsberg where they had good displays and info. Drive in the country in early March and not hard to spot sugar bushes with their pails hooked on to the spigots.


Think it will be a lot of years before you can get any sap from that tree. The bucket won't give enough room for the roots so will have to be moved soon. As a child I was always planting maple keys and my mother had to find spots for them all. They seem a fairly hard plant. Good luck with it...hope you eventually get some syrup from it.

capri

[ChrisGreaves]

My kids used to take school trips to Mountsberg where they had good displays and info.

I used to assist my second ex-mother-in-law on school trips with her kindergarten class, 20 years ago. It wasn't Mountsberg, but it was across town, SW corner Toronto to NE somewhere; 427/401/404. I miss those trips more than I miss her daughter.

As a child I was always planting maple keys and my mother had to find spots for them all.

Wonderful!
I go to Google Earth and gaze at the tress I planted in Southern Cross as a kid over 50 years ago.

What if every western-world kid planted a tree every year once they'd passed the age of six? ten?

[GeoffW]

A friend in Canberra was planting a lot of sugar maple trees some years ago. I should get in touch. It's probably only another five years to harvest.