Sap flowing slower, reduced sugar content in western Massachusetts
3/11/2025 8:09:04 AM
CATEGORIES:
Business & Industry
Plants & Wildlife
AFFECTED AREAS:
Franklin County, MA
Hampshire County, MA
Start Date: 2/1/2025
- End Date: 3/10/2025
The sap collecting season began differently than usual in the Williamsburg, Massachusetts area. The sap did not flow as usual—it trickled. The sugar content was roughly half of normal. So it took twice the usual amount of sap to yield a gallon of syrup. Some of the trees did not look healthy, so those trees were not tapped.
Another sugarhouse operator in Deerfield experienced the same initial meager sap flow and lower sugar content, but the sugar content in his trees’ sap has recently risen to normal levels. Drought in the region likely affected the trees, opined an area syrup maker, after leaves turned brown and dropped from the branches earlier than usual. Trees did not have enough time to photosynthesize and produce sugar as usual after dropping their leaves early in 2024.
Athol Daily News (Mass.), March 10, 2025
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