By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
PORTVILLE — Maple producers across Cattaraugus County and Western New York are anxious for the maple sap season to get underway.
With temperatures in the low 40s Tuesday, you might think that the sap would begin flowing.
“There may be a few drips today (Tuesday),” said Randy Sprague of Sprague’s Maple Farms on Route 305 in Portville. “The trees are frozen and pretty solid. From our experience, it takes a day or two of warmer weather before we get a decent sap run.”
“Our crews are still tapping trees,” Sprague told the Olean Star. “It takes about a month to tap all the trees,” he said. And the crews can testify to the cold temperatures in the sugarbush.
Still, this looks like a good winter to be making maple syrup, Sprague said. “We’ve been watching things for the past two weeks. We want to make sure we are ready when we can string together a few days of warmer weather and start making syrup.”
Sprague, who has been making maple syrup since 1968, opened Sprague’s Restaurant with his wife Toni in 2001. Maple syrup that’s not consumed in the restaurant is sold in the gift shop, online retail and wholesale.
This warm weather will be followed by colder temperatures. Portville probably won’t see 30 degrees on Wednesday and more snow and cold is on the way this weekend.
A good maple sap season will follow six to 10 weeks of below freezing temperatures, Sprague said. “We’ve had all of that. We’re anxious to go.”
That’s the best time for the sap to start running — after an extended cold season. This is the first time in many years that everything has aligned just right. Warm Decembers have often hobbled production.
“This looks like things are setting up perfectly,” Sprague added.
While Sprague is one of the premier maple producers in the county, he said there are some that are expanding their number of taps quite a bit.
He operates a retail shop next to his production area on the way into the restaurant. You’ll find all the latest maple sap production equipment from tubing to taps.
