Maple sap dripping in South Estonia
Photo: Arne Ader
Translation: Liis
Maple sap
Maple; Norway maple Harilik vaher Acer platanoides
Common snowdrop Harilik lumikelluke Galanthus nivalis
Snow melts visibly. Information arrived from Valga that maples drip sap since Sunday – we have probably to do with a tree turned towards the sun and there is no snow cover in Valga. Another source from the same city tells that at the house wall snowdrops can already be admired. We still live in the winter season – let us see how long the mild weather lasts and sap drips from the maple.
If you don’t want to destroy a nice maple by drilling sap can be had in a simpler way – in Arne’s photo all is as it should. If an icicle forms during night at the broken branch its lower end is the sweetest to suck on. All know that maple sap is somewhere around three times sweeter than birch sap.
The Sap Month (Mahlakuu) according to the folk calendar is April and there should be around 4 degrees of warmth in a night and day to make birch sap flow. Sap can be had from all deciduous trees but it flows poorly compared to those mentioned above. By fitting a bottle to a broken branch those who are curious have a chance to test.
Snowdrop
Snow chart for February 10th from weather services: