Late Winter in Connecticut

Sugar Maple and melting snow, Feb. 21, 2017.

 It's that time again: late winter in New England, when the sun is getting noticeably stronger, life in the woods is stirring, and a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of sap. It's been another mild season overall, but with periods of typical cold and a fair amount of snow. The Sugar Maple sap run was pretty good since Valentine's Day, but incredible warmth the past few days (a new all time high for the month of February in Boston yesterday, for example) has wiped out the snow cover and stopped the flow for the time being. There are some cold snaps in the forecast into early March, so maybe the sugaring season isn't quite done yet. My only boil so far was about 12 gallons of sap, yielding a quart and one cup of syrup, for a 38:1 ratio.

Honeybees bringing in Skunk Cabbage pollen, Feb. 25, 2017.

 Honeybee survival has been acceptable for the winter of 2016-17 to date, with six out of seven hives in the home yard doing well (and the one loss being a small colony that was looking troubled even back in October). I was surprised to see them bringing in fresh pollen yesterday, especially since just last weekend I was out snowshoeing in the woods.

Symplocarpus foetidus (Skunk Cabbage) with Huperzia lucidula (Shining Clubmoss), Feb. 25, 2017.

The pollen was coming in from Skunk Cabbage, always the earliest significant bee forage source in Connecticut. Skunk Cabbage produces only pollen as a pollinator reward, so the bees will probably have to wait several weeks at least, depending on the weather, for their first big nectar harvest of the spring, from Red Maple and willow flowers. They might get a little taste of nectar on warm days between now and then from early cultivated bulbs like snowdrops and crocus. 

Skunk Cabbage emerging from a quiet stream in Mansfield Center, Ct.

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Maple Update, March 25: After a very warm February, winter did indeed make a strong comeback earlier in March. There has been weeks worth of seemingly optimal sugaring weather this month--hard freezes at night, thaws and bright sunny days, deep snow cover--but the sap has dried up completely and the season seems to be over. Apparently, too much unseasonable warmth early in the sugaring period can cause the sap flow to shut down for the year, even if conditions improve later on.