Unusual weather conditions have led to a high sap yield for maple producers in the area, said Les Ober, an agriculture educator with The Ohio State University and a local expert in maple production.
Unusual weather conditions have led to a high sap yield for maple producers in the area, said Les Ober, an agriculture educator with The Ohio State University and a local expert in maple production.
In a typical season, producers begin tapping around Feb. 1, with a major sap run occurring near St. Patrick’s Day, Ober said. Ideal conditions include a consistent freeze-thaw cycle through mid-March, with daytime temperatures between 40 and 50 degrees and nighttime temperatures around 20 degrees.
“This year is definitely different,” he said.
Ober said 2025 ended with a warm December, followed by an unusually cold January and February.
“It was just very, very odd. You didn’t have a January thaw,” he said. “It was just one cold front after another.”
Snow accumulation in wooded areas reached more than 20 inches and sap was frozen inside the trees, he said.
“Then, we had a meltdown that came on the first of March,” he said. “Temperatures went up, not like they usually do, they got up above 40 degrees or something like that. This skyrocketed, it got upwards of 60, 70 degrees.”
The “run” refers to the period when sap begins flowing, Ober said, adding that this year’s run set records.
“Guys boiled more sap than they’ve ever boiled at one time,” he said. “That lasted about six days. And then all of a sudden, the temperatures kept going up.”
As the temperatures continue to rise, many maple trees began leafing out, although sugar maples lagged behind, he said.
“It got down to that and all of a sudden we’re looking at this thing going, ‘Well is the season over? Did we get it all in six days?’” he said. “And for many producers, that’s exactly the way it was. The guys downstate, they got it all. They got a little bit of an earlier start somewhere around the 14th, 15th of February. And then when it got run out the first week of March there, they were done.”
Ober said he had never seen a season in which large operations produced so much sap. One producer reported yielding 45,000 gallons this year off 18,000 taps.
Typically, producers average about 2.5 gallons per tap, Ober said.
This season also produced a record amount of light golden syrup, he added.
“Everybody was making golden there practically through that whole period, which is kind of unusual,” he said. “They make some extremely good quality syrup and then all of a sudden, it shifted toward the end when that warm weather came in and the syrup got pretty bad.”
Although temperatures dropped again around St. Patrick’s Day, Ober said the sap quality from that period varied due to the earlier warm spell.
Despite the unusual conditions, Ober emphasized the season was not a loss for Ohio producers.
“Big producers running the technology, they had good years. They’re gonna have plenty of syrup. There’s gonna be more than enough syrup for maple stirs,” he said. “There’s gonna be plenty of syrup for pancakes. We’re not going to have to bring syrup in from New England or places like that.”
